Next Week in Tickets: Films playing Boston 24 December 2025 - 1 January 2025

Today feels like a milestone of preview creep as all the films advertised as coming out Christmas Day have "early shows" starting at noon on Christmas Eve. C'monn, guys!

• One of the big awards/blockbuster releases, Marty Supreme, opens on 70mm film at The Coolidge Corner Theatre and in lesser digital formats at The Somerville Theatre, the Lexington Venue, West Newton, Boston Common, Causeway Street, Kendall Square, the Seaport, South Bay, Assembly Row, and Chestnut Hill. It stars Timothée Chalomet as a table-tennis prodigy in the 1970s who sees international sports superstardom in his future even if nobody else does. It's the second sports-movie solo project from a Safdie brother this year, and word is that Josh's movie is as tense and nerve-wracking as the movies he makes with brother Benny even if the trailer sells it as uplifting.
  
  The Coolidge also re-opens Blue Moon in the smaller rooms on Friday, and closes out Planet Hollywood Holidays with Rocky IV at midnight Friday and Die Hard with a Vengeance at midnight Saturday.
• A sort of meta-remake of Anaconda has Jack Black & Paul Rudd as lifelong friends who try to remake the giant snake movie on a shoestring budget only to wind up dealing with the real thing in the middle of the Amazon. It's at Fresh Pond, Boston Common (including XL), Causeway Street, Kendall Square, the Seaport, South Bay, Assembly Row, and Chestnut Hill.
  Song Sung Blue has Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson as a couple who meet, form a Neil Diamond tribute band, and recover from various scarring tragedies. The documentary about the couple was an IFFBoston favorite. One thing I'm mildly curious about is if we got different trailers in New England, because it's wall-to-wall "Sweet Caroline" even when the title is coming up word-by-word. That plays The Capitol Theatre, Fresh Pond, the Lexington Venue, West Newton, Boston Common, Causeway Street, Kendall Square, the Seaport, South Bay, Assembly Row, and Arsenal Yards.
  
  Also opening wide (ish?) is Bradley Cooper's new one, Is This Thing On?, in which he takes a supporting role to Will Arnett, who plays a man spiraling in the middle of a divorce who discovers a talent for stand-up comedy. Laura Dern plays to soon-to-be-ex-wife. It's at the Coolidge, Boston Common, and Kendall Square.
  
  A few straggling holiday matinees at Boston Common with National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation on Christmas/New Year's Day, Love Actually Monday, The Polar Express Tuesday/New Year's Eve, and Elf on New Year's Eve.
  
  Boston Common, Causeway Street, Landmark Kendall Square, South Bay, and Assembly Row have screenings of the Stranger Things finale New Year's Eve & New Year's Day
• Apple Fresh Pond opens Hindi-language romantic comedy Tu Meri Main Tera Main Tera Tu Meri and plays Telugu-language sports movie Champion on Wednesday & Thursday. Hindi blockbuster Dhurandhar chugs along at Fresh Pond, Boston Common, and Causeway Street. If you can make it out to the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers, they have Telugu-language film Dhandoraa.
• The Brattle Theatre is closed Christmas Eve but has two new restorations from Christmas Day to Tuesday: Charade looks to be a late addition and plays matinees, while Brazil gets evenings.
  
  There's also a 35mm "Classic Cartoon Show" for the Friday Film Matinee at 3:30pm. They start celebrating New Year's Eve early with the double feature of The Thin Man & After the Thin Man before trying to launch a new New Year's Eve tradition with Stop Making Sense in the evening. On New Year's Day, they have the annual Marx Brothers Marathon featuring Duck Soup, The Cocoanuts, Monkey Business, and Horse Feathers.
• The Seaport Alamo has It's a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve. The Apartment plays Sunday afternoon, When Harry Met Sally… from Monday to Wednesday. There are also previews of We Bury the Dead on Monday and The Plague on Tuesday, and Megalopolis New Year's Day Celebration.
• The Regent Theatre has "Mountains of the Moon", a collection of outdoor sports adventures set to the music of the Grateful Dead, on Friday evening. They also have vacation sing-along shows of Frozen (Saturday/Sunday/Monday) and Grease (Saturday)
• The Museum of Science has Avatar 3 on the Omnimax screen Friday & Saturday evening.
• The Lexington Venue is open all week with Marty Supreme and Song Sung Blue.
  
  The West Newton Cinema opens Marty Supreme, Song Sung Blue, The Librarians (opens Christmas Day), keeping Avatar 3, SpongeBob, The Secret Agent, David (through Christmas Day), Hamnet, Zootopia 2, Wicked: For Good (through Christmas Day), and Nuremberg.
  
  Cinema Salem has It's a Wonderful Life and a Weirdo Wednesday show on Christmas Eve, playing Marty Supreme, Song Sung Blue, Zootopia 2, and Wicked: For Good from Thursday to Monday and New Year's Day. Friday's Night Light show is The Hudsucker Proxy, New Year's Eve features Vertigo and a Weirdo Wednesday show, .

I'm going to wind up seeing Anaconda and Song Sung Blue just because I've got time off and there's not a whole lot else, aren't I? On the other hand, I'm eagerly checking out Marty Supreme on the big film, Charade, and the Thin Man pairing. May actually finally hit the Marx Brothers Marathon (and watch every other actor play catch-up on the stats section of my my Letterboxd page for all of 2026) .