In the spirit of the holidays, studios always roll out their new movies on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. They do it in the hopes that you'll give them a reason to be thankful by spending your extra vacation time at one of their movies. Besides, everyone knows the mall movie theater is the refuge for poor souls dragged out for The-Day-After-Thanksgiving shopping trips against their will.
No matter what kind of mood you're in after stuffing your face, Hollywood is serving up something for you. Five new releases are lined up, so let your belt out a notch and take your pick.
The movie likely to get the most attention (and box office cash) is Disney's family-friendly Enchanted. Tired of letting Shrek make all the money poking fun at their movies, Disney is getting in on the action, literally. Instead of going CG they're sending princess and company into the real world for a little self-deprecating adventure.
It's a toss up what will come in second. Horror fans have the critically acclaimed Stephen King's The Mist to look forward to, video gamers can spend their money on the film adaptation of Hitman and everyone looking for a reason to get a teary eye and the warm fuzzies can fall back on the promising drama August Rush. However, I'm betting only one of those will likely have enough pull to top Beowulf and Bee Movie.
Floating at the bottom of the new release list and the lower end of the top ten list will be holiday drama This Christmas. I don't mean to say it's not worth seeing, but with little-to-no marketing, a smaller release and the fact that it's the wrong holiday, I expect This Christmas won't have much cash in its stocking.
The coen Brothers' No Country For Old Men will expand to 800 theaters, but given its heavy success last weekend I suspect everyone interested in seeing the movie has already seen it. Don't look for it to go anywhere but down.
