Upcoming Movies

The holiday season has always had some of the most anticipated movies of the year. This year is no exception. From “Cats” to a new adaptation of “Star Wars” and “Little Women,” the movie round up for this holiday season is looking good. 

Here are some of the most noteworthy films you should be looking out for. 

A Million Little Pieces (Dec. 6)

Based on James Frey’s best-selling controversial novel published in 2003, A Million Little Pieces follows a young and declining drug-addict who has recently submitted himself into a treatment center. The film displays the ups and downs of rehabilitation, and the array of people he meets along the way. Sam-Taylor Johnson directs.

Jumanji: The Next Level (Dec. 13)

The sequel to the epic adventure comedy starring Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillan, is set to come to theaters in mid-December. This time, the characters are set to endure new challenges, and find that they are actually no more prepared than they were the first time. Jake Kasdan directs.

Black Christmas (Dec. 13)

Just in time for the holidays comes a timely take on a cult horror classic as a campus killer strikes a group of formidable sorority girls, who refuse to let their assailant win. Bob Clark directs.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Dec. 20)

The final battle commences in the last film of the current Star Wars trilogy‒it also finishes off the 42-year Skywalker saga. The surviving Resistance faces the First Order once more as Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega) and Poe Dameron’s (Oscar Isaac) journey continues. This time, director J.J. Abrams focuses on Boyega’s character, Finn, who Abrams felt needed to “find his place and have a team to fight for.”

Bombshell (Dec. 20)

Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie star in the true-story film about the 2016 Fox News Scandal in which several women anchors set out to expose CEO Roger Ailes for sexual harassment. In the midst of the “Me Too” Movement, the film takes on the question of whether or not women will stand up for one another against an abuser if their jobs and reputation are on the line. Jay Roach directs.

Cats (Dec. 20)

Based on the legendary Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Cats has a new movie adaptation set to come to theaters just before Christmas. The storyline centers around a group of cats, named the Jellicles, who have to choose which feline persona will be reborn into a new life. From Academy Award winner Tom Hooper, director of Les Misérables and The King’s Speech, Cats features a star-studded cast from Taylor Swift to Idris Elba and countless other cameos.

Little Women (Dec. 25)

Greta Gerwig directs the latest Little Women adaptation with a star-studded cast including Saorise Ronan, Timothee Chalamet, Florence Pugh, Meryl Streep, and Emma Watson. Gerwig decided to take on the project as a tribute to her childhood obsession with Louisa May Alcott’s coming-of-age-classic. Set in the aftermath of the Civil War, the film follows the lives of four sisters, Amy, Jo, Beth, and Meg, as they navigate tough and changing times. Gerwig’s version shows the March sisters as adults, with flashbacks to their younger selves. She felt that the film’s themes of financial inequality of women are still a part of conversation today, she adds, “that felt urgent to me.”

1917 (Dec. 25)

Director Sam Mendes pays tribute to his grandfather’s recounts of World War I, but this war movie has a twist, it was filmed in only one shot. The film follows two young British soldiers who have to deliver a message to a neighboring militia before 1600 men walk into a deadly trap against the Germans. The drama shows the tragedy of war, but solely from the perspective of these two men, as the camera is never turned away from them. Mendes hopes this idea will depict the size and destruction of World War I better than if they shot entire groups at once. Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay star as the two young men, along with Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, and Game Of Thrones star Richard Madden. 

Just Mercy (Dec. 25)

Michael B. Jordan plays Bryan Stevenson, an eager lawyer, who in the 1990s defended Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), an Alabama man who was sentenced to death on improbable terms. McMillian believes he will never get out, until Stevenson shows him that he is going to do everything in his power to annul his sentencing. Written in 2014 by the lawyer himself, Stevenson exploits injustices of the judicial and prison systems in the United States, which have become the forefront of political and reform discussion today. Destin Daniel Cretton directs.


Julia Zambito
Opinion Editor

Graphic: Karis Han

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