More 2007 Holiday Film Releases
I Am Legend, Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd, The Bucket List, and More
Oct 8, 2007
Every holiday season movie audiences have come to expect prominent film releases and this season will be no exception.
Here is a handful of the films that audiences can expect to see in the days leading up to, and including, Christmas.
I Am Legend
- Release date: December 14th, 2007
- Director: Francis Lawrence
- Starring: Will Smith
- Plot synopsis: After a man-made virus destroys the population of New York City, scientist Robert Neville (Smith) discovers he is the last human survivor in the city and possibly the world. He spends three years scouring the city for food and supplies and sending out radio messages attempting to make contact with other possible survivors. While Neville seeks a cure to the infectious disease by using his own immune blood, he is watched from the shadows by mutant victims of the plague called "The Infected." As he struggles to devise a cure, "The Infected" wait for an opportunity to make him the next victim.
- Noteworthy fact: Based on a 1954 science fiction novel by Richard Matheson, I Am Legend has been adapted onto film twice before and was scheduled to be adapted a third time in the 1990s by Ridley Scott with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
- Release date: December 21st, 2007
- Director: Tim Burton
- Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman
- Plot synopsis: Based on Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical of the same name, the film follows Sweeney Todd (Depp), a man who is unjustly sent to prison and vows revenge when he is released. After his release, he returns to London to open a barber shop, a place where he will pay back all of the people who have done him wrong. Mrs. Lovett (Bonham Carter), a pie baker who works downstairs from the barber shop, acts as Sweeney's accomplice and helps him concoct his diabolical revenge plan.
- Noteworthy fact: This is the sixth collaboration between Burton and Depp (Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are the others).
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
- Release date: December 21st, 2007
- Director: Jake Kasdan
- Starring: John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Tim Meadows
- Plot synopsis: This parody of musician biopics centers around musician and songwriter Dewey Cox (Reilly), a fictional 1960s/70s individual who becomes a national icon. This films explores his incredible life behind the scenes, where he sleeps with 411 women, has 22 kids, does every known drug to man, and still finds love with his backup singer Darlene (Fischer).
- Noteworthy fact: Judd Apatow, director/writer of The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, co-wrote the script with director Jake Kasdan.
The Bucket List
- Release date: December 25th, 2007
- Director: Rob Reiner
- Starring: Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman
- Plot synopsis: When billionaire Edward Cole (Nicholson) and mechanic Carter Chambers (Freeman) -- seemingly polar opposites -- share a hospital room together in a cancer ward, they realize that they have very similar goals before they "kick the bucket." This connection leads them to embark on a road trip where they will become great friends and learn how to truly live life.
- Noteworthy fact: Nicholson shaved his head for the role and sported the look at last February's Academy Awards.
The Great Debaters
- Release date: December 25th, 2007
- Director: Denzel Washington
- Starring: Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker
- Plot synopsis: Based on a true story, the film follows the journey of Melvin B. Tolson (Washington), a professor at modest Wiley College in Texas who inspired a group of students to form the school's first debate team and coached them to a 1935 showdown with Harvard's championship team.
- Noteworthy fact: The Great Debaters marks Washington's second stint as director after he directed Antwone Fisher in 2002.
The copyright of the article More 2007 Holiday Film Releases in Action Films is owned by Justin Harrington. Permission to republish More 2007 Holiday Film Releases in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
