A handful of big titles will come to Memphis theaters on Christmas Day, but a few new movies get a head start this Friday, most notably “Mufasa: The Lion King,” the sequel/prequel to 2019’s “photorealistically animated” reboot of the 1994 animated staple. (I think I got all that right.)

Most people who show up at theaters this weekend for this franchise spectacle won’t know or care who directed it, but “Mufasa” is the unlikely fourth theatrical feature from Barry Jenkins, who won the Best Picture Oscar for 2016’s “Moonlight” and followed that up with striking, highly regarded adaptations of James Baldwin (“If Beale Street Could Talk”) and, as a streaming series, Colson Whitehead (“The Underground Railroad”). 

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For Jenkins, is this a paycheck or a welcome challenge? Maybe both?

When the original “The Lion King” came out, I was a college student, not part of either of the film’s target audiences (kids and parents), so I don’t harbor much nostalgia for it. I’m intrigued to see what Jenkins will do with this kind of material but I also just might be allergic to “photorealistically animated.”

Plotwise, this film is a kind of origin story of two future rivals, Mufasa and Taka (who becomes Scar, the original movie’s villain). Amid an impressive cast of vocal performers, the lead here is Aaron Pierre, who gave one of the year’s best live-action performances (emphasis on action) in the Netflix movie “Rebel Ridge.”

Other cast members include Seth Rogen, Donald Glover and Beyoncé. It also features original songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda. 

There are two other movies opening in wide release this week. In “Homestead,” a former Green Beret takes his family to a “prepper” fortress in the mountains after a nuclear bomb goes off in Los Angeles. Star Neal McDonough is a name you don’t recognize but a face you definitely will. And “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” continues the based-on-a-video-game franchise.

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Clint Eastwood is back ... on Max

One of the most accessible of the year’s best films mostly bypassed theaters and will be available exclusively on the HBO streaming service Max starting Friday, Dec. 20. 

That would be “Juror #2,” the latest (who would dare say last?) feature from now-94-year-old director Clint Eastwood.

Eastwood stays behind the camera this time, in a film that stars Nicholas Hoult, with supporting work from Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons, Chris Messina and Zoey Deutch. 

“Juror #2,” as the name implies, is a courtroom drama, set in Savannah, Georgia. Any more than that I’m reluctant to say. I’m not even going to post a trailer here because, like most movie trailers now, it gives away too much plot and with “Juror #2,” more than most movies, the less you know, the better the experience. 

But trust me that it’s well worth a watch. The film has a novel premise and then makes the most of it, in ultimately surprising ways. It’s a little bit “12 Angry Men,” a little bit Alfred Hitchcock and a little bit John Grisham. 

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“But trust me that it’s well worth a watch. The film has a novel premise and then makes the most of it”

Chris Herrington

While I’m a believer in the theater experience, “Juror #2” is a story-and-acting-driven film shot and cut in the direct, economical style for which Eastwood is known. It would have been a theatrical hit in an earlier era, but it works great in your living room. It’s also the kind of earlier-era hit that would have become a cable or home-video staple, anyway. 

And non-spoiler alert: I’ll have more to say about “Juror #2” when we run my upcoming “best films of 2024” piece.