Will 'Penguins' or 'Horrible Bosses' Win the Holiday Weekend?

Penguins of Madagascar

Gluttony Weekend--sorry, sorry, Thanksgiving--approaches, and with it a slate of  new releases for people who can manage to fight through their food coma and pull themselves off their couches. Go on, buy that movie theater popcorn. Your diet's shot anyway.

The two movies coming out in wide release today (Wednesday) aren't much to be thankful for, at least according to reviews--critical reception for Penguins of Madagascar and Horrible Bosses 2 has been decidedly mixed, though Penguins' 60% Rotten Tomatoes rating isn't awful. Expect Horrible Bosses 2's poor reviews (31% on Rotten Tomatoes) to keep it from snagging the top spot, while Penguins has a better shot due to its status as a kid's movie on a long weekend when schools are closed and parents need something to occupy the little ones with. Hey, you don't want to take 'em Black Friday shopping. That stuff's dangerous. Still, my money's on Mockingjay - Part 1 holding on for another week, despite its relatively disappointing opening weekend haul.

The Babadook

Reviews have been more positive for limited releases The Imitation Game and The Babadook, both out this Friday in New York and Los Angeles. Another option if you're not interested in penguins or bosses is The Theory of Everything, which is expanding from 140 theaters to 802. It's done well in limited release, snapping up nearly $3 million (and a lot of awards buzz) so far.

Also hitting theaters in the indie arena are director/writer/actor Shawn Christensen's Before I Disappear, based on his Oscar-winning 2013 short film Curfew, and the documentary Remote Area Medical, about a "pop-up" clinic in Bristol, Tennessee established to provide aid for those without options for medical care.