Based on information provided by the Box Office Mojo and some internet research, here are just some of the movies you can expect to see in the movie theatres in December:
Ben is Back
Opens: December 7
Nineteen-year-old Ben Burns (Lucas Hedges) unexpectedly returns to his family’s suburban home on Christmas Eve. Ben’s mom, Holly (Julia Roberts), is relieved and welcoming but wary of her son’s drug addiction. Over a turbulent 24 hours, new truths are revealed, and a mother’s undying love gets put to the test as Holly does everything in her power to keep Ben clean. The film also stars Kathryn Newton and Courtney B. Vance.
Mary Queen of Scots
Opens: December 7
Queen of France at 16 and widowed at 18, Mary Stuart (Saoirse Ronan) defies pressure to remarry. Instead, she returns to her native Scotland to reclaim her rightful throne. But Scotland and England fall under the rule of the compelling Elizabeth I (Margot Robbie). Each young Queen beholds her sister in fear and fascination. Rivals in power and in love, and female regents in a masculine world, the two must decide how to play the game of marriage versus independence. The cast includes Joe Alwyn, David Tennant, Guy Pearce, Gemma Chan and Ian Hart.
Vox Lux
Opens: December 7
The film begins in 1999 with teenage sisters Celeste (Raffey Cassidy) and Eleanor (Stacy Martin), who have survived a seismic, violent tragedy. The sisters compose and perform a song about their experience, making something lovely and cathartic out of catastrophe and launch singing careers. The sisters draw the attention of a passionate manager (Jude Law) and are rapidly catapulted into fame and fortune, with Celeste as the star and Eleanor the creative anchor. By the film’s second half, set in 2017, the now 31-year-old Celeste (Natalie Portman) is mother to a teenage daughter of her own (Raffey Cassidy) and struggling to navigate a career fraught with scandals when another act of terrifying violence demands her attention. The film also stars Jennifer Ehle and Willem Dafoe.
If Beale Street Could Talk
Opens: December 14
In early 1970s Harlem, daughter and wife-to-be Clementine “Tish” Rivers (KiKi Layne) vividly recalls the passion, respect and trust that have connected her and her artist fiancé Alonzo “Fonny” Hunt (Stephan James). Friends since childhood, the devoted couple dream of a future together, but their plans are derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit. The ensemble cast includes Regina King, Colman Domingo, Brian Tyree Henry, Michael Beach, Aunjanue Ellis, Finn Wittrock, Diego Luna, Pedro Pascal and Dave Franco.
Mortal Engines
Opens: December 14
Tom (Robert Sheehan) is a twenty-something Londoner who has only ever lived inside his travelling hometown, and his feet have never touched grass, mud or land. His first taste of the outside comes quite abruptly: Tom gets in the way of the masked Hester’s (Hera Hilmar) attempt to kill Thaddeus Valentine (Hugo Weaving), a powerful man she blames for her mother’s murder, and both Hester and Tom end up thrown out of the moving “traction” city, to fend for themselves.
The Mule
Opens: December 14
Broke, alone and facing foreclosure on his business, Earl Stone (Clint Eastwood) takes a job as a drug courier for a Mexican cartel. His immediate success leads to easy money and a larger shipment that soon draws the attention of hard-charging DEA agent Colin Bates (Bradley Cooper). When Earl’s past mistakes start to weigh heavily on his conscience, he must decide whether to right those wrongs before law enforcement and cartel thugs catch up to him. The ensemble cast includes Laurence Fishburne, Michael Pena, Dianne Wiest, Andy Garcia, Alison Eastwood, Taissa Farmiga, Ignacio Serricchio, Manny Montana and Clifton Collins Jr.
Mary Poppins Returns
Opens: December 19
Set in 1930s London, which is the time period of the original novels by P.L. Travers, the story follows Michael (Ben Whishaw) and Jane Banks (Emily Mortimer), who are now grown up. Michael is living with his three children and housekeeper Ellen (Julie Walters), in the house on Cherry Tree Lane. After Michael has a personal loss, Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) comes back into the lives of the Banks family. She is joined by a street lamplighter named Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda) and an eccentric cousin named Topsy (Meryl Streep). The cast also includes Colin Firth, Dick Van Dyke and Angela Lansbury.
Aquaman
Opens: December 21
Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) is the reluctant ruler of Atlantis and King of the Seven Seas, who finds himself caught between a surface world constantly ravaging the sea and Atlanteans looking to lash out in revolt, but committed to protecting the entire globe. The cast also includes Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren and Nicole Kidman.
Bumblebee
Opens: December 21
Twenty years before the events of the first film in 1987, Bumblebee takes refuge in a small California beach town junkyard, where a teenage girl named Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld) takes him in. However, the two of them soon find themselves hunted by a government agency known as Sector 7, led by Agent Burns. As they run from society, the two learn that Bee is not the only Transformer on Earth, and that the others might not be as friendly. The film also stars John Cena, Pamela Adlon and Kenneth Choi as well as voices provided by Angela Bassett and Justin Theroux.
Second Act
Opens: December 21
Stuck in a low-paying job, Maya (Jennifer Lopez) gets a chance to fulfill her career ambitions when a private finance firm is misled into believing that she’s an accomplished consultant and hire her to handle a major business deal. The cast includes Vanessa Hudgens, Leah Remini, Dan Bucatinsky, Freddie Stroma, Milo Ventimiglia, Treat Williams and Larry Miller.
Welcome to Marwen
Opens: December 21
Mark Hogancamp (Steve Carell), a victim of a violent assault, constructs a miniature World War II village called Marwen in his yard to help in his recovery. The film also stars Leslie Mann, Merritt Weaver, Janelle Monae, Eiza Gonzalez, Gwendoline Christie, Neil Jackson, Diane Kruger and Falk Hentschel.
Destroyer
Opens: December 26
LAPD detective Erin Bell (Nicole Kidman), as a young cop, was placed undercover with a gang in the California desert with tragic results. When the leader of that gang re-emerges many years later, she must work her way back through the remaining members and into her own history with them to finally reckon with the demons that destroyed her past. The film also stars Sebastian Stan, Toby Kebbell, Tatiana Maslany, Bradley Whitford, Scoot McNairy and Shamier Anderson.
On the Basis of Sex
Opens: December 26
The film follows the young mother Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Felicity Jones), who, having struggled against the sexism of her times to become educated at Harvard Law School and enter upon a legal career, teams with her husband, Martin “Marty” Ginsburg (Armie Hammer), to argue the 1972 case Moritz v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue pro bono before the U.S. Court of Appeals, setting the stage to overturn over a century of sex discrimination. The cast includes Justin Theroux, Kathy Bates, Sam Waterston, Jack Reynor and Stephen Root.
Vice
Opens: December 26
The plot follows Dick Cheney (Christian Bale) in his political rise to become the most powerful Vice President in America’s history. The ensemble cast includes Amy Adams, Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, Alison Pill, Jesse Plemons, Lily Rabe, Tyler Perry, Justin Kirk, LisaGay Hamilton, Shea Whigham, Eddie Marsan and Bill Pullman.
Stan & Ollie
Opens: December 28
The film follows the story of the famous comedic dynamic duo, Laurel and Hardy (Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly). Their success and the harsh struggles they faced in terms of their careers. The film also stars Shirley Henderson and Danny Huston.
Movies coming out in January will be posted at the end of December.
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