Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 19 December 2025 - 24 December 2024

Kind of surprised there are four wide releases when one's a juggernaut!

• That juggernaut is James Cameron's latest sci-fi spectacle Avatar: Fire and Ash, which sees Jake Sully and his Navi family exploring a new region of Pandora and encountering a more hostile tribe, and also discovering secrets that may put humanity and the local people on even more of a collision course. It's on all the deluxe screens, playing The Capitol Theatre (including RealD 3D), Fresh Pond (including 3D), The Museum of Science (Omnimax Friday/Saturday), Jordan's Furniture (Imax & open all week), West Newton, Boston Common (including Imax Laser 3D & Dolby Cinema 2D/3D & RealD 3D), Causeway Street (including RealD 3D), Landmark Kendall Square (including RealD 3D), the Seaport (including Dolby Atmos), South Bay (including Imax 3D & Dolby Cinema 2D/3D & RealD 3D), Assembly Row (including Imax Laser 3D & Dolby Cinema 2D/3D & RealD 3D), Arsenal Yards (including CWX), and Chestnut Hill (including RealD 3D). Supposedly it's also being released with some scenes projected at 48fps, although none of the local theaters are indicating "HFR" or "3D+".
  
  The Housemaid, meanwhile, features Sydney Sweeney as the title character, hired by a frazzled mother played by Amanda Seyfried, although there's almost certainly more going on than meets the eye. It's at the Capitol, Fresh Pond, Boston Common (including XL), Causeway Street, Kendall Square, the Seaport, South Bay, Assembly Row, Arsenal Yards, and Chestnut Hill.
  
  A possible big #2 this week is The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, a new CGI adventure with the goofy sponge joining a pirate crew who have other plans for him, because that thing has been going strong for decades. It's at the Capitol, Fresh Pond, West Newton, Boston Common (including XL & RealD 3D), Causeway Street (including RealD 3D), Kendall Square, the Seaport, South Bay (including RealD 3D), Assembly Row (including RealD 3D), Arsenal Yards, and Chestnut Hill. There's more animation in musical Bible story David at Fresh Pond, West Newton, Boston Common, Causeway Street, South Bay, Assembly Row, and Arsenal Yards.
  
  Christmas shows include the CGI Grinch at Boston Common Saturday/Monday/Tuesday; Elf at Boston Common Saturday/Wednesday and the Seaport Saturday (movie party)/Sunday/Monday; National Lampoons Christmas Vacation at the Seaport Sunday (movie party)/Monday; Christina Aguilera: Christmas in Paris at Boston Common Sunday; The Polar Express at Boston Common Sunday (RealD 3D)/Tuesday (flat); Love Actually at Boston Common Monday. There's a mystery horror-movie preview at Boston Common, Causeway Street, South Bay, Assembly Row Monday.
• After last week's preview, The Coolidge Corner Theatre opens The Librarians, which follows a group from Texas who are on the front lines of book-banning battles.
  
  The Coolidge still has a few 70mm screenings of the unified Kill Bill through Sunday. Their Planet Hollywood Holidays midnight continue with Die Hard on Friday and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle on Saturday. Saturday & Sunday mornings feature kids' shows of The Muppet Christmas Carol. Sunday has a Panorama screening of Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire, with director Oren Rudavsky and Elie Wiesel Center Associate Director Dr. Ingrid Andersson on hand with a Q&A. Monday's Big Screen Classic is White Christmas.
• Malayalam-language action-comedy Bha Bha Ba opens at Apple Fresh Pond . Hindi blockbuster Dhurandhar continues at Fresh Pond, Boston Common, and Causeway Street.
  
  Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution continues at Boston Common and Assembly Row.
• The Brattle Theatre chosen When Harry Met Sally as the Friday Film Matinee in tribute to Rob Reiner. There will probably be a larger one for Reiner in the new year, but they spend the next week celebrating Robert Redford with That Natural (Friday/Saturday), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid & The Sting (Saturday), All the President's Men (35mm Sunday), The Candidate (35mm) & The Hot Rock on Sunday, Jeremiah Johnson & The Electric Horseman (35mm) Monday, Oridnary People & Downhill Racer (35mm) Tuesday. They're closed so the staff can finish their holiday shopping on Wednesday.
• The Somerville Theatre picks up The Secret Agent.
• The Seaport Alamo is calling Monday's show of The Long Kiss Goodnight queer film theory rather than Christmas for some reason. They've also got Batman Returns and Eyes WIde Shut Tuesday and matinees of It's a Wonderful Life Tuesday & Wednesday.
• The Lexington Venue is open all week but Monday with Dust Bunny, Sentimental Value (no show Wednesday), and Hamnet. They also have free screenings of short "Star in the Night" Saturday to Wednesday mornings (free popcorn with toy/canned good donation) and a free screening of documentary featurette "The Nude" with director Alvin Case and model Natalia Carbullido on hand for a Q&A Sunday.
  
  The West Newton Cinema opens Avatar 3, SpongeBob, The Secret Agent, David, holding over Hamnet, Wake Up Dead Man, Zootopia 2, Wicked: For Good, and Nuremberg.
  
  Cinema Salem adds Sentimental Value to Ella McCay, Zootopia 2, Wicked: For Good, and Five Nights at Freddy's 2 from Friday to Monday. They also host three films from the Indie Chinese Film Festival which was scheduled to play New York last month but which was cancelled under pressure from the Chinese government - Zhu Rikun's documentaries No Desire to Hide and "The Questioning" and Liu Yonghong's Tangle - on Sunday afternoon, with Zhu (who also spearheaded the festival) on hand for a Q&A. The Wednesday classic is It's a Wonderful Life.

Man, I've got the rest of the year off (though in part for disruptive doctors' appointments), and it's like the least amount of interesting film programs you can find! I'll do some catch-up, check out Avatar 3 and The Housemaid, and hopefully squeeze in some Redford.

(Follow my my Letterboxd page for what I do get to)