Moviegoers have lots to choose from during holiday season : GoMemphis.com

Two of the more eagerly awaited movies of the year open today: "The Blind Side," inspired by the real-life story of Memphis couple Sean and Leigh Anne Touhy and their adopted son, current NFL right tackle Michael Oher; and "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," which has generated a lot of local interest (judging from my phone calls and e-mail messages), thanks in part to the endorsements of Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry.

"The Blind Side" and "Precious" are stories of underdogs. As the holiday season progresses, from Thanksgiving through the New Year, moviegoers also will be confronted by "Old Dogs," chipmunks and one fantastic fox.

Here's a chronological preview of the rest of the movies of 2009, according to their tentative Memphis opening dates.

Wednesday

"Fantastic Mr. Fox": Wes Anderson uses old-school stop-motion animation and employs the voice talents of George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Bill Murray for a Royal Tenenbaumesque adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic children's book about foxes, badgers and possums, and the farmers who hate them.

"Old Dogs": Rhymes with "Wild Hogs," as director Walt Becker reunites with John Travolta and recruits Robin Williams to recreate the box-office magic of that 2007 film, which surprised everyone by grossing $254 million worldwide.

"Ninja Assassin": The title is self-explanatory; the director is James McTeigue ("V for Vendetta").

"Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day": Writer-director Troy Duffy's violent 1999 original was a notorious theatrical flop that became a DVD cult sensation, necessitating this followup in which Norman Reedus and Sean Patrick Flanery return as gun-toting Irish-Catholics.

"Paris": A dancer (Romain Duris) confined by illness to his apartment observes the dance of life in the Paris streets in this French-language film that -- quelle surprise! -- is opening only at the Studio on the Square.

Dec. 4

"Armored": Matt Dillon plans an armored-car heist.

"Transylmania": In the tradition of such "biting" '80s comedies as "Once Bitten" and "Transylvania 6-5000" comes this spoofy response to the current vampire craze.

"Brothers": The title siblings are soldier Tobey Maguire and ex-con Jake Gyllenhaal, whose relationship is tested when Tobey goes missing in Afghanistan.

"Everybody's Fine": Robert De Niro is a lonely widower who wants to reconnect with his busy, far-flung children, Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell and Drew Barrymore.

"Gentlemen Broncos" (tentative): "Napoleon Dynamite"/"Nacho Libre" director Jared Hess returns with a comedy (with a terrible title) about a teen nerd who discovers a famous sci-fi novelist has stolen his story idea.

"Bright Star" (tentative): Ben Whishaw is the poet John Keats and Abbie Cornish is his lady love, Fanny, in this period romance from director Jane Campion ("The Piano").

Dec. 11

"The Princess and the Frog": Walt Disney Pictures returns to classic non-computer-generated animation for its first fairy tale-inspired feature cartoon with an African-American character in the lead, set in New Orleans during the jazz age. With the voice talents of Oprah Winfrey and Terrence Howard, among others.

"Invictus": Clint Eastwood could get his fifth Oscar nomination as director for this inspiring tale about Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) and South African soccer.

"Red Cliff": Directed by John Woo, this historical Chinese action epic is the most expensive Asian film ever.

"Larger Than Life": A 3-D concert film starring the Dave Matthews Band, Ben Harper and Gogol Bordello.

"The Messenger" (tentative): Oren Movermen (co-writer of "I'm Not There" and "Married Life," directed by Memphis-born Ira Sachs Jr.) scripted and directed this acclaimed drama with Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster as servicemen who deliver death notices to the families of fallen soldiers.

Dec. 18

"Did You Hear About the Morgans?": A romantic comedy in which a bickering, soon-to-be-divorced urban couple (Jennifer Aniston and Hugh Grant) are forced to go into protective custody out West after witnessing a murder.

"Avatar": James Cameron's first narrative feature in 12 years is a 3-D science-fiction action spectacle with an eco-message that has cost a reported $500 million to produce and promote. Will it be a "Titanic"-sized hit, or hit the iceberg of non-fanboy indifference?

Dec. 23

"Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel": Sexy female rodents Eleanor (voiced by Amy Poehler), Brittany (Anna Faris) and Jeanette (Christina Applegate) rock Alvin, Simon and Theodore's world.

"Me and Orson Welles": Richard Linklater ("Dazed and Confused") casts Christian McKay as the great director in this backstage drama set during a 1937 Mercury Theatre production of "Julius Caesar." The "me" is a 17-year-old actor, played by Zac Efron.

Christmas Day

"Sherlock Holmes": Director Guy Ritchie and actor Robert Downey Jr. reinvent Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's celebrated sleuth as a two-fisted, irreverent action hero for the short-attention-span generation.

"Up in the Air": George Clooney's job is firing people in the latest comedy from director Jason Reitman ("Juno").

"Nine": Fellini's classic "81/2 ," about a film director juggling the demands of multiple women, is reimagined as a musical by "Chicago" director Rob Marshall, whose powerhouse cast includes Daniel Day-Lewis, Nicole Kidman, Penélope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Kate Hudson, Judi Dench and Sophia Loren.

"It's Complicated": Meryl Streep is pursued by ex-husband Alec Baldwin and architect Steve Martin in the latest romantic comedy from director Nancy Meyers ("What Women Want").

Among the much-touted late-2009 releases that aren't expected to reach Memphis until early 2010 are "The Road," a grim post-apocalyptic father-and-son saga based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Cormac McCarthy; "The Lovely Bones," the tale of a ghostly young girl who watches her murderer prepare to kill again, directed by Peter Jackson ("The Lord of the Rings") from Alice Sebold's novel; and "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," for which director Terry Gilliam enlisted Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell to fill in for star Heath Ledger, whose overdose death occurred when only about a third of the film had been shot.