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The New Season: The most anticipated new movies, music, TV and more
Be on the lookout for these new entertainment offerings in the coming months, from screens to stage, from music to page.
Movies
“The Apprentice” (October 11) – In this cautionary tale set in 1970s and ’80s New York City, Jeremy Strong stars as attorney Roy Cohn who helps shape his protégé, a wet-behind-the-ears real estate figure named Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan), into a media star. Director Ali Abbasi’s examination of the young Trump, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, sparked legal threats from the Trump campaign, but that didn’t prevent a distributor from picking up the film for a pre-Election Day release.
Watch a trailer from “The Apprentice”:
“We Live in Time” (October 11) – In this romantic comedy-drama, Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield don’t exactly “meet cute” – she runs into him with her car. But the relationship that develops is truly tested when they are confronted with a medical crisis. Directed by John Crowley (the 2015 Saoirse Ronan period romance “Brooklyn”).
“The Piano Lesson” (November 8) – Denzel Washington, who starred in and directed a film adaptation of August Wilson’s “Fences,” is producing films based on the entire oeuvre of the acclaimed playwright. Following 2020’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Washington has now produced his third Wilson story, the Pulitzer Prize-winning saga of a family’s fight over a cherished heirloom. Starring Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Ray Fisher and Michael Potts (who appeared in the recent Broadway revival), along with Danielle Deadwyler, Skuylar Aleece Smith and Erykah Badu.
“Wicked” (November 22) – Most films being released this fall would be green with envy over the amount of audience anticipation for the big-screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, even though it’s only Part One. (Part Two will be released in Fall 2025.) Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo star as Galinda and Elphaba, whose youthful friendship serves as the origin story for Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West. With Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum and Jonathan Bailey.
“Gladiator II” (November 22) – “Are you not entertained?” Evidently not enough, as director Ridley Scott has returned to his Oscar-winning 2000 epic for a follow-up, set more than 20 years after the first film, in which gladiator Paul Mescal, general Pedro Pascal, power broker Denzel Washington, and Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger as co-emperors Geta and Caracalla fight over a 3rd century Roman Empire under siege from without and within.
Documentaries
“Will & Harper” (in theaters; streaming on Netflix September 27) – Comedian Will Ferrell and former “Saturday Night Live” head writer Harper Steele, longtime buddies, take a cross-country road trip after Steele announces she has transitioned to a woman.
“We Will Dance Again” (Streaming on Paramount+ September 24) – Survivors of the October 7 Hamas terror attack on the Nova Music Festival in Israel recount the horrors and heroism of that day.
“Blink” (October 4) – A French-Canadian couple embarks on a round-the-world trip with their family, after three of their four children are diagnosed with a rare and incurable disease that leads to loss of eyesight. From directors Daniel Roher (the Oscar-winning “Navalny”) and Edmund Stenson.
“Piece by Piece” (October 11) – The music producer and singer Pharrell tells his life story not with archive footage or talking-head interviews, but with Lego! Directed by Morgan Neville (an Oscar-winner for “20 Feet From Stardom”), it captures Pharrell’s creative process in brickfilm form.
“Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” (Fathom Events theater screening September 25; streaming on Max November 1) – This profile of the superhero actor and activist, which debuted at Sundance earlier this year, features never-before-seen home movies of his life before and after the accident that paralyzed him.
Music
Luke Bryan: “Mind of a Country Boy” (September 27) – The country singer-songwriter, one of the world’s bestselling artists, is out with album #11.
Listen to “Mind of a Country Boy” from Luke Bryan’s new album:
Samara Joy: “Portrait” (October 11) – The Grammy-winning jazz singer’s latest.
Listen to “Autumn Nocturne,” from Samara Joy’s new album, “Portrait”:
Jelly Roll: “Beautifully Broken” (October 11) – The rapper and country artist’s follow-up to “Whitsitt Chapel.”
Listen to “Get By,” from Jelly Roll’s new album, “Beautifully Broken.”
Shawn Mendes: “Shawn” (October 18) – The Canadian singer-songwriter’s first album, “Handwritten,” debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts when Mendes was just 16 years old. “Shawn” is his fifth studio album.
Listen to “Nobody Knows,” from Shawn Mendes’ new album, “Shawn”:
Michael Kiwanuka: “Small Changes” (November 15) – The English songwriter and guitarist won Britain’s Mercury Prize for his 2019 album, “Kiwanuka.”
Listen to “Floating Parade” from Michael Kiwanuka’s new album “Small Changes”:
TV/Streaming
“Matlock” (Previews on CBS September 22) – In this reboot of the 1980s legal drama starring Andy Griffith, Kathy Bates plays Madeline Matlock, a folksy defense attorney out for justice.
“The Franchise” (premieres on HBO/Max October 6) – This comedy series (executive produced by “Veep” creator Armando Iannucci) depicts the trials of a crew trying to film a superhero movie.
“Disclaimer” (Streaming on Apple TV+ October 11) – Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Sasha Baron Cohen and Kodi Smit-McPhee star in this psychological thriller based on Renée Knight’s novel, and directed by Alfonso Cuarón, in which a woman finds a book that – surprise! – reveals the secrets of her own life.
“Dune: Prophecy” (premieres on HBO/Max in November) – Set in the universe of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi series, which has spawned two recent blockbuster films, this story of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood stars Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, Joshi May and Travis Fimmel.
“Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” (Streaming on Disney+ December 3) – What kids wouldn’t want to join an intergalactic adventure? This latest series follows a quartet of lost youngsters who must navigate their way back home with the aid of a Force user (Jude Law).
Theater
New York City:
“Our Town” (revival) (now at the Barrymore Theatre) – Thornton Wilder’s classic is staged with stars Jim Parsons, Katie Holmes, Zoey Deutch, Richard Thomas, Ephraim Sykes and Michelle Wilson.
“Yellow Face” (now at the Todd Haimes Theatre) – Tony-winning playwright David Henry Hwang (“M. Butterfly”) writes a farce about theater and racial miscasting.
“Romeo + Juliet” (previews begin September 26 at the Circle in the Square Theatre) – Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler star in the immortal romantic tragedy, this time with music by Jack Antonoff.
“Sunset Boulevard” (revival) (previews begin September 28 at the St. James Theatre) – Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicalization of the Billy Wilder noir classic is reimagined by director Jamie Lloyd. Nicole Scherzinger, as faded film star Norma Desmond, received smashing reviews from her performance on London’s West End.
Watch a trailer featuring Nicole Scherzinger in “Sunset Boulevard”:
“Gypsy” (revival) (previews begin November 21 at the Majestic Theatre) – Audra McDonald, who has six Tony Awards on her shelf, grabs ahold of Mama Rose, one of the most celebrated roles in musical theater, created by Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim, and Arthur Laurents. Directed by George C. Wolfe and choreographed by Camille A. Brown, will everything come up roses?
Around the country:
“Prelude to a Kiss: A Musical” (at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Milwaukee, Wis.) – Craig Lucas has adapted his own Tony-nominated 1988 play into a musical, a romantic comedy about souls exchanged.
“Oh Happy Day!” (at the Baltimore Center Stage, Baltimore, Md.) – Jordan E. Cooper’s “play with music” reimagines the fable of Noah’s Ark.
Latrice Pace, Courtney Monét and Tiya Askia perform an excerpt from “I See God,” from “Oh, Happy Day!”:
“My Best Friend’s Wedding” (begins September 26 at the Ogunquit Playhouse, Ogunquit, Maine) – The Julia Roberts romantic comedy is the basis of a musical with classic songs by Burt Bacharach & Hal David.
“Babbitt” (October 1, at Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington, D.C.) – Matthew Broderick stars in this adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’ political satire.
“Primary Trust” (Multiple cities) – The Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by Eboni Booth, about a young man with an imaginary friend trying to reinvent his own life, is featured in several productions this fall, including in Pittsfield, Mass., Arlington, Va., and Chicago.
Books
Washington Post and “Sunday Morning” book critic Ron Charles offers his picks from among the season’s new titles.
“The Mighty Red” by Louise Erdrich (October 1) – The latest by the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author of “The Night Watchman” and “The Round House.”
“The Message” by Ta-Nehisi Coates (October 1) – A collection of essays by the New York Times bestselling author, in which he journeys to Senegal, South Carolina and the Palestinian Territory.
“Carson the Magnificent” by Bill Zehme and Mike Thomas (November 5) – A biography of the king of late-night television, who helped shape American entertainment and culture. Written over the course of a decade by Bill Zehme, who died of cancer in 2023, it has been completed by journalist Bill Thomas.
“Lincoln vs. Davis: The War of the Presidents” by Nigel Hamilton (November 5) – From the author of the “FDR at War” trilogy, this history tells of the fight between two presidents on opposite sides of the Civil War.
“Darkly” by Marisha Pessl (November 26) – A young-adult thriller from the author of the bestselling “Night Film.”
Arts
“Lee Krasner: Geometries of Expression,” at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, Maine (through November 17), celebrates the early work of the abstract artist, from the 1930s and ’40s.
“Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment,” at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (through January 19, 2025), captures the moment 100 years ago when the artistic movement that came to known as Impression made its first impression on Parisians. The exhibit presents 130 works, from paintings by Cézanne, Monet, Morisot and Pissarro, to works by lesser-known contemporaries.
“Simone Leigh,” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (through January 20, 2025), features the artist’s ceramic and bronze works and video, as well as pieces from her 2022 Venice Biennale presentation.
“Knowing the West: Visual Legacies of the American West,” at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Ark. (through January 27, 2025), tells the diverse stories of those who shaped the West, through their lives and their art.
“Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum,” at the Baltimore Museum of Art (through February 16, 2025), re-evaluates the collection and presentation of works by Native artists.
“Edges of Ailey,” at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City (September 25, 2024-February 9, 2025), featuring live performance, visual art, music and archival materials, is the first large-scale museum exhibition dedicated to the legacy of the dancer-choreographer Alvin Ailey.
Mickalene Thomas
“Mickalene Thomas: All About Love,” at the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia (October 20, 2024-January 12, 2025), features the artist’s mixed-media pieces – paintings, photography, collage, silk-screen, video, and a site-specific installation – that celebrate women.
“The Living End: Painting and Other Technologies, 1970-2020,” at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (November 9, 2024-March 23, 2025), explores how the medium of painting has transformed over the last half-century, through the introduction and influence of technologies, such as video, computers and social media.
“Stanley Whitney: How High the Moon,” at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (November 14, 2024-March 16, 2025), is a 50-year career retrospective of the abstract artist whose travels transformed his work.
Produced by David Morgan, Robert Marston, Annie Iezzi, Sara Kugel and Julie Kracov. Editors: Chad Cardin and Carol Ross.
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For most of 2023 and early 2024, looking for a low mortgage rate was a quest for the impossible. Surging inflation sent rates soaring to their highest level in decades and finding a loan under 7.00% was a fantasy for most would-be buyers.
Fortunately, there has been some improvement in the mortgage market in recent months. In anticipation of the Federal Reserve’s rate cuts in September, mortgage rates dipped, opening up the door to more affordable home loans and even some refinancing opportunities. Rates then fell over a point off their post-pandemic highs, providing hope for would-be buyers.
However, mortgage rates began to rise again in October. While today’s mortgage rates remain below recent highs right now, many borrowers have been left wondering whether they should jump into the market or wait for rates to fall further — especially as the Fed has signaled additional rate cuts are likely through 2025.
Find out how affordable a mortgage loan could be today.
Should you take out a mortgage loan now or wait until 2025?
If you’re on the fence about whether to buy now or delay further, here’s why experts say that waiting may not pay.
There’s no guarantee rates will fall
With the Federal Reserve widely expected to cut rates again in the future, waiting may seem like the obvious course of action. However, there’s no guarantee these anticipated rate cuts will happen — or that they will have the desired effect on the mortgage market since the Fed doesn’t directly control the cost of home loans.
“The challenge with “waiting to buy” is always the same. No one can predict the future, even the greatest financial minds,” says Aaron Gordon, branch manager at Guild Mortgage. “Just look at the last two months. Rates touched an 18-month low in early September. Folks got excited. Pending sales rose to their highest levels all year. Others said ‘they’re still not low enough. I’m going to wait a little longer until they come down more.’ Just weeks later they jumped from the low 6’s to the low 7’s.”
While the Fed followed through with an anticipated rate cut at its November meeting, the recent election could also impact further proposed reductions in the benchmark rate, depending on what policies are enacted in 2025.
With no guarantee that mortgage rates will fall further, Gordon says the best thing to do is to buy “when you’re financially and emotionally ready.”
Compare the top mortgage rates available to you now.
Rate decreases may happen slowly
Delaying your home purchase in anticipation of declining costs could also be a poor strategy because you may have to wait much longer than you’d expect.
“Rates between now and the start of the new year aren’t likely to fluctuate too significantly,” says Evan Luchaco, an Oregon-based home loan specialist for Churchill Mortgage.
Chris Birk, vice president of mortgage insight at Veterans United Home Loans, also doesn’t believe a drop in rates is imminent next year either.
“Buyers waiting for a major drop in mortgage rates should understand that a sudden decline isn’t likely around the corner,” Birk says. “If mortgage rates come down in 2025, it’ll likely be a slow roll.”
Delaying your dream of homeownership for months means missing out on the chance to start building equity — and potentially missing out on a property you love.
“Finding the right home is the most important aspect of the home buying process,” Luchaco says. “A home that achieves your goals for the immediate future will help get you to where you want to be long term.”
Lower mortgage rates could cause a spike in home prices
There’s another important financial reason not to put off your purchase. While a lower mortgage rate could mean reduced borrowing costs, this could be offset by changes in the housing market that a rate drop brings.
“Waiting to buy might not wind up being worth it for a simple reason – rising home prices,” Birk says. “Depending on your price range, your market, and other factors, higher home prices might offset any dip in interest rates. The $400,000 house you love today might cost way more next summer between home price appreciation and the crush of buyers that lower rates might bring.”
Darren Tooley, a senior loan officer at Cornerstone Financial Services, notes that prices could rise rapidly next year.
“Historically, home values have gone up 6.24% in the year following a presidential election, but 2025 could exceed that due to the limited housing supply and an increase in buyer competition,” Tooley says.
According to Tooley, mortgage applications increased by almost 50% when rates hit recent lows at the end of September. While some of this change was explained by a spike in refinancing, most of the new loans were for new purchases.
“It’s clear when rates go down, more potential homebuyers will be flooding the market, which will ultimately continue to drive up home prices, making things more expensive next year despite the lower rate,” Tooley says.
The bottom line
Finally, there’s one last important reason not to delay. Buying a home now allows you to lock in today’s prices while opening up the door for a more affordable loan later.
“Today’s homebuyers will almost certainly be able to refinance down the road,” Birk said. “Buying today, with the flexibility to refinance later, could offer a balanced path forward in an uncertain rate environment.”
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