Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 16 December 2022 - 22 December 2022

I feel like we've been making jokes about Avatar 2 not being a real movie that will ever come out for over a decade, and now here it is, playing on pretty much every large screen in the area.

• Anyway, lots of Avatar: The Way of Water all over the place, and by all accounts, you want to see it on the biggest/best 3D screen, possibly with high-frame-rate (HFR) projection, as James Cameron has brought everything he's got to bear, including what's being described as a much better script. It's at The Capitol (including RealD 3D), Fresh Pond (including 3D), Jordan's Furniture (Imax 3D), West Newton (2D only), CinemaSalem (2D only), Boston Common (including Imax 3D/Dolby Cinema 2D & HFR 3D/RealD 3D), Fenway (including HFR RealD 3D), Kendall Square (2D/RealD 3D), South Bay (including Imax 3D/Dolby Cinema 3D/RealD 3D), Assembly Row (including Imax 3D/Dolby Cinema 2D & 3D/RealD 3D), Arsenal Yards (including CWX), and Chestnut Hill (including HFR RealD 3D). Note that I've only included HFR where it's specifically stated (apart from the Dolby screen at Boston Common where I saw the first that way in September) - I suspect the Dolby screens are all HFR, and wouldn't be shocked if the laser projection at the Reading Imax was, but they're not advertising "3D Plus" the way they were for Gemini Man a few years back.
  
  Apple's Spirited - a musical take on A Christmas Carol starring Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell - arrives at Apple Fresh Pond after being on their service and at various Showcases for the past month. Still no Emancipation anywhere nearby, though.
  
  Puss in Boots: The Last Wish opens Wednesday at Boston Common (including RealD 3D/Spanish language), Fenway, South Bay (including RealD 3D), Assembly Row (including RealD 3D), Arsenal Yards, Lexington, and Chestnut Hill. South Bay has a preview of I Wanna Dance with Somebody on Wednesday before it opens later in the week.
  
  Elf and The Polar Express play mornings at Fresh Pond; Express and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation play through Sunday at Arsenal Yards. 75th Anniversary Shows of It's a Wonderful Life play Fenway, South Bay, and Arsenal Yards on Sunday and Wednesday.
• The Coolidge Corner Theatre opens Holy Spider, a European-produced thriller set in the Iranian city of Mashhad, as a journalist investigates a serial killer targeting sex workers. It's Denmark's submission for the Oscars, and there's a special Panorama screening on Sunday afternoon.
  
  The much-anticipated The Whale opens on Tuesday at the Coolidge, the Somerville, Boston Common, Fenway, South Bay, Assembly Row and Wednesday at the Kendall, with Darren Aranofsky directing Brendan Fraser under something like 200 pounds of makeup as an obese teacher attempting to reconnect with his daughter before his body gives out.
  
  Midnights for the weekend at the Coolidge include Anna and the Apocalypse and The Room on Friday and a 35mm print of Die Hard 2: Die Harder on Saturday. The Muppet Christmas Carol plays Saturday & Sunday mornings, and there's a Rewind! screening of Elf on Thursday.
• Boston Common gets Korean period thriller The Night Owl, featuring Alienoid star Ryu Jun-Yeol as a masseur who is blind during the day but has perfect night vision investigating the death of the crown prince.
  
  Hong Kong thriller The Sparring Partner hangs around for a show or two a day at Boston Common.
• Landmark Theatres Kendall Square opens documentary Wildcat on Wednesday, which follows two young folks at a wildlife sanctuary in the Amazon.
• The Brattle Theatre has its annual It's a Wonderful Life shows this weekend, running on 35mm film through Sunday. As usual, they are also running a "Holiday Adjacent" series of less-obviously traditional Christmas movies, including Bob Clark's original Black Christmas (Friday), a 35mm print of Die Hard (Saturday/Sunday), In Bruges (Monday), Spencer & Passing (Tuesday), and Wings of Desire (35mm Wednesday/Thursday). Note that the Bruges replaces the originally-scheduled L.A. Confidential
• The Regent Theatre has sing-along shows of White Christmas from Monday to Wednesday.
• The Somerville Theatre has the Slutcracker every day but Tuesday, and more wholesomely a Holiday Craft Fair in the Crystal Ballroom on Saturday. They also pick up Empire of Light, and interestingly show that most screenings of Spoiler Alert for the week are in "Moviehouse 4", which I presume is what they're calling the Micro instead of "Moviehouse 0", unless they've carved a new screen out of the Museum of Bad Art.
• The Museum of Science has Wakanda Forever on the Murgar Omni dome Fridays and Saturdays through the end of December.
• The Lexington Venue is open Friday to Sunday with Devotion, The Banshees of Inisherin and The Menu, and also re-opens Wednesday and Thursday with Puss in Boots and The Fabelmans.
  
  The West Newton Cinema gets Avatar 2, The Fabelmans, and the CGI Grinch (Saturday/Sunday). Hanging around are Strange World, Aftersun (no show Friday/Saturday), The Menu, The Banshees of Inisherin (Saturday/Sunday), Lyle Lyle Crocodile (Saturday/Sunday), and Tár. Closed Monday.
  
  The Luna Theater has The Inspection at various times on Friday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday; It's a Wonderful Life Saturday & Sunday; matinees of Concert for George on Monday & Tuesday; Decision to Leave Monday to next Friday; Christmas Bloody Christmas on Wednesday afternoon; plus Weirdo Wednesday that evening. I don't know that this place has ever had such a full schedule!
  
  Cinema Salem has She Said, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Triangle of Sadness Friday to Monday. There's also a special screening of Billy Wilder's The Apartment on Thursday.
  
  The Showcase in Dedham has Emancipation, among the usual suspects!
• For those still not ready to join random people in a room for two hours, theater rentals are available at Kendall Square, The Embassy, West Newton, the Capitol and Somerville, The Venue, CinemaSalem, and many of the multiplexes.

Already have a ticket for Avatar on Sunday, and will probably go for The Night Owl at some point (though its showtimes are scattered due to Avatar having All The Screens)., plus maybe a trip or two to the Brattle.