This week’s US film releases: Disney duo and Oscar contenders

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This week, most film releases in the US are scheduled for Wednesday, November 25, the day before Thanksgiving to take advantage of the long holiday weekend.

Old Dogs
Old Dogs is a classic Disney movie with old-fashioned mainstream appeal. The story follows business partners (Robin Williams and John Travolta) who are suddenly thrust into "fatherhood" with the care for seven-year-old twins. Also stars Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston, and their daughter Ella Bleu Travolta, Rita Wilson (Tom Hank's wife), Matt Dillon, Ann-Margaret, and Bernie Mac, in his last role.

The Princess and the Frog
Disney's animated family offering is a likely box office winner though it does not release wide until December. This musical comedy, set in New Orleans during the Jazz Age, takes a twist on the classic fairy tale about a human trapped inside a frog and a fateful kiss that changes everything. Voices by Oprah Winfrey, Terrence Howard and John Goodman.

The Road
Based on the Cormac McCarthy Pulitzer Prize-winning novel (author of No Country for Old Men), The Road could open big or slowly build. About a father and son seeking a safe haven in a post-apocalypic world, it stars Viggo Mortenson (Hidalgo, Lord of the Rings) in what some critics speculate is an Oscar winning performance, and features Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall, and Guy Pearce.

Me and Orson Welles
Directed by Richard Linklater ( Slacker, School of Rock, Fast Food Nation), Me and Orson Welles is set in the 1937's New York's theater world with Christian McKay, receiving rave reviews in the title role. The romantic coming-of-age tale also stars Claire Danes and teen heartthrob Zac Efron ( High School Musical).

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
This title releases on Friday, November 27 and is the portrait of a middle-aged woman whose change in lifestyle shakes up her comfortable life starring Robin Wright Penn, winning praise for her noteworthy performance. The cast also features Keanu Reeves, Julianne Moore, Alan Arkin, Winona Ryder, and Gossip Girl's Blake Lively. Directed by Rebecca Miller (playwright Arthur Miller's daughter and Daniel Day-Lewis's wife), who wrote the novel.

RC