Annual Autumn Watchlist: Part 1

🍂The Warm and Cozy Watchlist🍂

Happy first day of fall!

To mark the official start of autumn, I’m sharing a three-part series detailing my Autumn & Halloween movie roadmap:

🍁 Part 1: Late September — The Warm & Cozy

🧹 Part 2: Early October — The Witchy & Magical

🎃 Part 3: Late October — The Spooky & Scary

 I believe there’s an art to curating the perfect autumn watchlist. You can't just drop the top-tier classics like Hocus Pocus or Beetlejuice in September; you have to ease into the season with subtle fall vibes first, then save the big guns for peak spook season, and then have enough left over for November. So, yes, you have to build the momentum!

After resisting the urge all month long, I’m finally diving in. I’ll keep updating this post as I work my way through the lineup, but here’s where we begin:

Pride and Prejudice

Full transparency: I watch Pride and Prejudice a couple of times a year, so it’s not strictly reserved for the autumn season, but consider this me dipping my toes in. I swear, there's something about mumbling the words, 'You have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you' under my breath as Mr. Darcy confesses his love that completely sets the mood for cozy season. It's the ultimate warm-up for fall. In fact, I'm actually watching it as I write this post. 

The Princess Bride

Like Pride and Prejudice (and many of the others on this list), this movie  doesn't technically have anything to do with fall, but to me, they're pure comfort movies. I actually only watched The Princess Bride for the first time last year and decided that it must be put on the watchlist this year. 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Nothing says cozy fall viewing quite like a full Middle-earth marathon. Every year, I rewatch the entire Hobbit and Lord of the Rings saga from start to finish. It's a massive commitment, so starting early in the season is a must. I always follow the chronological timeline to watch the story unfold as it happened, which brings us right to our first stop: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

The Iron Giant (1999)

A classic, for sure. This is the first, and certainly not last, animated movie on the autumn watchlist. This movie is set in a coastal New England town during the autumn season. It radiates nostalgic fall vibes that makes me want to drop everything and go hiking through woods carpeted in crisp autumn leaves. This heartwarming story of Hogarth Hughes, and his robot friend from Mars is the perfect addition to the list. 

Movie recommendations are always accepted.