Coming this weekend…

Rushing to get onto screens this weekend are four big movies that hope to get their piece of the holiday movie season early, before New Moon: The Twilight Saga arrives and dominates box office for a few weeks.

Hollywood is pinning a lot of hopes on the animated A Christmas Carol, featuring the voice of Jim Carrey as Scrooge. He’s delivered before over the holidays with The Grinch That Stole Christmas, but can he pull it off this far away from even Thanksgiving? Time will tell.

The most overhyped movie that seems almost certain to flop is The Box, a thriller with James Marsden and Cameron Diaz.

A movie that’s been repackaged to seem more like Paranormal Activity is the alien abduction thriller The Fourth Kind, but the presence of well-known actors like Milla Jovavich spoil the “could it be real” fun of a Paranormal Activity-style movie. This could take off or flop, depending largely on early word-of-mouth.

Finally, there is the screwball comedy, The Men Who Stare At Goats, which is loony enough to overcome the massive political overtones and agenda George Clooney often brings to the table. This one has a lot of flop potential, but could greatly benefit from strong early word-of-mouth, if the film is solid.

Of all these, the Fourth Kind seems like the sleeper of the group, but I expect the latest A Christmas Carol franchise to end up atop next weekend’s box office. Well, we’ll know in a week if I’m correct.