Movies

9 Most Anticipated Movies of December 2016

We take a look at the biggest movies arriving in time for Christmas!

Published

8 years ago

November 28, 2016

December is just about here, and that means it’s almost the holiday season, which is the best time of year to see movies. Thankfully, this December is packed with some exciting films, including big sequels, high-budget blockbusters, and laugh-a-second Christmas comedies. Here are our most anticipated movies of December 2016:

Moana

Release date: 2 December 2016

Any project with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson behind it is going to get some attention, but instead of tackling explosions and cars, Johnson lends his voice to a new animated Disney film. Moana tells the story of a young girl, who is the strong-willed daughter of the chief of a Polynesian tribe. Moana is chosen by the ocean itself to reunite a mystical relic to a goddess and she sets sail in search of Maui, a legendary demigod and hopes to save her people. Auli’i Cravalho, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Jemaine Clement, Nicole Scherzinger and Alan Tudyk, also provide voices for the film.

Underworld: Blood Wars

Release date: 2 December 2016

The supernatural Underworld series sees its fifth instalment as Kate Beckinsale returns as Selene, the sexy yet deadly Vampire death dealer. Fans of the franchise will know what’s to expect here, but Blood Wars promises to be the biggest and most ambitious to date. The film picks up after the events of 2012’s Underworld: Awakening, as Selene now finds herself fending off brutal attacks from both the Lycan clan and the Vampire faction that betrayed her. With her only allies, David (Theo James) and his father Thomas (Charles Dance), she must stop the eternal war between Lycans and Vampires, even if it means she has to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Inferno

Release date: 9 December 2016

If you’re a fan of Dan Brown’s religious conspiracy books, you’ll have your eye on Inferno this month. Acting as the sequel to The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, Inferno sees Tom Hanks reprising his role as Robert Langdon, alongside Felicity Jones, Omar Sy, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Ben Foster and Irrfan Khan. The film finds the famous symbologist (Hanks) on a trail of clues tied to the great Dante himself. When Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Sienna Brooks (Jones), a doctor he hopes will help him recover his memories. Together, they race across Europe and against the clock to stop a madman from unleashing a global virus that would wipe out half of the world’s population.

Office Christmas Party

Release date: 15 December 2016

Looking a little like The Hangover with a jolly theme, Office Christmas Party is based on an end-of-year work event gone wrong. The film features an all-star cast including Jennifer Aniston, TJ Miller, and Jason Bateman, and follows Zenotek CEO Carol Vanstone (Aniston), who tries to close the branch of her hard-partying brother Clay (Miller). But before that happens, Clay and his Chief Technical Officer (Bateman) must rally their co-workers and host an epic office Christmas party in an effort to impress a potential client and close a sale that will save their jobs.

Assassin’s Creed

Release date: 21 December 2016

Yeah – we know what you’re thinking: “another video game movie adaptation doomed to fail”. Yes, Assassin’s Creed may initially appear to be another game-to-screen project looking dubious, but things are different this time. Ubisoft themselves are overseeing the film, along with Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, and Jeremy Irons lending their talents to the movie. Assassin’s Creed could be the film to change the perceptions about video game movies to come.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Release date: 15 December 2016

Gareth Edwards, who helmed 2014’s impressive Godzilla reboot, has a big task at hand bringing the first Star Wars spin-off movie to the big-screen, but it’s one we’re sure he’s going to nail. The story takes place before A New Hope and follows Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) as she leads a band of rag-tag rebels to steal the plans for the Death Star to prevent it from ever being completed. Forest Whitaker, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, and Mads Mikkelsen, also star, and it looks to bring a new feel on the Star Wars universe, harking back to the popular heist movies of yesteryear.

Passengers

Release date: 30 December 2016

Two passengers aboard a spaceship awake from cryogenic sleep 90 years before anyone else. With Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt as these two astronauts, audiences seem destined to see the first space age love story of the year. Or, are they? One never really knows what to expect from director Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game), but Passengers looks like the kind of film that is going to transport moviegoers to another planet.

Hacksaw Ridge

Release date: 30 December 2016

Hacksaw Ridge, directed by Mel Gibson, tells the story of US Army medic Desmond T. Doss, who refused to bear arms during World War and didn’t fire one bullet during his time on the battlefield. Doss (played by The Amazing Spider-Man‘s Andrew Garfield) awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman for single-handedly saving the lives of over 75 of his comrades while under constant enemy fire during the brutal Battle of Okinawa.

Why Him?

Release date: 30 December 2016

James Franco and Bryan Cranston go head-to-head in this ridiculous comedy that looks like it may actually deliver on some laughs. Over the holidays, Ned (Cranston), an overprotective but loving dad and his family visit his daughter at Stanford, where he meets his biggest nightmare, her well-meaning but bizarre Silicon Valley billionaire boyfriend, Laird (Franco). The straight laced Ned thinks Laird, who has absolutely no filter, is a wildly inappropriate match for his daughter. The one-sided rivalry and Ned’s panic level, escalate when he finds himself increasingly out of step in the glamorous high-tech hub, and learns that Laird is about to pop the question.