Season's screenings

• By JOHN WIRT
• Movie writer
• Published: Nov 6, 2009

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Christmas Day is seven weeks away, but the 2009 holiday movie season starts today with the opening of the Jim Carrey-starring Disney’s A Christmas Carol.

The holiday season being a busy time for children at the movies, animated films following A Christmas Carol to theaters include another film adaptation of a Roald Dahl story, Fantastic Mr. Fox; the computer-animated sci-fi comedy, Planet 51; the Alvin and the Chipmunks “squeakquel”; and Disney’s Louisiana-set return to hand-drawn animation, The Princess and the Frog.

Planet-wide devastation of Earth and elsewhere figures in three upcoming films: The long-delayed post-apocalypse drama, The Road; John Cusack-starring end of the world epic, 2012; and Titanic and Terminator director James Cameron’s mix of live action and animation, Avatar.

The season’s Oscar bait includes Nine, based on the Tony-winning 1982 musical and starring Oscar-winners Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Judi Dench and Sophia Loren. There’s also the Clint Eastwood-helmed Invictus, which casts Morgan Freeman as former South African President Nelson Mandela.

As for event movies, Sherlock Holmes, opening Christmas Day, stars Robert Downey Jr. as the master British detective. The Twilight Saga: New Moon, a sequel to last year’s teen-vampire hit, Twilight, appears poised to strike more box office gold. And Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus features the late Heath Ledger in his final role and an all-star cast that includes Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, Jude Law and Christopher Plummer.

Many of the new films opening between today and Dec. 25 are listed below. Opening dates are subject to change and, depending upon market size, may vary.

Nov. 6

• THE BOX: Appearing in her second drama of the year, Cameron Diaz steps away from romantic comedy again to star in a thriller about a high school teacher who must decide whether or not to accept the consequences of pushing a button on a box that will bring her $1 million. James Marsden and Frank Langella co-star.
• DISNEY’S A CHRISTMAS CAROL: Robert Zemeckis directs this 3D telling of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Jim Carrey, playing several roles, leads a cast that includes Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Robin Wright Penn and Cary Elwes.
• THE FOURTH KIND: Dr. Abigail Tyler, a psychologist played by Milla Jovovich, videotapes traumatized patients in a remote Alaskan town and discovers evidence of alien abductions. Will Patton and Elias Loteas co-star.
• THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS: Inspired by a true story, this dark comedy investigates a top-secret U.S. military operation. Ewan McGregor plays a reporter and George Clooney co-stars as a mysterious special forces agent on an implausible mission.
• PRECIOUS: In 1987 Harlem, 16-year-old  Claireece “Precious” Jones is pregnant for the second time. Life with her abusive mother is awful, but attendance at an alternative school gives Precious a chance to rise above her circumstances. Mo’Nique, Paula Patton and an unglamorous Mariah Carey star alongside Gabourey Sidibe as Precious.

Nov. 13

• 2012: Various cultures, religions, scientists and governments believe the year 2012 will be one of incredible significance. In this epic adventure, survivors struggle after global catastrophe. The cast includes John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandi Newton and Woody Harrelson.
• PIRATE RADIO: Writer-director Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill) tells the story of Britain’s 1960s seagoing pirate radio station. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost and Kenneth Branagh co-star.

Nov. 20

• THE BLIND SIDE: Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw lead the cast of this film about a well-to-do white family and the homeless African-American youngster the family adopts. With the help of his new family, coaches and teachers, Michael Oher becomes an All-American football star.
• THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON: In this sequel to last year’s teen-vampire love story, Twilight, broken-hearted Bella has been abandoned by Edward Cullen, who left Forks, Wash., with his vampire clan for her protection. Bella gradually warms to her childhood friend, Jacob Black, a young man who’s got a secret of his own.
• RED CLIFF: Asian action-director John Woo reunites with action-star Tony Leung for this epic war story set in ancient China. A huge hit in Asia, Red Cliff is the biggest-budgeted film in Asian movie history.
• PLANET 51: American astronaut Capt. Charles “Chuck” Baker lands on Planet 51 and discovers it’s inhabited by happy little green beings whose civilization is modeled upon 1950s America. Chuck is in imminent danger of being displayed in the planet’s Alien Invaders Space Museum. Leading voices in this computer animated comedy-fantasy are provided by Dwayne Johnson, the actor formerly known as The Rock; Jessica Biel, Justin Long, John Cleese, Gary Oldman and Seann William Scott.  

Nov. 25