Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 18 December 2015 - 22 December 2015 (or so)

I suppose I could be coy and run down the other things that are coming out, but let's face it - the big dog is Star Wars, that's what I'm taking vacation time to see, and the rest is the other stuff, even if a bunch is fairly interesting and exciting.

• So let's get to it: Star Wars: The Force Awakens is opening on a whole bunch of screens, claiming almost every Imax screen in the western world and probably breaking opening-weekend records on pre-sales alone. It's the long-awaited official cinematic continuation from Return of the Jedi with much of the cast of the original reprising their roles, with a new braintrust planning a movie a year. It is playing in 2D & 3D at (deep breath) the Capitol, Apple Fresh Pond, Belmont Studio (2D only), Jordan's Furniture (3D Imax), the Embassy, Fenway (including 2D/3D RPX), Boston Common (including Imax 3D), Assembly Row (incuding Imax 3D), Revere (including XPlus & MX4D), and the SuperLux.
  
  And, man, Fox (the saga's former home) counters with Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, which has the CGI rodents crossing the country to stop Dave from proposing to his girlfriend - probably a wacky misunderstanding. It's at the Capitol, Apple Fresh Pond (the only one advertising 3D screenings), Fenway, Boston Common, Assembly Row, and Revere. There's also counter-programming with Sisters, featuring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as, well, sisters with contrasting personalities who reuinte and throw one last party at their parents' house before its sold. It's at Somerville, Apple Fresh Pond, the Embassy, Fenway, Boston Common, Assembly Row, Revere, and the SuperLux.
• When I mentioned that Star Wars was getting all the Imax screens in the western world, that does not include China, where Mojin - The Lost Legend (aka "The Ghouls"), a great big, star-studded swashbuckling adventure with a cast including Chen Kun, Huang Bo, Shu Qi, Angelababy, Xia Yu, and more searching for lost treasure (it is advertisted as coming from the #1 Best-Selling Treasure-Hunting Novel in China, which is either crazily specific or a very popular genre). Wuershan directs, and while we don't get it in 3D Imax, it does play Boston Common. They also open Surprise, which appears to be a version of the Journey to the West story that also has present-day segments and a cast that includes Wilson Chen, Eric Tsang, Winston Chao, and others.
  
  (Or they may be opening a Dutch film named "Surprise"; I've seen listings for both. I think it's the Chinese one, though.)
  
  Apple Cinemas Fresh Pond, meanwhile, goes for big Indian releases, most notably Bajirao Mastani, a historical romantic action epic starring Ranveer Singh as 16th Century warrior Bajirao and Deepika Padukone as Mastani, the woman who would become his second wife. It also features Priyanka Chopra, and I'm mildlly curious to see if any of her new fans from Quantico follow her to this. The other Bollywood opening is Dilwae, which is apparently a masala film featuring Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Kriti Sanon, and Varun Dhawan as the children of rival crime families. There's also Thana Magan if you speak Tamil and Loafer (late-night screenings through Sunday) for Telugu speakers.
• The Coolidge Corner Theatre adds The Danish Girl (as does Embassy Row), which is okay. They also have some Christmas programming with a 35mm print of Scrooged at midnight Friday & Saturday and The Muppet Christmas Carol on Sunday morning.
• The Brattle Theatre's Christmas programming continues, featuring their annual screenings of It's a Wonderful Life from Friday to Sunday. They also do their Alt-Xmas screenings, including Edward Scissorhands on Sunday, a Gremlins double-feature on Monday(with Gremlins 2 also playing Friday night), a Die Hard two-for on Tuesday (with the second also playing Saturday), and Home Alone on Sunday.
• The Harvard Film Archive also has their traditional Christmas programming, with an hour of the Kuchar family's video diaries (and one from Anne Robertson) on Friday night and some Vintage Holiday Shorts on 35mm and 16mm at 5pm Sunday, including "A Child's Christmas in Wales" and"The Great Toy Robbery". They also have the rest of their Orson Welles program, with the seldom-seen preview version of Touch of Evil on Friday, It's All True on Saturday, and The Stranger on Monday (all 35mm), as well as the final screenings of The Forbidden Room on Saturday & Sunday; then they close up shop for the holiday break.
• The Museum of Fine Arts keeps showing The Art of Alfred Hitchcock with Vertigo (Friday/Sunday), North By Northwest (Friday/Saturday), Psycho (Saturday), The Birds (Sunday), all on 35mm.

West Newton picks up In the Heart of the Sea and Youth

So I'm down for Star Wars, the Chinese movies, Bajirao Mastani, and Hitchcock/Truffaut before Christmas stuff starts showing up Wednesday, which is about when they'll be warming up the big projectors in some spots.