I think we’ve all been there once or twice.  Sitting through an interminable family gathering at Christmas and thinking, man, this is NOTHING like what those cheery Christmas songs promise.  Grandma’s off pinching cheeks again, even yours, and you’ve been out of college for four years already…Aunt Mabel’s asking when you’re finally going to get married…an army of cousins is running around screaming, chasing each other with various and sundry items.

On the whole, you’d rather be at the movies.

And the theaters are doing their level best to acknowledge that desire by putting up some big names that day.  Of course, it does help that Christmas Day is a Friday this year, so the normal rules of distribution can easily apply.  Check out what’s coming:

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel: Yeah, they’re not kidding on that score.  Apparently Jason Lee will be back to take more abuse at the hands of animated rodents, but the big news on this one is that the Chippettes will actually be in play on this one.

It’s Complicated: If you can get past the sheer squick factor of Steve Martin geezering his way through a rom-com, you might well enjoy this tale of a divorced man who’s looking to get back with his ex-wife, despite leaving her for a younger woman.  Only trouble is, she may have found a new man herself.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus: Four words: Heath. Ledger’s. Last. Movie.  That alone should give this one a punch, but the Terry Gilliam direction, incredible visuals (if the trailer’s any indication) and purely A-list cast give this one a summer movie credibility in the midst of winter.

Sherlock Holmes: This looked like another summer movie too, frankly–I could’ve seen sitting through this one back in July.  But it’s definitely got the comic action that we’ve come to expect from Robert Downey Jr. post-Iron Man.

So if that’s not reason enough to get you to the theaters at some point Christmas Day, well, then you must really like the family gathering thing.