2020 Holiday Movie Preview: 15 New Must-See Films Movies for Grownups

2020 Holiday Season Movie Preview 15 Films to Look Forward To

Epic biopics stirring documentaries sweeping dramas and heartwarming rom-coms

Netflix (2) Viola Davis (left) in "Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom" and Dolly Parton in "Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square." Holiday season means movie season as much as it means balsam firs and hot chocolate. And while we may be used to previews in our beloved movie theaters announcing holiday releases, this year the crop is poised to land more on our small screens than big ones (with some exceptions). Either way, there are plenty of fine films with great stars and terrific directors lining up for our viewing excitement between now and New Year’s Day. Mark your calendars and settle in! If you choose to visit a theater to see a film, read the and consult .

Mank Nov 13

If you thought Gary Oldman was great as Winston Churchill, wait until you see him as the alcoholic gambler genius who wrote Citizen Kane. Some pundits predict this biopic filmed in Citizen Kane’s black-and-white style will win more Oscars than the original. Coming to: Limited theaters,

Jingle Jangle A Christmas Journey Nov 13

You didn’t know started out as a singer? He joins Keegan-Michael Key, and Downton Abbey’s Hugh Bonneville in a musical about a toymaker who finds new hope in his kind and curious granddaughter. Coming to: Limited theaters and

Dolly Parton s Christmas on the Square Nov 22

Scroogelike Christine Baranski (The Good Fight) tries to sell a town out from under the townsfolk, but angel Dolly fights back with 14 songs. Coming to:

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Hillbilly Elegy Nov 24

In Ron Howard’s adaptation of a hit memoir by conservative star J.D. Vance, a Yale Law student returns to his troubled Ohio hometown and reflects on the legacy of his mom (Amy Adams) and grandma (Glenn Close). Coming to: Limited theaters and

The Christmas Chronicles Part 2 Nov 25

Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus (Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn) defend the North Pole from assault. Watch out for the gingerbread-cookie hand grenades. Coming to:

Happiest Season Nov 25

Kristen Stewart wants to propose to her girlfriend (Mackenzie Davis) at her family’s holiday party, only to discover that her parents (Mary Steenburgen and Victor Garber) don’t know their daughter ain’t straight. Coming to:

Nomadland Dec 4

Frances McDormand triumphs as a woman who joins the growing population of Americans of retirement age who can’t or won’t retire, instead living in vans and and hitting the road for seasonal work. Some of her costars are actual nomads telling their real-life stories in the film. Coming to:

The Prom Dec 11

After their Broadway musical about Eleanor Roosevelt flops, the vain, self-absorbed actors (Meryl Streep, James Corden, Kerry Washington) seek a good cause to redeem their reputations. So they invade Indiana, where they help a girl who wants to take her girlfriend to her high-school prom. Coming to:

Wild Mountain Thyme Dec 11

Another romantic fable from the writer of Cher’s movie Moonstruck, about an Irish girl (Emily Blunt), her neurotically elusive beloved (Jamie Dornan), his neurotic father (Christopher Walken), and their rich, shallow American nephew (Jon Hamm), who wants the family farm. Coming to:

Ma Rainey s Black Bottom Dec 18

and the late Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther) star in August Wilson’s illustrious tale of Ma Rainey, the 1920s Mother of the Blues. Coming to:

The Midnight Sky Dec 23

George Clooney plays a scientist in the Arctic racing to prevent a group of astronauts from returning to Earth after an apocalyptic disaster. Coming to: Select theaters and

One Night in Miami Dec 25

Oscar- and Emmy-winning powerhouse actress Regina King, 49, flexes her muscles behind the camera as a feature film director — and it’s clear it will be the first of many. For her debut, she opts for a talky screen adaptation of Kemp Powers’ 2013 play, which imagines a fictional February night in Miami. That 1964 evening, boxer Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), activist Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), athlete Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) and crooner Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom, Jr.) gather, party and discuss what it meant, and what the obligations were, to be a successful Black man in ‘60s America. With its standout cast, eye-popping period details in set design and costumes, King’s Oscar-bound movie is restrained only by a screenplay that doesn’t transcend the play’s didactic staginess and never fully opens out to reveal the kinetic connection when four towering legends converge four years before the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Coming to: and

Wonder Woman 1984 Dec 25

Gal Gadot is back as the Amazon warrior whose first film made $409 million. Coming to: and

News of the World Dec 25

Wonder Woman 1984 may outgross it, but the prestige Christmas hit this year is bound to be this True Grit-like film about a Civil War veteran () who makes his living riding from town to town to bedazzle locals by reading aloud thrilling newspaper stories from all over America — they don’t get papers and most can’t read. He winds up stuck with the last thing he needs: a feral 10-year-old who lost her white parents in a Native American raid, and then her adoptive family. His job is to take her back to her family, whom she doesn’t remember — she wants to escape back to Kiowa country. Director Paul Greengrass’s Jason Bourne movies are jittery, but this one’s a stately, old-fashioned epic. There’s action, but what drives the story is the deep emotion. Coming to:

Pieces of a Woman Dec 30

Vanessa Kirby scored best actress at the 2020 Venice Film Festival for playing Martha, an expectant wife whose insistence on a home birth upends her hopeful life, her marriage to Boston working man Sean (Shia LaBeouf in full Method mode), and her relationship to her I-told-you-so mother (an affecting , 88). The first act turns on her extended labor — a long, sweaty action sequence as breathless as any in The Bourne Identity. Directed with emotional honesty by Hungarian Kornél Mundruczó from a wrenching script by Kata Wéber, the film showcases The Crown actress who won a BAFTA for her early portrayal of Princess Margaret. An uncompromising star is born in a tragic childbirth drama of grief and redemption. Coming to: Select theaters Dec. 30 and on Editor's note: This article was originally published on Nov. 3, 2020. It has been updated with the latest announced release dates for films still scheduled in 2020.

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