The Big Short will open limited December 11 against the wide opening of the Ron Howard-directed whale ship survival tale In The Heart Of The Sea. That day sees the wide opening of the Brian Helgel and-directed Legends, with Tom Hardy playing ruthless British gangsters Reggie and Ronnie Kray, after it opens limited November 20 and expands November 25. The following December 18 weekend sees Star Wars: The Force Awakens open wide and dominate regular and Imax screens. Paramount then boldly opens The Big Short wide against that juggernaut five days later, and two days before a crowded December 25 Friday release calendar that sees the wide openings of the David O Russell-directed Joy with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, and the Peter Landesman-directed football film Concussion with Will Smith. It also sees the limited openings of the Quentin Tarantino-directed The Hateful Eight with Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell and Bruce Dern, and the Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu-directed The Revenant with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. The Point Break remake and Alvin And The Chipmunks: Road Chip also open that weekend. along with the McKay-produced Paramount comedy Daddy’s Home with Ferrell.

Paramount has separately slotted for December 30 limited release the Charlie Kaufman/Duke Johnson-directed stop motion animation film Anomalisa, which the studio acquired about a week ago at the Toronto Film Festival. Suddenly, a studio that seemed to have little to do this coming awards season finds itself in the middle of a very competitive race with two major films.