Here we look at the upcoming month’s offerings.

Dec. 4, 2015

Krampus

Premise: From IMDb: “A boy who has a bad Christmas ends up accidentally summoning a Christmas demon to his family home.”
Box Office Prospects: $45 M
Expectations: Weak. Holiday-themed horror films don’t often do well at the box office, finding most of their support on DVD. This film should be no exception.
Oscar Prospects: None.

The Lady in the Van (Limited)

Premise: From IMDb: “A man forms an unexpected bond with a transient woman living in her car that’s parked in his driveway.”
Box Office Prospects: $20 M
Expectations: Weak. Any attempt to turn this into the next Best Exotic Marigold Hotel are certain to be frustrated.
Oscar Prospects: Poor. Every time Maggie Smith makes a movie, there’s buzz that she could be an Oscar contender. However, this slight bitter old woman comedy doesn’t quite have the cachet to be a major Oscar player even with Smith in the lead. With so many competitors in Best Actress, it would be a shock to see her nominated.

Macbeth (Limited)

Premise: From IMDb: “Macbeth, a Thane of Scotland, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.”
Box Office Prospects: $15 M
Expectations: Weak. Shakespeare doesn’t have a strong track record at the box office unless it’s spiffed up and modernized (like West Side Story or Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo & Juliet), so don’t expect this to do much in terms of box office.
Oscar Prospects: Uncertain. The scuttlebutt is that Harvey Weinstein is torpedoing the film’s Oscar chances. Why that would be when there are some solid possibilities for nominations is anyone’s guess. However, with the likes of Carol and The Hateful Eight, he has some decent opportunities for nominations even without this film.

Youth (Limited)

Premise: From IMDb: “A retired orchestra conductor is on holiday with his daughter and his film director best friend in the Alps when he receives an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to perform for Prince Philip’s birthday.”
Box Office Prospects: $5 M
Expectations: Weak. The film may star a recognizable face, but it’s still an indie film and unless you know who Paolo Sorrentino is, you aren’t likely to venture to the theater to see the film.
Oscar Prospects: Weak. Paolo Sorrentino’s English-language feature starring Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel has drawn quite a bit of interest, but may be too esoteric for the Academy. Caine is competing for a Best Actor nomination as is Jane Fonda in Best Supporting Actress, predictions of which seems like a tough fit from all accounts. The film could nab a screenwriting nomination if nothing else.

Dec. 11, 2015

In the Heart of the Sea

Premise: From IMDb: “Based on the 1820 event, a whaling ship is preyed upon by a sperm whale, stranding its crew at sea for 90 days, thousands of miles from home.”
Box Office Prospects: $80 M
Expectations: Like Master and Commander, the naval drama could have a nice run at the box office. I don’t think it will be a blockbuster, but it should do quite well.
Oscar Prospects: Decent. Ron Howard’s deep sea adventure sounds an awful lot like Master and Commander in terms of its setting and cast. Additionally, he decision to move it from its early-year berth to one closer to Oscar season might have looked like a play for the Oscars. However, it’s more likely the film was moved to compete at the box office rather than at the Oscars. Sure, it will probably merit some technical nominations, but the film doesn’t quite seem like the prestige vehicle Master and Commander was in terms of its Oscar potential in up-ballot races.

The Big Short (Limited)

Premise: From IMDb: “Four outsiders in the world of high-finance who predicted the credit and housing bubble collapse of the mid-2000s decide to take on the big banks for their lack of foresight and greed.”
Box Office Prospects: $55 M
Expectations: Uncertain. With this cast, you can believe it will have the potential to play well across the nation. Whether it can do so depends on a lot of factors, including how good it actually is.
Oscar Prospects: Weak. When the film was announced for a late-year release, many heard the premise and the cast and thought it was sure to be a competitor for many Oscar nominations. However, as more has emerged, excitement seems to have waned a bit and being a dark comedy, no matter how blistering, it may struggle to make inroads with the Academy.

Dec. 18, 2015

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip

Premise: From IMDb: “Through a series of misunderstandings, Alvin, Simon and Theodore come to believe that Dave is going to propose to his new girlfriend in Miami…and dump them. They have three days to get to him and stop the proposal, saving themselves not only from losing Dave but possibly from gaining a terrible stepbrother.”
Box Office Prospects: $90 M
Expectations: Doubtful. The last film in the franchise took a huge tumble over its predecessor, but not before amassing enough money to assure a sequel. This fourth film will struggle mightily to justify itself and may ultimately finish under $100 million for the first time in the franchise’s history.
Oscar Prospects: None.

Sisters

Premise: From IMDb: “Two sisters decide to throw one last house party before their parents sell their family home.”
Box Office Prospects: $65 M
Expectations: Decent. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are stellar together and the film looks like it could be much funnier than many of their individual separate outings. With few outright comedies in the offering around the holidays, it could be a sleeper.
Oscar Prospects: None.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Premise: From IMDb: “A continuation of the saga created by George Lucas and set thirty years after Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983).”
Box Office Prospects: $700 M
Expectations: Excellent. Based on inflation, the first prequel managed over $700 million at the box office. That seems completely do-able this time around, but whether it will top Jurassic World remains to be seen even if the Star Wars fans are some of the most die hard in the history of filmdom.
Oscar Prospects: Excellent. While predictions that the film will earn a Best Picture nomination may be fruitless, the film is sure to make a strong run in the creative categories from Best Original Score down to Best Visual Effects. It’s also likely to compete heavily in three or four of the categories.

Son of Saul (Limited)

Premise: From IMDb: “In the horror of 1944 Auschwitz, a prisoner forced to burn the corpses of his own people finds moral survival upon trying to salvage from the flames the body of a boy he takes for his son.”
Box Office Prospects: $5 M
Expectations: Good. With excellent reviews and a likely Oscar competition and victory, the film should do quite well for a foreign language film at the specialty box office.
Oscar Prospects: Good. Said to be the frontrunner for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, many believe the film could also make the rare foreign language appearance in Best Picture along with nominations in writing. Those prospects are a bit weaker in a heavy lineup, but I wouldn’t entirely count them out either.

Dec. 25, 2015

Concussion

Premise: From IMDb: “Will Smith stars in a dramatic thriller based on the incredible true David vs. Goliath story of Dr. Bennet Omalu, the brilliant forensic neuropathologist who made the first discovery of CTE, a football-related brain trauma, in a pro player.”
Box Office Prospects: $65 M
Expectations: Uncertain. Will Smith has struggled in recent years to rebuild his box office dominance. This film could do it, but it could also easily fail. The question is how good it is and how many people want to see him in a drama with an accent. His prior dramatic offerings (not blockbusters) were more muted in their tallies, so I expect this to be as well.
Oscar Prospects: Uncertain. Will Smith is doing quite well among prognosticators for his work in the film, leading to a raft of Best Actor nomination predictions. He isn’t likely to win and the film doesn’t look like it’s building sufficient buzz for nominations outside of Best Actor, though it could squeak out a handful.

Daddy’s Home

Premise: From IMDb: “A mild-mannered radio executive strives to become the best stepdad to his wife’s two children, but complications ensue when their freewheeling and freeloading real father arrives, forcing him to compete for the affection of the kids.”
Box Office Prospects: $120 M
Expectations: Good. Will Ferrell still does excellent box office. Pair him with Mark Wahlberg and you could have a fairly strong box office performance.
Oscar Prospects: None.

Joy

Premise: From IMDb: “Joy is the story of a family across four generations and the woman who rises to become founder and matriarch of a powerful family business dynasty.”
Box Office Prospects: $110 M
Expectations: Good. David O. Russell may not seem like the kind of director that delivers box office magic, but his films have all been wildly popular. While this film won’t have the level of cachet that American Hustle had, Jennifer Lawrence being the star that she is should help draw plenty of attention to the film, which will do quite well over the holidays.
Oscar Prospects: Excellent. Perennial Oscar contender David O. Russell is going for the gold once again with a surefire Best Picture contender and another chance for Jennifer Lawrence to extend her record of Oscar nominations at such a young age. That said, Russell is once again facing very stiff competition from some very serious contenders, including a frontrunner that recalls legendary Oscar nominees of the past, Spotlight.

Point Break

Premise: From IMDb: “A young FBI agent infiltrates an extraordinary team of extreme sports athletes he suspects of masterminding a string of unprecedented, sophisticated corporate heists. “Point Break” is inspired by the classic 1991 hit.”
Box Office Prospects: $50 M
Expectations: Uncertain. This remake of a film that no one really wanted may struggle to survive the holidays, but with decent reviews, it could perform adequately even without a major star on the roster.
Oscar Prospects: None.

45 Years (Limited)

Premise: From IMDb: “In the week leading up to their 45th wedding anniversary, a couple receive an unexpected letter which contains potentially life changing news.”
Box Office Prospects: $7 M
Expectations: Good. I’m reminded a bit of Amour here, a small foreign language film that did surprisingly well with Oscar and at the box office. This could do equally well, though without the Oscar competition giving it a boost.
Oscar Prospects: Uncertain. There’s light buzz for Charlotte Rampling’s performance in the film, but the Best Actress race is chock full of strong contenders, something that may be tough to overcome.

The Hateful Eight (Limited)

Premise: From IMDb: “In post-Civil War Wyoming, bounty hunters try to find shelter during a blizzard but get involved in a plot of betrayal and deception. Will they survive?”
Box Office Prospects: $95 M
Expectations: Good. Quentin Tarantino’s films have been nothing if not solid hits at the box office. His last two films did so incredibly well that it would be shocking for this to underperform. Though, underperform it will. Nothing that made Inglourious Basterds or Django Unchained outsized hits seems to be present in this film. I suspect it will do better than his post-Pulp Fiction films, but not nearly as well as his prior two.
Oscar Prospects: Excellent. Quentin Tarantino may not have always been an Oscar magnet, but these days, he cannot make a film without getting the Academy to pay attention to it. While this isn’t likely to earn him an Oscar for Best Director, it should be a strong contender in several categories for nominations and possibly even design category victories.

The Revenant (Limited)

Premise: From IMDb: “In the 1820s, a frontiersman, Hugh Glass, sets out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling.”
Box Office Prospects: $100 M
Expectations: Good. With Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead and a strong Oscar campaign in the offing, things should go quite well for this film. After all, DiCaprio is a certifiable box office star.
Oscar Prospects: Excellent. Hot off his Oscar win for Birdman, Alejandro González Iñárritu has been building plenty of buzz for his gritty revenge drama, which has hopes in several categories and which many believe may finally bring Leonardo DiCaprio his long-sought-after Oscar.