November has arrived which means we'll soon be seeing Oscar hopefuls, some serious dramas and festive family favourites in cinemas. But with with so many new films coming out this month, how do you pick which one to see?

To help you out, IBTimes UK offers up a scaled-down guide to this month's heavy hitters so you can choose your time spent in the darkness of a cinema wisely...

More from IBTimes UK

Based on the fictional Hogwarts textbook written by JK Rowling, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them follows magizoologist Newt Scamander as he travels all around the world to discover and document extraordinary beasts. Only his quest to find unknown creatures soon turns into a recovery mission after a number of creatures go missing.

Starring Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Ezra Miller and Colin Farrell, this prequel... spin-off... whatever you'd like to call it, is undoubtedly a magical must-see for fans of the Harry Potter universe.

If you like your stories a little more serious, then science-fiction drama Arrival is another film you could check out this month. Directed by Sicario's Denis Villeneuve and starring Jeremy Renner and Amy Adams, it centres on linguistics professor Dr Louise Banks, who is brought in by the military to help translate the communications of an alien race that has landed on Earth.

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them
Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them is due to be released on 18 November in the UK and US Warner Bros Pictures

But as Louise begins to break down the barrier between humans and the aliens, she starts to receive vivid flashbacks from staggered aspects of her daughter's life; from her birth and happy younger years to her tragic death from a terminal illness as a teenager. Troubled, Louise must find a way to make sense of her loss while also trying to prevent a potential global war.

Next up, we have A United Kingdom, which depicts the true story of young South African prince Seretse Khama (played here by David Oyelowo), who fell in love with Ruth Williams, a white English woman in the late 1940s. Despite their relationship shocking the world at a time of segregation, the couple went on to get married and championed equality and unity, while Khama simultaneously attended to his duties back in Botswana.

A United Kingdom
A United Kingdom has been tipped as an Oscar 2017 hopeful Pathe

Lastly, while we didn't mention it in the above video – mainly because we didn't want to overload on all things Amy Adams (as if that could ever be a bad thing) – Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals is more than worth a watch this November too. It follows successful art gallery owner Susan Morrow, who receives a book manuscript from her ex-husband (Jake Gyllenhaal) out of the blue. Intrigued, she reads the mysterious novel but soon becomes worried that the violent thriller is actually a symbolic tale of revenge.

For more entertainment news follow us on Twitter @Alistinsider