12月最值得期待的海外新片
4 of the best films to watch in December

1. Wonka

Paddington 2 has been hailed as one of the all-time great family films. Now its director, Paul King, and his co-writer, Simon Farnaby, have turned their attention to another much-loved British children's book character, Willy Wonka from Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In this musical prequel, the top-hatted Wonka (Timothée Chalamet) opens his first sweet shop, with the help of an Oompa-Loompa played by Hugh Grant.

Released from 6 December internationally

2. The Boy and the Heron

Hayao Miyazaki is the revered founder of Japan's most famous animation company, Studio Ghibli, and the director of such landmark works as My Neighbour Totoro and Howl's Moving Castle. Now aged 82, he has said that his latest film, The Boy and the Heron, will be his last. And, as Caryn James points out in her BBC Culture review, it feels as if he has put all of the key motifs from his previous work into one overarching masterpiece. Beginning with the bombing of Tokyo during World War Two, the story moves first to the countryside and then to a magical realm reminiscent of Spirited Away.

Released on 8 December in the US and Canada, and 26 December in the UK and Ireland

3. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Momoa is back as Arthur Curry, the king of Atlantis, alongside Patrick Wilson as his half-brother, Amber Heard as his girlfriend, Nicole Kidman as his mother, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as his arch-enemy, Manta. The film's director, James Wan told Clark Collis at Entertainment Weekly, "The beauty of this movie, this Aquaman world, is that ... we are our own separate universe."

Released from 20 December internationally

4. Leave the World Behind

A family is having a quiet holiday in a rented house when some uninvited visitors announce that the world is coming to an end. That was the premise of Leave the World Behind, another apocalyptic thriller adapted from a novel. It features Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke as the holidaying couple, and Mahershala Ali as the mystery man who turns up with his daughter, Myha'la Herrold. Can either family trust the other one? The film is "one of the year's best and no doubt will spark massive amounts of conversation", says Kristen Lopez in The Wrap. "A two-hour descent into chaos that is compelling and utterly terrifying... Just don't expect to sleep easy after seeing it."

Released on 8 December on Netflix internationally