From alien symbiotes to the original scream queen and Lady Gaga, October is shaping up to be a big month at the movies as we head  towards awards season. Here are six of the biggies aiming for your popcorn dollars.

The blockbuster: Venom

With a box office poison Rotten Tomatoes score of 30 per cent, you’d be forgiven for avoiding this latest Marvel offshoot, but we really enjoyed its dorky comedy. Tom Hardy has a ball playing a deadbeat journalist ruined by Riz Ahmed’s maniacal businessman – a sorta cross between Richard Branson and Elon Musk. Dumped by his fiancé (Michelle Williams rounding out a pretty solid cast), his day gets even worse when he’s stuck with a talking alien oil slick with a taste for human heads. Chris Nolan’s Dark Knight this is not, but big, daft fun it is.

Venom is out now

The Oscar bait: First Man

Filmmaker Damien Chazelle took home Best Director for La La Land at last year’s Oscars and he’s shooting for the stars again in 2019 with this breathtaking look at the race to the moon. Terrifyingly visceral cabin sequences will have your heart pounding, and heartthrob Ryan Gosling is also Best Actor-ready with his restrained and pained take on Neil Armstrong. Grieving the death of his baby daughter opposite The Crown’s Claire Foy as wife Janet, his giant leap for mankind adds a personal edge to the 2001: A Space Odyssey-like spectacle.

First Man is out October 11

The ensemble: Bad Times at the El Royale

It’s been six years since Drew Goddard’s horror comedy debut The Cabin in the Woods became a massive cult hit. He re-teams with that movie’s star, Aussie Chris Hemsworth, in this hyper-violent take on a Tarantino-style crime thriller. From 50 Shades of Grey’s Dakota Johnson to Mad Men’s John Hamm to True Grit’s Jeff Bridges, this once has a killer cast and they’re not all going to make it to the closing credits.

Bad Times at the El Royale is out October 11

The musical: A Star Is Born

First Man isn’t the only Oscar contender in town this month, with four-time nominee Bradley Cooper taking a tilt at the top with his directorial debut, the 892nd (roughly) remake of A Star is Born. OK, so we all know the story, and Judy Garland and Barbara Streisand are tough acts to follow, but we’re rooting for Lady Gaga who blew the Venice Film Festival audiences out of the water, from her gondola arrival to the standing ovation as the credits rolled. We can’t wait.

A Star is Born is out October 18

The true story: Beautiful Boy

Adapting not one but two heart-tugging memoirs, by David and Nic Sheff, director Felix van Groeningen’s Beautiful Boy also casts two Oscar-nominated leads in Foxcatcher’s Steve Carell and Call Me By Your Name’s Timothée Chalamet. They play a father and son desperately trying to keep their family together during long trials with substance addiction. Bring the hankies.

Beautiful Boy is out October 25

The screamer: Halloween

Jamie Lee Curtis returns as the babysitter who fought back in this stunning return to the Halloween franchise. Wiping out everything except the first John Carpenter-directed movie, Laurie Strode faces off once more against ominously silent masked serial killer Michael Myers, 40 years after he first terrorised her. But this time he’s after her family too, and she’s prepared.

Halloween is out October 25