Holiday movie preview 2023: New Orleans film writer Mike Scott looks at what’s due in theaters

On the first day of the Christmas movie season, my true love gave to me: an end to Hollywood’s 118-day actor’s strike.

With that finally out of the way, we can all now stop watching the reality shows and re-treads that have been passing for entertainment lately and enjoy the holiday movie season in all its traditionally eclectic glory.

As is usually the case this time of year, the next several weeks can be expected to deliver to theaters and streaming services an intriguing blend of Oscar hopefuls (“Napoleon,” “Poor Things,” “Ferrari”), blockbusters-in-waiting (“Wonka,” “Rebel Moon,” “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom”) and sweet, family-friendly pleasures (“Wish,” “Family Switch,” “Candy Cane Lane”).

In all, I count 40-something major new releases on tap between now and New Year’s. Below, you’ll find the skinny on each — both the naughty and nice alike — in my annual Holiday Movie Preview.

As always, it’s arranged according to release date (which are all subject to change). Also as always, I’ve spotlighted a handful of particularly noteworthy projects.

Roll ’em …

Friday (Nov. 17)

SPOTLIGHT: “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” (Lionsgate) The one-time literary phenomenon and subsequent blockbuster movie series gets a prequel, starring Tom Blyth as an 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow, many years and many lies before his ascendance to the presidency.

Also new this week: Lil Rel Howery plays a holiday hater who finds the true meaning of Christmas in the comedy “Dashing Through the Snow” (Disney+); Todd Haynes directs Natalie Portman and Julianne More in “May December” (Netflix), about a woman married to a much younger man; Taika Waititi directs the soccer comedy-drama “Next Goal Wins” (Searchlight), based on the real-life exploits of the 2014 American Samoa soccer team; gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin is profiled in the biopic “Rustin” (Netflix); John Goodman teams up with the Please Don’t Destroy comedy trio in “The Treasure of Foggy Mountain” (Peacock); Eli Roth’s fake trailer becomes a real movie in the holiday slasher “Thanksgiving” (TriStar); and the animated “Trolls” series gets a sequel in “Trolls Band Together” (Universal).

Nov. 20

“Stamped from the Beginning” (Netflix) The history of racism in America is explored in a scholarly documentary based on the book by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi.

Nov. 21

“Leo” (Netflix) Adam Sandler does the animated thing again in a musical comedy about a reptilian class pet who dreams of busting out.

Nov. 22

SPOTLIGHT: “Napoleon” (Columbia) Filmmaker Ridley Scott reteams with “Gladiator” actor Joaquin Phoenix, this time for a film about the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte, with a particular focus on his romantic relationship with the Empress Josephine (Vanessa Kirby).

Also new this week: Disney delivers its next animated flight of fancy with the magic-laced “Wish” (Disney); Melissa McCarthy stars in the Richard Curtis-penned holiday fairy tale comedy “Genie” (Peacock); “SNL” actor Kennan Thompson stars in “Good Burger 2” (Paramount+), a sequel to the 1997 comedy; Bradley Cooper directs and stars in the drama “Maestro” (Netflix), about Leonard Bernsten’s relationship with wife Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan); social order is disrupted for Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali and Ethan Hawke in the psychological thriller “Leave the World Behind” (Netflix); and Barry Keoghan becomes obsessed with a friend’s eccentric family during a holiday visit in the psychological drama “Saltburn” (Amazon/MGM).

Nov. 30

The children’s book “Bedtime for Mommy” becomes a live-action comedy in director McG’s “Family Switch” (Netflix), starring Jennifer Garner and Ed Helms.

Dec. 1

Eddie Murphy stars in the holiday comedy “Candy Cane Lane” (Amazon/MGM), about a neighborhood house-decorating competition that gets out of hand; Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway team up for the psychological thriller “Eileen” (Neon), set in a 1960s New England prison; Sean Astin stars in the indie sci-fi thriller “The Shift” (Angel Studios), shot in Birmingham, Alabama; John Woo directs the holiday shoot-’em-up “Silent Night” (Lionsgate), starring Joel Kinnaman as a man on a yuletide mission of revenge; and prepare for the Beyhive to swarm theaters for the concert film “Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce” (AMC Entertainment).

Dec. 7

SPOTLIGHT: “Poor Things” (Searchlight) The reliably weird Yorgos Lanthamos directs a black comedy based on the Alasdair Grey book of the same name about a young woman (Emma Stone) who, after being medically resurrected à la “Frankenstein,” embarks on a cross-continent journey of sexual exploration.

Also new this week: The horror thriller “The Cello” (Destiny Media Entertainment), about a possessed musical instrument; the indie saga “The Oath” (Freestyle Releasing), about a lone Hebraic figure being pursued through a version of pre-Columbian America by a ruthless tyrant; and “Waitress” (Bleecker Street) returns to the big screen, with this recording of the 2015 stage musical inspired by the 2007 film of the same name.

Dec. 8

The “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series gets another animated installment in “Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever” (Disney+), in which wimpy kid Greg Heffley’s plans to land on Santa’s “nice” list go awry.

Dec. 15

SPOTLIGHT: “Wonka” (Warner Bros.) Willy Wonka gets an origin story in this musical fantasy, starring Timothée Chalamet as a young version of the famed literary chocolatier.

Also new this week: The dark comedy “American Fiction” (Orion), starring Jeffery Wright as a Black intellectual who becomes everything he hates; the animated comedy sequel “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nuggets” (Netflix); the action comedy “The Family Plan” (AppleTV+), starring Mark Wahlberg as a family man whose past as an assassin comes back to haunt him; the crime drama “Finestkind” (MTV Studios/Paramount+), about two brothers who become entangled with a Boston crime syndicate; and “The Zone of Interest” (A24), about the efforts of Nazi officer Rudolph Höss and his wife to establish their dream home in the shadow of the Auschwitz death camp.

Dec. 22

SPOTLIGHT: “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” (Warner Bros.) The major-label superhero film of the season is this 15th installment in the DC Extended Universe, in which the web-toed wonder (again played by Jason Momoa) must protect Atlantis from an ancient power.

Also new this week: The romantic comedy “Anyone But You” (Columbia Pictures), in which hate turns to love during an Australian vacation; the Baton Rouge-shot “Iron Claw” (A24), about the wrestling world’s Von Erich family; the animated comedy “Migration” (Universal), about a family of ducks on a farce-filled vacation; and Zack Snyder’s sci-fi saga “Rebel Moon” (Netflix), about an uprising set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Dec. 25

SPOTLIGHT: “The Color Purple” (Warner Bros.) Nearly three decades after Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed version, Alice Walker’s Pulitzer-winning novel about the travails of a Black woman coming of age in the early 1900s American South is once more adapted for the big screen, this time based on the stage musical of the same name. Among others, the all-star cast includes Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Coleman Domingo and New Orleans’ Jon Batiste.

Also new this week: George Clooney slips behind the camera to direct the sports drama “The Boys in the Boat” (MGM), about the U.S. men’s rowing team at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin; and Michael Mann directs the biographical sports drama “Ferrari” (Neon), starring the fittingly named Adam Driver as the motorsports icon.