Even as the Oscar contenders flood into theaters, there's still plenty of space for money-makers; indeed, at this point, a little galactic warfare feels like it could be a fairly welcome level of light digression. Of course, if wars among the stars aren't your bag, there's also coarse comedy from smart people, Shakespeare with some of today's top actors and a from-the-headlines take of one man challenging a billion-dollar sports empire …

 

Star Wars Episode 7 -- The Force Awakens -- Dec. 18

One of the season's lesser-known films … Oh, who am I kidding? The gang are back, as J.J. Abrams tries to see if he can do for Star Wars what he did for Star Trek, revitalizing a long-running pop-culture institution while still trying to do, and say, something new. the return of stalwarts like Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford is nice to see, certainly, but the new actors that Abrams has assembled -- including Oscar Isaac, Daisy Ridley, John Bogeya and Adam Driver -- are also reasons to be excited, as well as the word that original and old-school Star Wars scripter Lawrence Kasdan is on the job as well. That last fact is the least talked about, but to some of us, it's the most important: Kasdan knows how to write action-adventure, and it's great to see him back in the ring.

Sisters -- Dec. 18

A comedy from very funny people, Sisters reunites Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on the big screen, even as it seems to change the snobs-vs-slobs themes of the first film into slobs-plus-slobs this time around.

Fey and Poehler play two siblings of middling wit who plan one final blowout houseparty before their parents sell the family ranch -- with a cast of several along to help them, including everyone from John Leguizamo to John Cena, Mya Rudolph to Kate McKinnon. The script is by Saturday Night Live veteran Paula Pell, and director Jason Moore -- who gave us the original Pitch Perfect -- truly knows how to combine smart, highbrow material with lowbrow, more immediate jokes; if he's got a steady hand on the wheel, Sisters could be another 2015 funny-female hit.

Macbeth -- Dec. 25

Every couple years, we get a Shakespeare adaptation from some young, talented actor or actress with much to gain and nothing to lose; this leads us to films as good as, say, Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet, but it also leads us to films as not-good as, say, Ethan Hawke's Hamlet. This Macbeth actually holds some promise, however: It's directed by Justin Kurzel, the Australian director of the chilling and raw The Snowtown Murders. Michael Fassbender plays Macbeth, with Marion Cotillard as Lady Macbeth -- and there are actors like Sean Harris (Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation) and Paddy Considine rounding out the rest of the cast, as well. Having earned praise for its tough, modern take on a classic tragedy at Cannes, Macbeth could have just enough star power behind it to get audiences to care about Shakespeare.

Concussion -- Dec. 25  

Can Will Smith right his falling fortunes? After Earth was a flop, possibly due to its bad script; Focus underperformed, which is a shame. But before Smith suits up to take part in the comic-book clashes of Suicide Squad next year, we're going to see him in Concussion, a much more dramatic and real-life tale. Smith, opposite Gugu Mbatha-Raw, plays the physician who found a correlation between on-field head injury and post-retirement diminishment in the NFL … and then saw his findings derided, denied and dismissed by the billion-dollar corporation that profits from player's head injuries. A mix of Any Given Sunday and The Insider, Concussion promises hard-hitting drama in every sense of the phrase.