Festive flicks: Movies to look forward to this holiday season

The lineup of films hitting movie theaters this holiday season brings some much-anticipated sequels, family-friendly animated features and action-packed, high-energy dramas.

Coming to theaters in November is ...

"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I," the first in a two-part sequel to the 2013 film "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire." Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence reprises the role of protagonist Katniss Everdeen, a symbol of rebellion against the revenge-seeking Capitol.

"The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies," due in theaters Dec. 17, finds Bilbo Baggins fighting for his life as the future of Middle Earth is threatened. It is the final installment of a trilogy.

"These two big movies, part of popular series, have built-in audiences. People have really been talking about them the last couple of years," says Kevin Dillon, manager of Wehrenberg 14 Cine in Cape Girardeau.

Dillon says another sequel, "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb," will arrive in theaters Dec. 19. He classifies the movie, the third and final installment of the trilogy, as "family-oriented" and says it's the kind of movie that "tends to do well." The movie stands as Mickey Rooney's final film and one of the last movies of Robin Williams, who portrays President Theodore Roosevelt. Both Rooney and Williams died before the film's release.

"Interstellar," which opened in early November and stars Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway, is a nearly three-hour science-fiction story of efforts to save planet Earth from the effects of climate change.

As an astronaut, "McConaughey has to locate a new place for people to live, and finds a wormhole to get people to outer space," Dillon says, as the earth is becoming inhabitable for humans.

Two computer-animated children's movies high on Dillon's list of holiday flicks are Disney's "Big Hero 6," which opened in theaters in early November, and spinoff "The Penguins of Madagascar," which debuts Nov. 26. "Big Hero 6" is an action-packed comedy adventure, the story of Hiro Hamada, a computer prodigy, and the robot he creates, Baymax, who discover a criminal plot in the fictional city of San Fransokyo. Stopping a villain from taking over the world is the job of the entertaining and mysterious birds of "The Penguins of Madagascar."

"Exodus: Gods and Kings," which opens Dec. 12, is the Biblical story of Moses, portrayed by Christian Bale, rising up against the Pharaoh Ramses and leading 600,000 Hebrew slaves out of Egypt. Directed by Ridley Scott, who brought "Gladiator" to the screen, the film-- which, like "Interstellar," is said to run about three hours -- is chockablock with battles of legions of warriors, hand-to-hand sword combat, chariot processions, deadly plagues and, literally, acts of God.

"The visuals give it a large-production feel," Dillon says, referring to Scott's use of state-of-the art visual effects and three-dimensional immersion to create scenes such as the parting of the Red Sea and uncountable locusts raining from the sky.

After its initial release in the United Kingdom, the animated children's film "Paddington" will make its U.S. appearance after Christmas, on Jan. 16. "Paddington," a comic adventure of a Peruvian bear who travels to London to find a home, is based on the series of books about the bear, the first of which, "A Bear Called Paddington," by Michael Bond, was published in 1958.

"'Paddington' is really funny; it's a classic," Dillon says.