It’s the best time of year to see movies: Holiday comedies provide much-needed relief from all that quality time with the family, and many of the movies that stand a shot at earning Oscar gold hit the theaters. Us Weekly takes you through the top 10 films coming out before the end of 2016.
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It’s the best time of year to see movies: Holiday comedies provide much-needed relief from all that quality time with the family, and many of the movies that stand a shot at earning Oscar gold hit the theaters. Us Weekly takes you through the top 10 films coming out before the end of 2016.
Credit:
It’s the best time of year to see movies: Holiday comedies provide much-needed relief from all that quality time with the family, and many of the movies that stand a shot at earning Oscar gold hit the theaters. Us Weekly takes you through the top 10 films coming out before the end of 2016.
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'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' December 16
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a squad of Rebels aimed to take down Darth Vader’s Death Star. Enter Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso, a loner recruited to fight for the Rebel Alliance. “She is easy to relate to,” Jones, 33, tells Us of the heroine in this Star Wars spinoff, which takes place just before the action in the original 1977 film. “She is learning about her place in the galaxy. There are mistakes along the way. People will empathize with this.” While the new film takes place in the same galaxy as the seven other episodes — and will be followed by Episode VIII in 2017 and a Han Solo–focused film in 2018 — producer Kathleen Kennedy tells Us that Rogue One isn’t restricted to franchise fanatics: “Somebody can see it without knowing anything about Star Wars.”
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Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are dancing on screen again. But unlike their pairing in 2011’s Crazy, Stupid, Love, they’re also singing, playing instruments and waxing about the difficulties of mixing artistic dreams and romance. “It’s very sweet and very nostalgic,” Stone, 28, tells Us of the modern-day L.A.-set drama. “But it also can be pretty heartbreaking.” To prepare for the roles, Gosling and Stone — who play a musician and an aspiring actress, respectively — consumed a healthy dose of classic musicals. Adds Stone: “It was inspiring to watch movies like Singin’ in the Rain and Top Hat.”
Gosling, 36, and Stone dedicated three months to mastering performance skills. “We just spent a number of hours each day sort of going through singing lessons, piano lessons and scene work,” Stone says, adding that for the five-song score, Gosling “learned the jazz piano from scratch.” The grueling rehearsals may be worth the pain come awards season. Stone jokes of early Oscar buzz: “I’m, like, completely blinded by it — 100 percent! I can’t even think about anything else!”
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It was supposed to be a 120-year journey to a colony planet. When travelers Jim and Aurora (Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence) are woken up 90 years too early, though, the duo realize they must save the 5,000 people still asleep on the spaceship. Love is a by-product of the mission in this romantic thriller. “They’re so magnetic together,” director Morten Tyldum tells Us about his leads. Pratt, 37, and Lawrence, 26, working together for the first time, had an easy rapport, even in complex action scenes, says Tyldum. “They had to do a lot of physical preparation. They’re both familiar with that. It’s Katniss and Star-Lord!”
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'Office Christmas Party' December 9
Vanessa Bayer understands the chaos unleashed at an office party. “I used to work at an ad agency in Chicago. Before the holiday party, everyone would be like, ‘It’s going to be so crazy!’” Bayer remembers. “It was shocking to see people who were so professional at work going so insane.” The Saturday Night Live player, 35, brings that insanity to the screen for the raucous comedy, in which office drones (including herself, T.J. Miller and Jason Bateman) throw a holiday rager in the hopes of impressing clients and saving the company.
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In director Pablo Larraín’s eyes, only one actress was fit to portray Jackie Kennedy. “It was always Natalie,” he tells Us of casting Natalie Portman to lead the biopic about the aftermath of John F. Kennedy’s 1963 assassination. “Jackie had this enormous amount of mystery — something Natalie has as well.” While filming the president’s funeral procession through Washington, D.C., Larraín felt particular admiration for his heroine. “Jackie put the country’s grief over her shoulder … and somehow protected JFK’s legacy.”
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'Collateral Beauty' December 16
Edward Norton always knew his drama would be a classic. “I felt it had within it the blend of movies that I love — like It’s a Wonderful Life and Terms of Endearment,” the 47-year-old tells Us. Norton, Kate Winslet and Michael Peña play the colleagues of grief-stricken Howard (Will Smith), who searches for answers by writing letters to “love,” “death” and “time.” He’s dumbstruck when each abstract concept arrives on his doorstep in human form. Norton says he related to Howard’s plight: “I’ve had my encounters with love, death and time. Everybody does. That’s why this movie will connect.”
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As soon as Zoe Saldana read the script for the 1920s mob drama about an underground network of speakeasies, she was hooked. “It’s a story weaved into a period of time where there was so much turmoil and uncertainty,” the star, 38, tells Us of the screenplay adapted from Dennis Lehane’s 2012 novel. Another draw: working with director and star Ben Affleck. The actor plays a Florida gangster with a Boston heritage (and accent!) who falls for Saldana’s fiery Cuban seductress. “Ben has a strong vision, but he is open to exploring ideas,” Saldana explains. “He really considers your input on a scene.” For her part, Saldana channeled her Dominican and Puerto Rican roots on set. “Having grown up bilingual, you have a heightened sense of language and accents,” she says. “Dialect was key to developing my character.”
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With Boston police officers as extras, locals consulting on set, and native son Mark Wahlberg starring, this drama about the 2013 marathon bombing is a tribute to Beantown. “Boston is such a small place,” the 45-year-old has said. “Everybody knows somebody who was directly affected.”
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Working with Denzel Washington can be overwhelming, to say the least. “I would get so excited being in the scene with one of my heroes that I would start talking really fast,” Jovan Adepo, who plays his son, tells Us. “He would be like, ‘Jovan, slow down! Relax!’” The 61-year-old also directs the drama, based on August Wilson’s classic play about a couple (Washington and Viola Davis) repairing their marriage after he fathers a child with another woman. The pair perfected the roles back in 2010, when their Broadway stage revival earned each a Tony Award.
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No one wants a new in-law for Christmas — especially if he’s a tattooed tech billionaire who lacks a filter and all personal boundaries. It’s a nightmare come true for Ned Fleming (Bryan Cranston), whose daughter’s boyfriend (James Franco) asks permission to pop the question. “It’s a dynamic rife with conflict, tension and anxiety,” says director John Hamburg, who wrote the Meet the Parents films. Megan Mullally and Zoey Deutch costar in the family farce.
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