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Big Fish Comedy-drama, utilizing numerous flashbacks, about a man who realizes he doesn’t really know his dying father because every story the father ever told was brimming with fabrication. Based on the novel by Daniel Wallace (“The Watermelon King”). Directed by Tim Burton (“Sleepy Hollow,” “Planet of the Apes”) from a screenplay by John August (“Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle”). With Ewan McGregor (“Down With Love”), Alison Lohman (“Matchstick Men”), Albert Finney (“Traffic”), Steve Buscemi (“Spy Kids 3D: Game Over”), Danny DeVito (“Anything Else”), Helena Bonham Carter (“The Heart of Me”), Billy Crudup (“World Traveler”) and Jessica Lange (“Titus,” “Masked & Anonymous”). PG-13: A fight scene; some images of nudity; a suggestive reference. Dec. 10 limited; wider Jan. 16. Sony.     Cheaper by the Dozen Comedy about a couple whose 12-kid household runs into parenting issues when Dad takes a new job and Mom finds herself having to leave the house more and more to promote her new book. A loose remake of the 1950s comedy, based on the children’s book by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Earnestine Gilbreth Carey. Directed by Shawn Levy (“Big Fat Liar,” “Just Married”) from a screenplay by Sam Harper (“Just Married”) and Craig Titley (“See Spot Run”). With Steve Martin (“Bringing Down the House,” “Looney Tunes: Back in Action”), Bonnie Hunt (“Stolen Summer”), Piper Perabo (“Lost and Delirious”), Hilary Duff (“The Lizzie McGuire Movie”), Brent Kinsman and Tom Welling (TV’s “Smallville”). Flat. Dec. 25. Fox.     The Company Ensemble drama, set inside and around Chicago’s famed Joffrey Ballet, about – among many other things – an overworked dancer who falls for a chef. Directed by Robert Altman (“Gosford Park”) from a screenplay by Barbara Turner (“Pollock”). With Neve Campbell (“Drowning Mona”), James Franco (“City by the Sea”), Malcolm McDowell (“I Spy”), Barbara Robertson (“Soul Survivors”), Marilyn Dodds Frank (“Just Visting”), Susie Cusack (“High Fidelity”) and Emma Harrison (“Intolerable Cruelty”). Flat. 112 min. PG-13: Brief strong language; some nudity; sexual content. Dec. 25 in New York and Los Angeles. Sony Pictures Classics.     Girl With a Pearl Earring Drama that speculates on Johnannes Vermeer’s famous painting, positing that its subject was a 16-year-old housemaid in the painter’s home who eventually evolved into his assistant. Based on novel by Tracy Chevalier (“The Virgin Blue”). Directed by Peter Webber from a screenplay by Olivia Hetreed. With Scarlett Johansson (“Lost in Translation”), Colin Firth (“What A Girl Wants,” “Love Actually”), Tom Wilkinson (“The Importance of Being Earnest”), Judy Parfitt (“Ever After”), Cillian Murphy (“28 Days Later”) and Essie Davis (“The Matrix Reloaded”). 95 min. PG-13: Some sexual content. Dec. 12 in New York and Los Angeles; wider Jan. 9. Lions Gate.   The Alamo Historical epic, set in 1836 San Antonio, about the Mexican army’s famous 13-day siege on a small group of volunteers – William Travis, Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie among them – who fought for Texas’ independence from Mexico. Directed by John Lee Hancock (“The Rookie”) from a screenplay by Hancock (“Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”), John Sayles (“Casa de Los Babys”), Leslie Bohem (“Dante’s Peak”) and Stephen Gaghan (“Traffic,” “Abandon”). With Billy Bob Thornton (“Intolerable Cruelty,” “Love Actually,” “Bad Santa”) as Crockett, Jason Patric (“Narc”) as Bowie, Tony-winning Broadway vet Patrick Wilson as Travis, Dennis Quaid (“Cold Creek Manor”) as Sam Houston, Marc Blucas (“I Capture the Castle,” “Prey for Rock and Roll”) as James Bonham, Jordi Mollà (“Bad Boys II”) as Juan Seguin and Emilio Echevarría (“Die Anther Day”) as General Santa Anna. Scope. Dec. 25. Buena Vista.   Calendar Girls Comedy-drama, set in Yorkshire, England, and based on a true story, about a dozen society matrons who decide to raise money for charity by posing nude for a calendar. Directed by Nigel Cole (“Saving Grace”) from a screenplay by Tim Firth and Juliette Towhidi. With Helen Mirren (“No Such Thing”), Julie Walters (the “Harry Potter” series), Penelope Wilton (“Iris”), Annette Crosbie (“Shooting Fish”), Philip Glenister (“London Kills Me”), Celia Imrie (“Lucky Break”), Linda Bassett (“The Hours”) and John Alderton. Scope. 108 min. PG-13: Nudity; some language; drug-related material. Dec. 19 limited; wider Jan. 1. Buena Vista. Cold Mountain Drama, set during the Civil War, about a Confederate soldier who struggles to make his way back home to South Carolina after being badly injured in battle. Based on the first novel by Charles Frazier. Written and directed by Anthony Minghella (“The English Patient,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley”). With Jude Law (“Road to Perdition”), Nicole Kidman (“The Hours,” “The Human Stain”), Renée Zellweger (“Down With Love”), Natalie Portman (“Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones”), Philip Seymour Hoffman (“Owning Mahowny”), Giovanni Ribisi (“Lost in Translation”), Brendan Gleeson (“28 Days Later”), Donald Sutherland (“The Italian Job”), Jena Malone (“The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys”) and Ray Winstone (“Last Orders”). Dec. 25. Miramax.   The Fog of War Documentary about Robert McNamara, who served as U.S. secretary of defense during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Featuring Robert McNamara as himself, as well as archival footage of Fidel Castro, Barry Goldwater, Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Directed by Errol Morris (“Fast, Cheap & Out of Control,” “Mr. Death”). Flat. 107 min. PG-13: Images and thematic issues of war and destruction. Dec. 19 in New York and Los Angeles. Sony Pictures Classics.