Here is a schedule of the holiday movies opening now through the end of the year, with tentative release dates that are subject to change (for next Wednesday's openings, see Page W2):
NOV. 25
NINE LIVES — Kathy Baker and Holly Hunter play a couple of the nine female characters profiled in writer-director Rodrigo Garcia's ensemble drama.
DEC. 2
AEON FLUX — Charlize Theron stars as the title character in this live-action thriller based on the popular MTV cartoon series.
BALLETS RUSSES — Documentary feature about the members of the pioneering Russian Ballet troupe.
FIRST DESCENT — Feature-length documentary following five snowboarders taken to Alaska for a series of "big-mountain" rides.
THE NINTH DAY — Director Volker Schlondorff's drama explores connections between the Catholic Church and the Nazi regime in World War II. German with subtitles.
WHERE THE TRUTH LIES — Atom Egoyan's already controversial drama stars Kevin Bacon and Jeremy Northam as a disgraced comedy team.
DEC. 9
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN — Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal play cowboys whose attraction to each other destroys their lives in director Ang Lee's drama.
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE — Live-action adaptation of the first of author C.S. Lewis' best-selling fantasy novels.
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA — Ziyi Zhang, Michelle Yeoh and Gong Li head the cast of this drama, based on the best-selling novel.
SYRIANA — "Traffic" screenwriter Stephen Gaghan wrote and directed this Middle East thriller starring George Clooney.
DEC. 14
KING KONG — Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody and Jack Black play second-fiddle to a huge primate in director Peter Jackson's period remake of the 1933 classic.
DEC. 16
THE FAMILY STONE — Ensemble comedy about a disastrous family holiday, starring Claire Danes, Diane Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Luke Wilson.
THE PRODUCERS: THE MOVIE MUSICAL — Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane reprise their stage roles in this big-screen version of the smash Broadway musical comedy.
DEC. 21
CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN 2 — The Bakers discover they have a similarly large family of rivals in this sequel. Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt star.
FUN WITH DICK AND JANE — Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni play a husband-and-wife team of crooks in this remake of the 1977 comedy hit.
DEC. 23
CASANOVA — Heath Ledger stars as the legendary ladies man in this romantic comedy, allegedly based on actual accounts of his various misdeeds.
MATCH POINT — Woody Allen's latest is an erotic thriller starring Scarlett Johansson as a femme fatale. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers co-stars.
MUNICH — Steven Spielberg directed this thriller about the kidnapping of Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.
THE NEW WORLD — Colin Farrell stars as John Smith in Terrence Malick's drama about early American history. Christian Bale co-stars.
RUMOR HAS IT — Jennifer Aniston learns that her grandmother (Shirley MacLaine) is the woman that Mrs. Robinson in "The Graduate" was based on. Kevin Costner co-stars.
COMING SOON
(BUT WITHOUT SPECIFIC RELEASE DATES)
HOSTEL — "Cabin Fever" filmmaker Eli Roth returns with this gory horror film about unfortunate backpackers in Europe.
THE LIBERTINE — Johnny Depp stars as 17th-century poet John Wilmot, better known as the Earl of Rochester, in this biographical drama.
THE MATADOR — Pierce Brosnan plays against type in this comedic thriller about a less-than-successful hitman. Greg Kinnear co-stars.
MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS — Dame Judi Dench stars in this comedy as the title character, a woman who turns an old theater into a burlesque house.
TRANSAMERICA — "Desperate Housewives" star Felicity Huffman plays a pre-operative transsexual on a cross-country journey in this drama.
THE WORLD'S FASTEST INDIAN — Drama based on the real-life story of New Zealand motorcycle racer Burt Munro. Anthony Hopkins plays Munro; partly filmed in Utah.