November
“Babe: Pig in the City.” After squabbling with director Chris Noonan over who really deserved credit for the magical original, “Babe” producer (and “Mad Max”/”Lorenzo’s Oil” director) George Miller takes the reins for the sequel that finds our beloved blabby pig venturing to the city to save the Hoggett farm — with the help of none other than Mickey Rooney. (opens Wednesday)
“A Bug’s Life.” Disney’s entry in the computer ant-imation wars comes from “Toy Story” director John Lasseter and his Pixar team, telling the story of a young ant named Flik (voiced by Dave Foley) who tries to save his colony from a greedy gang of grasshoppers led by the evil Hopper (Kevin Spacey). (Wednesday)
“Home Fries.” Drew Barrymore plays a pregnant drive-in window waitress. One son of her dead married lover is trying to kill her. The other son is trying to marry her. (Wednesday).
“Jerry Springer: Ringmaster.” Jerry Springer, who hosts a fight-filled talk show taped in Chicago, plays a character named Jerry Farrelly, who hosts a fight-filled talk show taped in Los Angeles. (Wednesday)
“Very Bad Things” … keep happening to guys who want to marry Cameron Diaz on screen. After a Las Vegas bachelor party results in an inconvenient death, the groom (Jon Favreau) and his buddies (Christian Slater, Daniel Stern, Jeremy Piven and Leland Orser) try to cover their tracks. Written and directed by “Chicago Hope” actor Peter Berg. (Wednesday)
December
“Gods and Monsters.” Ian McKellen plays “Frankenstein” director James Whale, who is gay and takes an interest in his young, straight gardener (Brendan Fraser) in this comic drama written and directed by Bill Condon (“Sister, Sister”). With Lynn Redgrave as the protective housekeeper. (Dec. 4)
“Little Voice.” Adaptation of a London play about a girl (Jane Horrocks) who doesn’t speak but expresses herself by singing in the voices of Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe and Billie Holliday. With Brenda Blethyn as her mother, Ewan McGregor as her friend and Michael Caine as an agent. (Dec. 4)
“Psycho.” Director Gus Van Sant (“Good Will Hunting,” “To Die For”) applies his ample talent to a “re-creation” of Hitchcock’s original “Psycho,” with Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche in the Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh parts. Why not just colorize the damn thing? (Dec. 4)
“Jack Frost.” A workaholic musician (Michael Keaton) learns to be a cool dad after getting killed in a car crash and reappearing as a snowman built by his son (Joseph Cross). With Kelly Preston as Jack’s wife, Gabby. (Dec. 11)
“Star Trek: Insurrection.” Wait, is this an even- or odd-numbered one? Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the “Next Generation” crew travel to a fountain-of-youth planet, discover a vast Federation conspiracy and lead a potentially treasonous fight of armed resistance. This is No. 9 in the series? Oh, well. (Dec. 11)
“Waking Ned Devine.” Two aging Irishmen (Ian Bannen and David Kelly) try to track down an unclaimed lottery ticket in their sleepy seaside village in this comedy, which is being touted as one of those charmers with a brogue. The writing-directing debut of Kirk Jones. (Dec. 11)
“The Prince of Egypt.” DreamWorks challenges Disney again, this time in the conventional animation arena, with this much-hyped musical cartoon based on the story of Moses (voiced by Val Kilmer). Presumably there’s no wisecracking dragon. (Dec. 18)
“A Simple Plan.” Two brothers (Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton) find more than $4 million in cash at the remote site of a downed small airplane. Their plan to keep the money changes their lives, tragically. (Dec. 18)
“You’ve Got Mail.” The “Sleepless in Seattle” team of Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan and writer-director Nora Ephron hope to reboot that movie’s success with this romantic comedy — an update of 1940’s “The Shop Around the Corner” — about a bookstore chain owner (Hanks) who woos a small children’s bookstore owner (Ryan) in cyberspace without realizing that his chain is putting her shop out of business. (Dec. 18)
“Central Station.” After his mother dies, a poor Rio de Janeiro boy (Vinicius de Oliveira) sets out with a spinster letter-writer-for-hire (Fernanda Montenegro) to find his father in Brazil’s northwest. This Berlin Film Festival Best Picture was directed by Walter Salles, who developed it at the Sundance Institute. (Dec. 25)
“Down in the Delta.” Author-poet Maya Angelou makes her directorial debut with this drama about a single mother (Alfre Woodard) who moves her two children from a crime-infested Chicago neighborhood to the family’s ancestral home in the Mississippi Delta. (Dec. 25)
“The Faculty.” High school kids battle alien-controlled teachers in this science-fiction horror comedy written by Kevin Williamson (“Scream”) and directed by Robert Rodriguez (“From Dusk Till Dawn”). With Elijah Wood, Laura Harris, Salma Hayek, Jon Stewart and Piper Laurie. (Dec. 25)
“Hurlyburly.” Based on David Rabe’s Tony Award-winning play about drugged-out Hollywood (Sean Penn, Kevin Spacey and Chazz Palminteri). (Dec. 25)
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“Patch Adams.” Robin Williams really stretches himself (insert proper sarcastic grunt here) as a former mental patient who attends medical school and incorporates humor into his treatments. Directed by Tom Shadyac (“The Nutty Professor,” the first “Ace Ventura”) and written by Steve Oedekerk (“The Nutty Professor,” the second “Ace Ventura”). (Dec. 25)
“Mighty Joe Young.” This remake of the “King Kong”-inspired 1949 movie stars Bill Paxton and Charlize Theron as a pair of animal workers who discover a 15-foot-tall gorilla in Africa, bring him back to California and really screw up traffic in L.A. (Dec. 25)
“Stepmom.” Susan Sarandon plays a divorced mother, and Julia Roberts plays her ex-husband’s new girlfriend in this movie about rivalry, maternal duties and cancer. Directed by Chris Columbus (“Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Home Alone”) (Dec. 25)
“Shakespeare in Love.” A comedy about the young Bard (Joseph Fiennes), his writer’s block (“Romeo and Ethel”?) and his muse, a woman (Gwyneth Paltrow) who dresses as a man to snag a part in his play. Co-starring Geoffrey Rush, Judi Dench and Ben Affleck, and directed by John Madden (“Mrs. Brown.”). (Dec. 25)
“The Thin Red Line.” If any World War II epic could rival “Saving Private Ryan,” this star-studded adaptation of James Jones’ novel would be the one. Twenty-one years after the release of his last movie, “Days of Heaven,” director Terrence Malick presents the battle of Guadalcanal with Sean Penn as the deadly first sergeant, Elias Koteas as the company’s moral conscience and a cast that also includes George Clooney, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Nick Nolte, Bill Pullman and John Travolta. (opens Dec. 25 in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco; scheduled to open Jan. 8 or 15 in Chicago)
“A Civil Action.” Jonathan Harr’s non-fiction legal thriller moves to the big screen with John Travolta as the obsessive Boston-area attorney who devotes everything to a lawsuit against chemical companies accused of causing childhood leukemia. Adapted and directed by Steven Zaillian (“Searching for Bobby Fischer”). (opens Dec. 25 in New York and L.A. and opens Jan. 8 in Chicago.)