New Movies Dec. 18-22: 'Anchorman,' Tom Hanks, Jennifer Lawrence and More

There's no big-budget action/adventure flick or tentpole franchise sequel among this week's new movie releases, but audiences will nonetheless have plenty of new movies to choose from on this final weekend before Christmas.

Thanks to a pervasive promotional campaign that's been going on for months, "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues" is the most prominent of the week's new wide releases. Star Will Ferrell has been everywhere, usually in character, pushing the long-awaited sequel to 2004's "Anchorman." Some predictions have the sequel earning as much as $50 million over the weekend, with more conservative estimates falling as low as $30 million. Most estimates expect "Anchorman" to outperform "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" in that film's second weekend.

"Anchorman" will have solid competition, however. Family audiences will be drawn to the animated dinosaur movie "Walking with Dinosaurs," and older audiences will likely opt for "Saving Mr. Banks," which expands into wide release this week and stars Tom Hanks as Walt Disney; Hanks' last film, "Captain Phillips," was a hit, and "Saving Mr. Banks" is getting good responses from critics. "American Hustle" also goes wide this week; it, too, is getting strong critical response and also features current hot property Jennifer Lawrence.

Audience fragmentation might keep any one of these movies from becoming a break-out winner, and they'll only have a few days to establish themselves before five more wide releases open on Christmas Day.