TAGGED AS: movies
September is traditionally not known to be a particularly exciting time for theatrical releases, as most of the kids (read: summer moviegoers) start heading back to school. Partially due to this, but also as a result of shifting trends, two of this month’s top three most anticipated movies are streaming exclusives (although one of them is expected to make a brief appearance in theaters to qualify for the Oscars).
As usual, we polled the Rotten Tomatoes audience on all of our social media platforms to find out what films everyone was looking forward to the most this month, and with fewer notable titles crowding the release calendar, we didn’t find many surprises in the results. Read on for the most anticipated movies of September 2022!
Don't Worry Darling (2022)
#1 on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter; #5 on YouTube
In theaters on September 23
First up is Olivia Wilde’s sophomore feature (after 2019’s Booksmart), which has admittedly been mired in various controversies but nevertheless remains at the top of everyone’s list. Well, everyone except for our followers on YouTube, apparently. The psychological thriller centers on a young couple who move to a seemingly utopian town in 1950s California, only for the wife to discover her husband’s company may be up to some unsavory business out there. The film is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 5 before opening in theaters later in the month.
Blonde (2022)
#2 Facebook; #3 on Instagram and YouTube (tied); #4 on Twitter (tied)
Streaming on Netflix on September 28
Aside from Don’t Worry Darling, the films that cracked the top five for this month’s list all elicited fairly varied reactions from the fans on our social media platforms. Exhibit 1 is Netflix’s Marilyn Monroe pseudo-biopic Blonde, which reached #2 in our Facebook poll, tied for #3 on Instagram and YouTube, and tied for #4 on Twitter. Still it was enough for this fictional look at the Hollywood icon’s life to edge out all the other movies for the second place finish.
Hocus Pocus 2 (2022)
#1 on YouTube, #3 on Twitter, #4 on Facebook, #5 on Instagram
Streaming on Disney+ on September 30
The most anticipated film in our YouTube poll – and the #5 finisher in our Instagram poll – is the nearly-three-decades-later sequel to the Disney fantasy-horror-comedy Hocus Pocus, which sees the core trio of Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy reprise their roles as witch sisters Winnie, Sarah, and Mary Sanderson. This time around, they return to Salem when they are accidentally summoned by high school students who must now band together to stop the Sanderson sisters from wreaking havoc in their town.
Pearl (2022)
#2 on Instagram, #3 on YouTube (tied), #4 on Twitter (tied), #5 on Facebook
In theaters on September 16
Back in March, writer-director Ti West released one of the most critically acclaimed horror films of the year in X. Not long after that, he revealed that he had concurrently shot a prequel to that film, called Pearl, and that it would be opening later in the year. Taking viewers back to the same farm back in 1918, the film will show how the villain of X came to be, as the boarding house where much of the first film took place was used to house soldiers during World War I. This one also landed all over the place in our polls but did well enough to make it to #4.
The Woman King (2022)
#2 on Twitter, #3 on Facebook, #4 on Instagram
In theaters on September 16
Lastly, we have the historical drama The Woman King, starring Viola Davis as the leader of an all-female army in the African kingdom of Dahomey during the 19th century. Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, the film looks to be an awards contender, and it will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9 before hitting theaters the next week. Again, The Woman King didn’t achieve any sort of consensus among our social media fans; it came in at #2 on Twitter, #3 on Facebook, and #4 on Instagram.
Thumbnail by ©Warner Bros. Pictures
