Best films released in the UK this month: October 2025
Highlights include The Smashing Machine, Frankenstein and Bugonia.
Film fans have a very exciting month of new releases ahead in October – with all number of big awards hopefuls landing in cinemas over the next few weeks following their splashy premieres at recent major film festivals.
Among those to look out for are two biographical films boasting performances that are expected to big contenders in this year's Best Actor race, with Dwayne Johnson starring as MMA fighter Mark Kerr in Benny Safdie's The Smashing Machine and Jeremy Allen White taking on the role of music icon Bruce Springsteen in biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.
Meanwhile, Netflix also have three of their buzzy new titles opening in select cinemas this month ahead of their streaming debuts, with Kathryn Bigelow's A House of Dynamite, Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein and Edward Berger's Ballad of a Small Player all arriving soon.
Elsewhere, director Yorgos Lanthimos has teamed up with Emma Stone once again for the intriguing new film Bugonia, actor Harris Dickinson makes his directorial debut with the well-reviewed drama Urchin and indie darling Kelly Reichardt has a new film starring the reliably great Josh O'Connor titled The Mastermind.
And of course, it wouldn't be October without a major new horror flick – and this year's biggest Halloween release is The Black Phone 2, a sequel to Scott Derrickson's hit film from 2022.
To help you pick out the highlights, we've put together a selection of some of the best films to watch this month – check out the video above or read on for our choices.
Best films released in the UK this month: October 2025
The Smashing Machine
Release date: Friday 3rd October in cinemas
Dwayne Johnson has been highly praised for his performance in this biographical sports film about MMA fighter Mark Kerr, which is written and directed by Benny Safdie – his first film without brother Josh.
Adapted from a documentary, the film follows both the highs and lows of Kerr's life and career – including the many personal hardships he had to overcome along the way – with Emily Blunt co-starring as his then-wife Dawn Staples.
Urchin
Release date: Friday 3rd October in cinemas
Popular actor Harris Dickinson makes his directorial debut with this social realist drama about a homeless man stuck in a cycle of addiction, with Frank Dillane starring in the lead role.
The film received great acclaim when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival back in May, and has seen Dickinson mark himself out as a director to watch – in part due to some impressive use of surrealist flourishes.
A House of Dynamite
Release date: Friday 3rd October in cinemas (24th October on Netflix)
Kathryn Bigelow's first film since Detroit was released in 2017 is a tense political thriller about the USA's response to an imminent nuclear strike, written by former journalist Noah Oppenheim.
The starry cast includes Rebecca Ferguson, Jason Clarke, Anthony Ramos and Idris Elba – the latter as a fictional US President – as we follows the various responses to the situation from three different perspectives, going up higher the chain of command with each chapter.
I Swear
Release date: Friday 10th October in cinemas
Robert Aramayo has the lead role in this drama based on the life of John Davidson – a Scottish campaigner for Tourette's syndrome who was previously featured in two acclaimed BBC documentaries and was awarded an MBE in 2019.
Written and directed by Kirk Jones and also starring Maxine Peake, Peter Mullan and Shirley Henderson, it has the makings of a crowd-pleasing hit while also shining light on the obstacles faced by those living with the condition.
Tron: Ares
Release date: Friday 10th October in cinemas
The third instalment in the Tron series – and the first since Tron: Legacy in 2010 – is a 'soft reboot', with Jared Leto stepping into a new role as a super-intelligent program named Ares.
The film also includes roles for Gillian Anderson, Evan Peters, Greta Lee and original star Jeff Bridges, with the official synopsis teasing that it will follow events after Ares is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind's first encounter with AI beings.
Ballad of a Small Player
Release date: Friday 17th October in cinemas (29th October on Netflix)
Conclave director Edward Berger teams up with Colin Farrell for this psychological thriller about a troubled gambler laying low in Macau, with other key cast members including Fala Chen and Tilda Swinton.
Chen plays the mysterious Dao Ming – described as "a casino employee with secrets of her own" – who offers Farrell's character a lifeline, only for him to be confronted by a private investigator (Swinton) who has been tailing him for some time.
Frankenstein
Release date: Friday 17th October in cinemas (7th November on Netflix)
Guillermo del Toro finally makes his long-gestating passion project – a spectacularly designed adaptation of Mary Shelley's iconic gothic novel, Frankenstein.
Oscar Isaac plays the titular mad scientist while Jacob Elordi stars as the monster he creates, with other key cast members including Mia Goth, Felix Kammerer, David Bradley, Charles Dance and Christoph Waltz.
The Black Phone 2
Release date: Friday 17th October in cinemas
Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw return for this sequel to the 2022 horror film from Scott Derrickson, who is also back as both writer and director.
The film follows 15-year-old Gwen (McGraw) as she receives calls and sees disturbing visions of three boys being stalked at a winter camp – eventually heading with her brother Finn (Thames) to confront the terrifying Grabber (Hawke) and solve the mystery.
After the Hunt
Release date: Wednesday 22nd October in cinemas
The latest film from prolific director Luca Guadagnino is this drama starring Julia Roberts as a college professor who finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when one of her colleagues is accused of a terrible act.
The cast for the film also includes Andrew Garfield, Ayo Ediberi, and Guadagnino regulars Chloe Sevigny and Michael Stuhlbarg.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere
Release date: Friday 24th October in cinemas
Jeremy Allen White stars as Bruce Springsteen in this biopic, which follows The Boss as he records his 1982 album Nebraska – during which time he had to "reconcile the pressures of success with the ghosts of his past".
Among the starry supporting cast, there are roles for Jeremy Strong as his record producer and manager Jon Landau, Stephen Graham as his father Douglas and Odessa Young as his love interest Faye Romano.
The Mastermind
Release date: Friday 24th October in cinemas
Josh O'Connor and Alana Haim star in this 1970s-set art heist film from acclaimed indie writer/director Kelly Reichardt, which premiered to strong reviews at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
O'Connor plays a family man-turned art thief named James Blaine Mooney who is forced to go on the run after he and two cohorts wander into a museum in broad daylight and steal four paintings.
Bugonia
Release date: Friday 24th October in cinemas
The latest collaboration between director Yorgos Lanthimos and star Emma Stone is this sci-fi black comedy about the CEO of a major company who may or may not be an alien intent on ruining the planet.
Based on the 2003 South Korean film Save the Green Planet!, it follows two conspiracy-obsessed men – played by Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis – who kidnap the CEO determined to prove their theory about her real identity.
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
