Holiday releases range from Muppets to Marilyn Monroe

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Only Hollywood could assemble a holiday guest list that ranges from the Muppets, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Puss in Boots and dancing penguins to J. Edgar Hoover, Margaret Thatcher, Marilyn Monroe and a steed in the trenches of World War I.

The latter are among a batch of potential Academy Awards contenders from past winners and nominees: Leonardo DiCaprio as the FBI boss in director Clint Eastwood’s “J. Edgar”; Meryl Streep as former British Prime Minister Thatcher in “The Iron Lady”; Michelle Williams as Monroe in “My Week with Marilyn”; and Steven Spielberg directing “War Horse,” the Tony Award-winning play that arrives in theaters just days after the U.S. debut of Spielberg’s action tale “The Adventures of Tintin.”

The rush of holiday films starts early with the pre-Halloween release of “Puss in Boots,” an animated prequel about an early caper of the daring cat that became one of the ogre’s sidekicks in the “Shrek” movies.

Antonio Banderas, who returns to provide the voice of Puss, said much of the character’s charm arises as the tiny cat struts and boasts with a bravado that’s out of whack with his size.

“We just provided him with a voice that doesn’t go, actually, with the body,” said Banderas, who is joined by voice co-stars Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris.

“He thinks that he’s bigger. He thinks that he’s more arrogant. It’s something that goes against the image, and that produces comedy.”

Other top holiday titles include the next-to-last installment of “The Twilight Saga”; Robert Downey Jr.’s “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”; Hollywood’s take on Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” with Daniel Craig; Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible ― Ghost Protocol”; Martin Scorsese’s first 3-D film, “Hugo”; Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller’s action romp “Tower Heist”; George Clooney’s family comic drama “The Descendants”; Adam Sandler’s dual-role comedy “Jack and Jill”; and Charlize Theron’s romance “Young Adult.”