Two Scrooges in one week, Arthur Christmas back on the big screen, and Angry Birds on Christmas Day. Here’s what’s coming to a cinema near you.
Scrooge is having a very busy November. Two new films based on A Christmas Carol open within a week of each other. Here’s our guide to what’s on at the cinema this Christmas.
The Dickens double
Friday 6 November: Merry Christmas Aubrey Flint. A very British comedy. John Bradley plays a grumpy loner on community service who has to direct a retirement home’s amateur production of A Christmas Carol. The cast includes Celia Imrie, Richard E. Grant, Adjoa Andoh and, yes, Karl Pilkington. It looks like a lovely one for the whole family.
Friday 13 November: Ebenezer. Johnny Depp plays Scrooge, with Ian McKellen as Marley’s ghost and Rupert Grint as Bob Cratchit. It’s directed by Ti West, who usually makes horror films, and it’s billed as dark and gothic. Check the age rating before you take the little ones.
For the family
- Friday 20 November: Arthur Christmas comes back to the big screen. Still one of the best Christmas films ever made. We will not be taking questions.
- Friday 20 November: CBeebies Panto: Treasure Island, for the very youngest cinema-goers.
- Friday 4 December: The Cat in the Hat, a new animated film from Warner Bros.
- Friday 25 December: The Angry Birds Movie 3. Yes, on Christmas Day itself.
The classics return
On Friday 11 December, two old favourites come back to cinemas: It’s a Wonderful Life and The Holiday. One makes you cry, the other makes you want to move to a cottage in Surrey.
The big ones
Then the blockbusters arrive. Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three both open on Friday 18 December, with Jumanji: Open World on 23 December.
And that debate
Is Die Hard a Christmas film? Last year the British Board of Film Classification asked 2,000 of us. 44% said no, 38% said yes, and the rest were too busy eating mince pies to decide. The nation’s favourite Christmas film was Home Alone, ahead of Love Actually and It’s a Wonderful Life.
Film day in Honduras
In Talanga, Honduras, the children at Proyecto Alas held their own election this year and voted in a Student Council. One of the council’s first promises? A monthly film day.
Children who once had no voice are now choosing what happens next. Your gift helps us give more children that chance.
Tune in to Radio Christmas from 1 December and tell us your favourite Christmas film. We’ll play the songs from the most popular ones on air.