Movies

The Giphy Guide to the Fall Movies of 2016

By  · Published on September 9th, 2016

Preview the season’s hottest releases through all the wrong GIFs.

One of our favorite office pastimes here at FSR is the Giphy GIF generator in Slack. You type in a word or phrase [in brackets for fine tuning] and it comes up with a random animated image somehow tied to those terms. Occasionally they make sense, but most of the time they don’t (the above animation came up for “[fall movie guide]”).

We regularly enter movie titles and wind up with ridiculous results, so we thought we’d share a list of the new releases out this fall accompanied by whatever weird GIF Giphy gives us. You can always get reliable info from any other fall movie preview. But those aren’t nearly as fun as this.

Sully (Sept. 9)

The real hero of Flight 1549 was Asian Pop Star Batman?

The Wild Life (Sept. 9)

The otters from Finding Dory already got a live-action spinoff?

When the Bough Breaks (Sept. 9)

Nathan Fillion is in this?

The Disappointments Room (Sept. 9)

This actually looks pretty terrifying?

Cameraperson (Sept. 9)

Jay-Z and Beyonce have a new movie out?

Bridget Jones’s Baby (Sept. 16)

Another sequel that just repeats bits from the original?

Blair Witch (Sept. 16)

This time the witch has a cat?

Snowden (Sept. 16)

The third X-Files movie is finally coming out?

Hillsong: Let Hope Rise (Sept. 16)

A new Lord of the Rings installment where Gandalf and Pippin go to E3 2016?

The Magnificent Seven (Sept. 23)

We learn Bourne’s code name was “Seven,” and he does magnificent things?

Storks (Sept. 23)

Animated movies just keep getting weirder and weirder?

The Queen of Katwe (Sept. 23)

Isn’t it about time Maulik Pancholy became a movie star?

Deepwater Horizon (Sept. 30)

It’s about an oil rig disaster … on Pluto?

Masterminds (Sept. 30)

Finally, a movie about downvoting?

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (Sept. 30)

Another Hannibal Lecter origin story about his days at the orphanage?

American Honey (Sept. 30)

Why has it taken this long to get a honey badger dance movie?

The Girl On the Train (Oct. 7)

They really cut corners on the production design … wait, is that the killer back there (SPOILER)?

The Birth of a Nation (Oct. 7)

Is this the most literal movie of all time?

Friend Request (Oct. 7)

A remake of The Social Network for the Christian movie crowd?

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life (Oct. 7)

A documentary about Miley Cyrus’s time in junior high?

The Accountant (Oct. 14)

Ben Affleck delivers a new political film just before Election Day?

Max Steel (Oct. 14)

A Maximum Overdrive sequel where steel spouts come to life and kill?

Kevin Hart: What Now? (Oct. 14)

Is this guy “the Danish Kevin Hart”?

Certain Women (Oct. 14)

Assassin’s Creed is arriving earlier than expected with a new title?

Boo! A Madea Halloween (Oct. 21)

Madea and Mama June together at last?

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (Oct. 21)

Oh no, did they in fact go back and resurrect Jai Courtney’s character?

Ouija: Origin of Evil (Oct. 21)

This is supposed to be tied to the other Ouija movie?

Keeping Up With the Joneses (Oct. 21)

Do we really need another Beatles movie?

I’m Not Ashamed (Oct. 21)

Are we getting a real Glee movie this time?

American Pastoral (Oct. 21)

The best superhero movie of the year, easily?

Moonlight (Oct. 21)

A Moonlighting movie with at least one member of the original cast?

Inferno (Oct. 28)

Did Ron Howard make a sequel to Backdraft instead of The Da Vinci Code?

Rings (Oct. 28)

After you blow a smoke ring you have only seven days left to live?

Untitled Lionsgate Horror Film (Oct. 28)

Doesn’t this movie actually have a title already?

Hacksaw Ridge (Nov. 4)

This already aired on ABC Family?

Doctor Strange (Nov. 4)

Did Marvel sneakily just reboot a DC franchise?

Trolls (Nov. 4)

Could this be the internet satire we need right now?

Bleed for This (Nov. 4)

Doesn’t this look more like a sequel to The Ring?

Loving (Nov. 4)

Will a Drake and Rihanna movie will be the biggest hit of the season?

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (Nov. 11)

Will Billy the cat ever get his dinner?

Arrival (Nov. 11)

Is this where we learn the Real Housewives of New Jersey are aliens?

Almost Christmas (Nov. 11)

The Two A-Holes are the latest SNL characters to get a movie?

Shut In (Nov. 11)

Weren’t we promised no more theatrical Adam Sandler movies?

Elle (Nov. 11)

Like Rambo, the next Legally Blonde sequel title is just the character’s name?

The Edge of Seventeen (Nov. 18)

A movie about drifting, somewhere besides Tokyo?

Manchester By the Sea (Nov. 18)

Is this a movie or an aquarium exhibit?

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them (Nov. 18)

They actually got this one right, and Eddie Redmayne is ashamed about it.

Nocturnal Animals (Nov. 18)

This time Tom Ford has made a movie about a single aardvark?

Allied (Nov. 23)

They couldn’t have made it clearer by calling it Ally Sheedied?

Bad Santa 2 (Nov. 23)

We’re finally getting another Simpsons movie?

Moana (Nov. 23)

Will Moana the cat ever get that cake?

Rules Don’t Apply (Nov. 23)

Margaery lives and has a Game of Thrones spinoff movie?

Lion (Nov. 25)

Is this the movie to beat for Best Picture this year or what?

Related Topics: ,

Christopher Campbell began writing film criticism and covering film festivals for a zine called Read, back when a zine could actually get you Sundance press credentials. He's now a Senior Editor at FSR and the founding editor of our sister site Nonfics. He also regularly contributes to Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes and is the President of the Critics Choice Association's Documentary Branch.