1. The Muppets (Buena Vista, 3440 screens, 120 minutes, Rated PG): Perhaps the most anticipated major release this holiday weekend, at least around the Film Buff Online offices, is the return of the Muppets to the big screen after far too long an absence. The advance word on this is really strong and this could be their best film since the passing of the creator Jim Henson back in 1990.

Jason Segal stars as Gary who journeys to Hollywood with his muppet brother Walter and his girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) to visit the old studio that the Muppets used to perform their popular TV show only to discover that a greedy businessman (Chris Cooper) has plans to demolish the studio to get at a big reserve supposedly buried underneath. The three set out to reunite the Muppets in order to save the studio.

With Segal being the guy who did full frontal nudity inn Saving Sarah Marshall, he may seem as an usual pick to star in and co-write the return of the family franchise to the big screen. But in every interview I’ve seen Segal has exuded a love of the characters that makes me think that the things are in good hands.

2. Arthur Christmas (Sony Pictures, 3376 Screens, 97 Minutes, Rated  PG ): From the folks at Aardman Animations, the brains behind the wonderful Wallace And Grommit stop-motion animated films, comes this story of Santa’s son Arthur Christmas who lives in the shadow of his famous father and his older brother Steve who is looking to take over the family business. When an undelivered present is discovered, Arthur sets out to get it under its assigned tree while Steve and Santa squabble.

While the story sounds like a lot of fun, it unfortunately is going up against two other family features with better name-brand recognition and I don’t think that even a big name voice cast with the likes of James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Night and Jim Broadbent will get butts into seats for this one. They might be better off hoping that they get the run off of people who couldn’t get into showings of The Muppets or Hugo.

3. Hugo (Paramount, 1277 screens,  127 minutes, Rated PG):

When a long time filmmaker like Martin Scorsese states that he wants to work in 3D, one has to wonder what he wants to bring to the process. We’ll get that answer with his adaption of Brian Selznick’s novel The Invention Of Hugo Cabaret.

Asa Butterfield stars as a young orphan who is living withing the walls of a Paris train station in the 1930s who discovers a broken automaton in a disused store room.

As the story contains early film technology pioneer George Melies (played by Sir Ben Kingsley in the film) as a character, it is easy to understand how a film historian like Scorsese became interested in the project. And there is a certain metatextual symmetry to him making the film with one of the newest filmmaking technologies.

It appears that we’re getting to see a lot of the upcoming The Muppets movie this week. This weekend saw the release of the film’s first full on trailer and now Disney has released six new photos from the film. Click on each photo below for a bigger view.

Here’s the studio’s official synopsis of the film -

On vacation in Los Angeles, Walter, the world’s biggest Muppet fan, and his friends Gary (Jason Segel) and Mary (Amy Adams) from Smalltown, USA, discover the nefarious plan of oilman Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) to raze the Muppet Theater and drill for the oil recently discovered beneath the Muppets’ former stomping grounds. To stage The Greatest Muppet Telethon Ever and raise the $10 million needed to save the theater, Walter, Mary and Gary help Kermit reunite the Muppets, who have all gone their separate ways: Fozzie now performs with a Reno casino tribute band called the Moopets, Miss Piggy is a plus-size fashion editor at Vogue Paris, Animal is in a Santa Barbara clinic for anger management, and Gonzo is a high-powered plumbing magnate. With secret, signature, celebrity cameos, “The Muppets” hits the big screen Nov. 23, 2011.

The first official trailer for this fall’s The Muppets will be out this coming Monday. But until then, we’ve been gifted with one last parody trailer to enjoy. I think the reason that these are so fun is that Disney has been warming up with the number of viral Muppet videos that have circulated over the last year or two. Anyway, until Monday, we have this to enjoy, as well as an official plot description from Disney -

On vacation in Los Angeles, Walter, the world’s biggest Muppet fan, and his friends Gary (Jason Segel) and Mary (Amy Adams) from Smalltown, USA, discover the nefarious plan of oilman Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) to raze the Muppet Theater and drill for the oil recently discovered beneath the Muppets’ former stomping grounds. To stage The Greatest Muppet Telethon Ever and raise the $10 million needed to save the theater, Walter, Mary and Gary help Kermit reunite the Muppets, who have all gone their separate ways: Fozzie now performs with a Reno casino tribute band called the Moopets, Miss Piggy is a plus-size fashion editor at Vogue Paris, Animal is in a Santa Barbara clinic for anger management, and Gonzo is a high-powered plumbing magnate. With secret, signature, celebrity cameos, “The Muppets” hits the big screen Nov. 23, 2011.

Production is underway on the Muppets return to the big screen and in true Muppet film tradition, there are numerous celebrity lining up for cameos in the film. We already know that Alan Arkin, Jack Black, Billy Crystal, Zach Galifianakis and Jean-Claude Van Damme will all appear in the film in some capacity or another. Now the Hollywood Reporter has added Ricky Gervais and Emily Blunt to the list. And from his son’s Facebook page, we learn that Mickey Rooney will also pop up in the film.

With filming continuing on location, some set photos have surfaced via Pacific Coast News. While not very spoiler-y, they may be disillusioning for those of us who like to maintain that the Muppets are real people.

Via Bleeding Cool.

Zach Galifianakis is kind of a muppet to begin with so it does make a certain amount of sense that he is going to be in the new, as yet untitled, Muppet movie.

Of all people, Robert Downey Jr. let the cat out of the bad when the two were doing press for their comedy Due Date, opening November 5. (Hey Downey, how about blurting out whether you’re really dropping out of Gravity or not?) I’m not sure that Galifanakis is irked that Downey spilled the beans in this manner To E!, or if the whole thing was set up between the two.

As of right now, the Untitled Muppet Film has been co-written and is set to star Jason Segal. Amy Adams, Rashida Jones and Chris Cooper are also confirmed for the cast. Cameras are expected to roll early next year when Segal goes on break from the sitcom How I Met Your Mother in which he co-stars.

James Bobin, co-creator of the HBO comedy series Flight Of The Conchords, has been picked by Disney to helm their upcoming Muppet film. He’ll be working from a screenplay written by Forgetting Sarah Marshall scripters Jason Segal and Nicholas Stoller. Stoller, who also directed Forgetting Sarah Marshall, has been busy with that film’s spin off, Get Him To The Greek, and an upcoming film with Zac Effron. Bobin has passed on helming the Judd Apatow-produced Bridesmaids to take on the film.

Variety‘s report about Bobin’s hiring states that the film’s plot is still under wraps, but back in March 2008 Segal and Stoller stated that the storyline would center on the Muppet’s reuniting to save an old theater from an evil businessman who wants to tear it down for an oil deposit underneath. It’s unknown if this story has been abandoned or not. Also, at one time the film was going to be titled The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made, but that title could be up in the air as well.