Rounding out the year with highly anticipated flicks like Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Black Dog, Kraven the Hunter, The War of the Rohirrim, Anora, Better Man, and The Room Next Door – here are all the latest film releases for December 2024.
Read on for a comprehensive guide to what new films are on (and when) in Australian cinemas.
New films this December
5 December
André Rieu’s 2024 Christmas Concert: Gold & Silver
Celebrate the holiday season with The King of Walz, André Rieu, his Johann Strauss Orchestra, and with special guest artists, including the talented Emma Kok.
Director: André Rieu, Michel Fizzano
Cast: André Rieu
Classification: E
Country: Netherlands
Runtime: 180 mins
Ghost Cat Anzu (sub and dub)
Precocious tween Karin finds herself abandoned by her father in rural Japan. Living in a temple with her grandfather, she meets Anzu, a giant ‘ghost cat’ and the notorious layabout tasked with looking after her.
Distrustful of her new guardian, Karin sabotages Anzu’s odd jobs for the townsfolk and befriends the eccentric local forest spirits. In an effort to win Karin over, Anzu accidentally makes a deal with the devil, and all hell breaks loose.
Director: Yôko Kuno, Nobuhiro Yamashita
Cast: Asami Seto, Yumi Hara
Classification: MA
Country: Japan
Runtime: 132m
Girl From The North Country
A musical reimagining 20 legendary songs of Bob Dylan, written and directed by celebrated playwright Conor McPherson and featuring Tony Award-winning orchestrations by Simon Hale.
Director: Conor McPherson
Cast:
Classification: M
Country: UK
Runtime: 145m
My Favourite Cake
Since her husband’s death and daughter’s departure for Europe, Mahin lives alone in Tehran. One day, an afternoon tea with friends leads her to break her solitary routine and revitalise her love life.
Director: Behtash Sanaeeha, Maryam Moghaddam
Cast: Lili Farhadpour, Esmaeel Mehrabi
Classification: CTC
Country: France, Germany, Iran, Sweden
Runtime: 97m
Out of Season
It’s winter. Approaching his 50th birthday, successful screen actor Mathieu is facing a crisis of confidence; just weeks out from his stage debut, he has fled rehearsals to check into a spa on the Brittany coast, leaving both the play’s perplexed director and his wife back home in Paris.
Director: Stéphane Brizé
Cast: Guillaume Canet, Alba Rohrwacher
Classification: M
Country: France
Runtime: 116m
Piece by Piece
The story of musician Pharrell Williams is told with animated Lego in this autobiography from the Oscar-winning director of 20 Feet From Stardom.
Director: Morgan Neville
Cast: Pharrell Williams
Classification: CTC
Country: USA
Runtime: 94m
Rumours
Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander lead this political comedy nominated for the Palme d’Or. En route to the annual G7 summit, the seven leaders of the world’s wealthiest liberal democracies get lost in the woods and face increasing peril while attempting to draft a provisional statement regarding a global crisis.
Director: Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Alicia Vikander, Charles Dance
Classification: CTC
Country: Canada, Germany, USA
Runtime: 104m
Solo Leveling: ReAwakening
This cinema release based on the hit web novel-turned-anime features a catch-up recap of the first season coupled with an exclusive sneak peek of the first two episodes of the second season.
Over a decade after ‘gates’ connecting worlds appeared, awakening ‘hunters’ with superpowers, weakest hunter Sung Jinwoo encounters a double dungeon and accepts a mysterious quest, becoming the only one able to level up, changing his fate
Director: Shunsuke Nakashige
Cast: Taito Ban, Genta Nakamura
Classification: MA
Country: Japan, South Korea
Runtime: 116m
The Dead Don’t Hurt
Viggo Mortensen’s second outing as a writer and director is a Western tale starring Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread) and Mortensen as an immigrant couple trying to make their way in 1860s California. Co-starring Danny Huston, Garret Dillahunt and Solly McLeod, the film premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.
Director: Viggo Mortensen
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Vicky Krieps, Garret Dillahunt
Classification: CTC
Country: Canada, Denmark, Mexico
Runtime: 130m
Werewolves
Two scientists try to stop a mutation that turns people into werewolves after being touched by a super-moon the year before.
Director: Steven C. Miller
Cast: Frank Grillo, Lou Diamond Phillips, Ilfenesh Hadera
Classification: MA
Country: USA
Runtime: 94m
6 December
Laufey’s A Night at the Symphony: Hollywood Bowl
The prodigious Grammy-winning singer Laufey performs at the iconic Hollywood Bowl, accompanied by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.
Director: Sam Wrench
Cast: Laufey
Classification: M
Country: USA
Runtime: 98m
7 December
MetOpera: La Rondine
Puccini’s bittersweet love story makes a rare Met appearance, with soprano Angel Blue starring as the sophisticated French courtesan Magda, opposite tenor Jonathan Tetelman in his company debut as Ruggero, an idealistic young man who offers her an alternative to her life of excess.
Director: Maestro Speranza Scappucci
Cast: Emily Pogorelc, Bekhzod Davronov
Classification: CTC
Country: USA
Runtime: 170m
The Australian Ballet: The Nutcracker
Tchaikovsky’s last ballet score, with its famous motifs and melodies, draws us into the story of Clara, a young ballet student celebrating with her family on Christmas Eve. When the clock strikes twelve, we enter the dream realm, where Clara’s Nutcracker doll comes to life, taking her on a thrilling adventure where she encounters the Rat King before being whisked away to the Land of Sweets and into the arms of her Nutcracker Prince.
Veteran designer John F Macfarlane exquisitely evokes the world of this picture-perfect ballet: whirling snowflakes, crackling fires, band-box soldiers, a Christmas tree that grows until it brushes the ceiling and a Sugar Plum Fairy in luscious candy-floss pink.
Director: Sir Peter Wright
Cast:
Classification: CTC
Country: Australia
Runtime: 130m
11 December
NCT DREAM: Mystery Lab – DREAM( )SCAPE
NCT DREAM’s third world tour comes to the big screen once again, bringing back the vibrant world bathed in Pearl Neo Champagne.
Director: Yoondong Oh
Cast: NCT Dream
Classification: CTC
Country: South Korea
Runtime: 138m
12 December
Black Dog (Gou zhen)
From the director of The Eight Hundred comes this man-and-his-dog story of an ex-con who gets a second chance at life. Winner of the Un Certain Regard Award at Cannes 2024. On the edge of the Gobi desert in Northwest China, Lang returns to his hometown after being released from jail.
While working for the local dog patrol team to clear the town of stray dogs before the Olympic Games, he strikes up an unlikely connection with a black dog. These two lonely souls embark on a journey together.
Director: Guan Hu
Cast: Eddie Peng, Tong Liya
Classification: CTC
Country: China
Runtime: 116m
Daft Punk & Leiji Matsumoto: Interstella 5555
Part Daft Punk album film, part anime adventure, Interstella 5555 tells the story of the abduction of an alien music band by an evil human character who has dark plans.
Director: Kazuhisa Takenouchi
Cast: Romanthony, Thomas Bangalter
Classification: PG
Country: France, Japan
Runtime: 93m
Kraven the Hunter
BAFTA-nominated actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass) is big game hunter Sergei Kravinoff, best known as Spider-Man villain Kraven the Hunter, in this stand-alone movie from director JC Chandor (Triple Frontier).
Director: JC Chandor
Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson
Classification: CTC
Country: USA
Runtime: 127m
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
The untold story behind Helm’s Deep, hundreds of years before the fateful war, telling the life and bloodsoaked times of its founder, Helm Hammerhand, the King of Rohan.
Director: Kenji Kamiyama
Cast: Miranda Otto, Brian Cox
Classification: CTC
Country: USA, Japan
Runtime: 134m
ScreenHub: The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim – first preview of animated film
The Problem with People
Two estranged cousins who never knew each other tries to make amends for many generations of family dispute.
Director: Chris Cottam
Cast: Jane Levy, Colm Meaney, Paul Reiser
Classification: M
Country: Ireland
Runtime: 102m
14 December
MetOpera: Tosca
Soprano Lise Davidsen stars as the volatile diva Floria Tosca for her first time at the Met. British-Italian tenor Freddie De Tommaso makes his company debut as Tosca’s lover, Cavaradossi, and baritone Quinn Kelsey is the sadistic chief of police Scarpia. Maestro Xian Zhang conducts the electrifying score, which features some of Puccini’s most memorable melodies.
Director: David McVicar, Maestro Xian Zhang
Cast: Lise Davidsen, Freddie De Tommaso, Quinn Kelsey
Classification: CTC
Country: USA
Runtime: 208m
19 December
Mufasa
Simba, having become king of the Pride Lands, is determined for his cub to follow in his footsteps while the origins of his late father Mufasa are explored in this follow-up to the 2019 blockbuster, this time directed by Barry Jenkins (Moonlight).
Director: Barry Jenkins
Cast: Aaron Pierre, Billy Eichner, John Kani
Classification: CTC
Country: USA
Runtime: 118m
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Gromit’s growing concern that Wallace has become over-dependent on his inventions is justified when he invents a ‘smart gnome’ that seems to develop a mind of its own. As events spiral out of control, it falls to Gromit to put aside his qualms and battle sinister forces – or Wallace may never be able to invent again.
Director: Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham
Cast: Adjoa Andoh, Peter Kay, Lenny Henry
Classification: PG
Country: UK
Runtime: 79m
ScreenHub: Has Aardman, the studio behind Wallace & Gromit, run out of clay for future animations?
21 December
Royal Ballet & Opera 2024-25: The Nutcracker
Discover the enchantment of ballet with this sparkling festive treat for the whole family. Julia Trevelyan Oman’s period designs bring festive charm to the production.
Director: Peter Wright
Cast: Marcelino Sambé, Anna Rose O’Sullivan
Classification: CTC
Country: UK
Runtime: 165m
26 December
A Real Pain
Mismatched cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg, who also writes and directs) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) reunite for a tour through Poland to honour their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the pair’s old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history.
Director: Jesse Eisenberg
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin
Classification: CTC
Country: Poland, USA
Runtime: 90m
Anora
In this Palme d’Or-winning love story from Sean Baker (Tangerine, Red Rocket) a Las Vegas sex worker gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she and a young Russian oligarch fall for each other. However, when news of their impulsive marriage reaches his homeland, his parents make moves to get their union annulled.
Director: Sean Baker
Cast: Mikey Maddison, Yuriy Borisov
Classification: MA
Country: USA
Runtime: 139m
Better Man
The director of The Greatest Showman offers a unique look into the experiences that shaped Robbie Williams – by casting the pop star as a walking, singing ape – in this atypical musical.
Director: Michael Gracey
Cast: Robbie Williams, Damon Herriman
Classification: MA
Country: USA
Runtime: 135m
ScreenHub: Better Man: Robbie Williams is a chimp in the Australian-made biopic
Parthenope
The life of Parthenope – neither siren nor myth – from her birth in 1950 to the present day. Her long existence embodies the full repertoire of human existence: youth’s lightheartedness and its demise, classical beauty and its inexorable permutations, pointless and impossible loves, stale flirtations and dizzying passion, nighttime kisses on Capri, flashes of joy and persistent suffering, real and invented fathers, endings and new beginnings.
Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Cast: Gary Oldman, Celest Dalla Porta
Classification: CTC
Country: France, Italy
Runtime: 136m
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Sonic, Knuckles, Tails and director Jeff Fowler return for the third film in the family-friendly adventure film series, based on the beloved SEGA videogames.
Director: Jeff Fowler
Cast: Ben Schwartz, Jim Carrey, James Marsden
Classification: CTC
Country: USA
Runtime: 109m
26 December
The Room Next Door
Ingrid and Martha were close friends in their youth, when they worked together at the same magazine. Ingrid went on to become an autofiction novelist while Martha became a war reporter. Eventually, they were separated by the circumstances of life. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cast: Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, John Turturro
Classification: M
Country: Spain
Runtime: 107m
