Starring: Matthew Broderick
Directed by: Sam Fell and Rob Stevenhagen
Release date: December 19

Move over, Remy — there's a new CG rodent in town. For The Tale of Despereaux, his first script since 2003's Seabiscuit, writer-producer Gary Ross adapted the '03 kids' book about Despereaux, a brainy mouse (voiced by Broderick) who is banished from Mouseworld when he befriends a kindly human princess played by Emma Watson.

Starring: Will Smith, Rosario Dawson
Directed by: Gabriele Muccino
Release date: December 19

The ideal exchange rate for the dollar? The weight of Will Smith's soul? Seven Pounds, the title of this drama (which the studio refuses to explain), is as mysterious as the early trailers, which skirt around what the hero (Smith) is running from, and to. But Muccino says that's intentional: ''The [audience] will not know exactly what this man is up to.'' Muccino, who directed Smith in 2006's The Pursuit of Happyness, confirms a few details: Smith plays an IRS agent who tries to redeem an unforgivable mistake he made in the past by helping seven people. We know neither the mistake nor the reason these particular people are chosen, but his plan changes when he falls for an ailing woman (Dawson). Dawson, for her part, admits she got 50 pages into the script and wondered, ''What the hell is happening?'' but insists the ending is worth all the fuss. ''When they sell you your ticket, they should give you a box of hankies, because no matter how macho you [are], you're gonna be crying.''

Starring: Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel
Directed by: Peyton Reed
Release date: December 19

Carrey stars as a lonely loan officer who suddenly vows to say yes to every opportunity that comes his way in Yes Man. But it was longtime Carrey fan Bradley Cooper who fell over himself to say yes to costarring as Carrey's best friend. ''I just didn't want to mess up,'' he says. Little did Cooper know that his nose would nearly be broken by the comedic contortionist. ''There was a brawl scene outside a bar and there were 15 extras and stuntmen, and Jim shouts, 'Let's just do it,''' says Cooper. ''These guys ram into each other, and in one take, Jim pops his head up and bashes me in the nose.''

That was nothing compared with the violence Carrey seemed to inflict on himself during production. According to Deschanel, who plays Carrey's free-spirited indie-rocker love interest, Carrey surprised everyone on the set one day by unexpectedly flinging himself over a four-and-a-half-foot partition between a living room and a kitchen. ''I have no idea if it's in the movie,'' says Deschanel, who performs several comically bitter breakup ballads in the film. ''I just know it was extraordinary.''