Feel that chill in the air? That's because you left the kitchen window open -- go on, I'll wait -- but that secondary chill you're feeling would be the multiplex yuletide season turning in our direction, ready and waiting to melt the bleep out of your heart. Last year, it was This Christmas and The Perfect Holiday begging to be mistaken for one another (in title, not in quality).

This year we've got at least two winter-themed family-minded dramedies waiting in the wings. First out the gate is Nothing Like The Holidays (the trailer's now up at Apple), in which a Hispanic-American family gathers for what might be their last Christmas spent together. Sooooo ... it's basically This Christmas, with the casting emphasis on a different minority. However, for all that film's familiar beats, I found myself surprisingly won over, so here's to hoping that something similar might come of Holidays on November 21st.

In the other corner, we have Four Christmases, in which Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon find themselves shuffling off to visit each of their parents on X-Mas Day. If this (embed-less) TV spot on YouTube is any indication, Vaughn's creaky neurotic shtick and infant spewage will be par for the course, not to mention the last thing I might expect to come from the non-doco directorial debut of Seth Gordon (The King of Kong). As the Hollywood gods have decreed it, Christmases is set to open just before Thanksgiving on November 26th. Ah, the smell of leftovers...

As most of us predicted, The Golden Compass took the number one spot, but didn't do nearly as well as expected. Compass was the only new release last week, so the rest of the top five was filled out by movies that have been around for a bit. Fred Claus was in its fifth week but still managed to cling to the number four spot and Enchanted still held onto second place despite having been in its third week of release. Here's the final tally:

1. The Golden Compass: $26.1 million.
2. Enchanted: $10.7 million.
3. This Christmas: $5 million.
4. Fred Claus: $4.7 million.
5. Beowulf: $4.4 million.

After a couple weeks of an anemic release schedule, we've got three films going into wide release, covering the genres of family comedy, science fiction/horror and romantic comedy.

Alvin and the Chipmunks
What's It All About: Jason Lee stars as a struggling song writer whose tunes finally become successful when sung by a trio of talking chipmunks.
Why It Might Do Well: There's definitely a market for family oriented comedy around the holidays, and yes the little buggers are really cute.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Disease riddled mutants will probably keep the chippers out of first place, but they should hit their target demographic and take home the silver.
Number of Theaters: 3,300
Prediction: $16 million

I Am Legend
What's It All About: Richard Matheson's classic horror novel is brought to the screen for the third time. This time around, Will Smith stars as Robert Neville, the last surviving human in New York City. A global plague has mutated the remainder of the population, but Neville struggles to find a cure for the plague using his own blood.
Why It Might Do Well: Smith can certainly bring them in at the box office. I suspect this will be the number one film next week.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Similarities to 28 Days Later may put some people off and some may see this as just another zombie movie. In fact, Matheson's novel served as an unofficial inspiration for Night of the Living Dead, so rather than being a Johnny Come Lately, I Am Legend is where the zombie formula began.
Number of Theaters: 3,500
Prediction: $38 million

Cinematical has just received the exclusive poster for The Perfect Holiday (click on the image for a larger version), starring the smokin' hot Gabrielle Union, Queen Latifah, Terrence Howard and Morris Chestnut. This looks to be one of them feel-good Christmas flicks (and we need at least one of those every year ... because it's nice to just feel good). In the film, Gabrielle Union stars as a divorced mother who's too busy raising her three kids, she never finds any time for herself. Ah, but her kids are paying attention -- and when they go to visit Santa at the local mall, they don't ask for a lousy football or a Red Rider BB Gun, they ask the jolly fat man for a nice gentleman to compliment their mother. Turns out Santa himself is a nice, good-looking guy in the form of Morris Chestnut, and, well, I imagine sparks fly from there. Based on the poster, it looks like there will be plenty of characters swirling around mom and her kids; some of which are dressed up as big ass elves. Also starring in the film are Malik Hammond, Charlie Murphy, Faizon Love, Jeremy Gumbs, Jill Marie Jones, and Rachel True. The Perfect Holiday was written, produced and directed by Lance Rivera (The Cookout, Life Support), and you can check it out in theaters on December 12.