New Movies December 21: 'Passengers,' 'Assassin's Creed' and 'Sing' Arrive for the Holiday

The Christmas holiday weekend gets an early start this week, as three new wide releases come to theaters on Wednesday. Those three new movies, along with another that debuts on Friday, will try to do battle with last week's runaway winner, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

The first of Wednesday's new movies is Passengers, a sci-fi adventure starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. Despite the film's star power, it's getting poor reviews and could struggle to keep pace with Rogue One. Expect it to take in $35 to $40 million and secure second place.

Next up is Assassin's Creed, a film adaptation of the popular video game series. This one is getting even worse reviews than Passengers, and video game movies rarely hit it big. If it's lucky, it could pull in $20 million and take third or fourth place.

More likely to take third place is Sing, an animated family film, if only because none of the other films is very well suited to very young moviegoers. A take between $20 and $30 million seems likely for this one.

Finally, Why Him?, a comedy starring Bryan Cranston and James Franco, debuts on Friday. Given that it's getting negative reviews and will have two fewer days to sell tickets than the week's other new movies, it likely won't break $15 million for the weekend. That could be enough for fifth place, though.

The only question about Rogue One will probably be how big it's second-weekend win is. A five-day take of $80 million doesn't seem totally out of the question, and that should put it far, far ahead of the competition.