Calendar: December 12-18, 2025
Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday/Saturday on C-U Blogfidential and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.
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CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History
110 years ago … December 1915: The Macmillan Company of New York publishes what cinema historians will eventually consider the first English-language book to seriously appreciate the aesthetics of film, The Art of the Moving Picture, written by the Springfield, Illinois-raised poet and essayist Vachel Lindsay. Rarely appearing in bibliographies of his work is a follow-up entitled The Progress and Poetry of the Movies, released well after the untimely passing of Lindsay (1879-1931) and hard to find today. Conversely, both the 1915 and 1922 editions of Moving Picture can easily be accessed as electronic or print, including a 2000 reissue from Random House that is guest edited by filmmaker Martin Scorsese and features an introduction by the late Stanley Kaufmann, film reviewer at The New Republic for more than a half century. [R] Project Gutenberg eBook
LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers
@ Esquire Lounge, Champaign, IL
Champaign Movie Makers* meeting (12/15, 7 p.m.)
@ Gallery Art Bar, Urbana, IL
Film Fanatic Movie Nights* presents THE FALL (12/18, 6:30 & 9:30 p.m.)
@ Martens Center, Champaign Park District, Champaign, IL
Pens to Lens* Student Screenwriting Workshop (12/16, 6 p.m. registration required)
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
Chambana Film Society* presents “The Savoy Arthouse” feat. SONG SUNG BLUE (2008) (documentary) (12/14, 3 p.m.)
NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area
@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
DUST BUNNY, ELLA McCAY, HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS* 25th anniversary (re-release), NOT WITHOUT HOPE, SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT, DHURANDHAR* (in Hindi with English sub), ETERNITY, FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2, JUJUTSU KAISEN: EXECUTION (animé) (in Japanese with English sub or English dub), KILL BILL: THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR* (re-release), NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T,WICKED: FOR GOOD, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (12/12 on), DAVID sneak preview (12/14, 2 p.m.), AMC “Screen Unseen” (mystery movie) (12/15, 7 p.m.), AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, DAVID (faith animation), HAMNET, THE HOUSEMAID, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS (animation) (12/18 on) *single screenings daily
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
ELLA McCAY, HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS 25th anniversary (re-release), SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT, ETERNITY, FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2, JUJUTSU KAISEN: EXECUTION (animé) (in Japanese with English sub or English dub), NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T, NUREMBERG, RENTAL FAMILY, THE RUNNING MAN*, WICKED: FOR GOOD, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (12/12 on), Indian cinema: KIS KISKO PAYAAR KAROON 2* (in Hindi with English sub; 12/12-12/16), MOWGLI (in Telugu with English sub; 12/12-12/16), PADAYAPPA* (in Tamil with English sub; 12/12-12/16), AKHANDA 2: THAANDAVAM* (in Telugu with English sub; 12/12-12/16), and DHURANDHAR (in Hindi with English sub; 12/12-12/16), The Metropolitan Opera: Andrea Chénier (12/13, 12 p.m., simulcast; 12/17, 12 & 5:30 p.m., recorded), DICK VAN DYKE: 100TH CELEBRATION (documentary) (12/13-12/14, 4 & 7 p.m.), THE SHINING (12/13, 4 & 9:30 p.m., 12/14, 6:30 & 9:45 p.m.; IMAX), ROLLING STONES: AT THE MAX (concert film) (12/13, 7:15 p.m., 12/14, 4:15 p.m.; IMAX), CHRISTINA AGUILERA: CHRISTMAS IN PARIS (concert special) (12/14, 7 p.m.), DAVID sneak preview (12/14, 2 p.m.), THE CASE FOR MIRACLES (religious docudrama) (12/15-12/18, 7:30 p.m.), AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, DAVID (faith animation), THE HOUSEMAID, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS (animation) (12/18 on) *single screenings daily
Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!
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NOW PLAYING | The Cities Beyond
@ The Fischer Theatre, Danville, IL
THE POLAR EXPRESS “Movie Experience” (12/14, 12, 3 & 6 p.m.)
@ Golden Ticket Cinemas Ale House, Bloomington, IL
ELLA McCAY, HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS 25th anniversary (re-release), FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2, WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY, WICKED: FOR GOOD, ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (12/12 on), ARTHUR CHRISTMAS (animation) (12/13-12/14, 10 & 10:15 a.m.), DAVID sneak preview (12/14, 11 a.m. & 2 p.m.), THE CASE FOR MIRACLES (religious docudrama) (12/16-12/18), AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, DAVID (faith animation), THE HOUSEMAID (12/18 on)
@ The Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL
Closed for the season.
@ The Lorraine Theatre, Hoopeston, IL
HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS 25th anniversary (12/12-12/14), THE POLAR EXPRESS (12/17, 7 p.m., free), AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH (12/18 on)
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION, HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS (12/12), IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, HOME ALONE, BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974) (12/13), JINGLE ALL THE WAY, WHITE CHRISTMAS, TOKYO GODFATHERS (animé) (12/14), THE THIN MAN (12/15), IT HAPPENED ON 5TH AVENUE (12/16), A CHRISTMAS CARL (1938) (12/17), NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION (12/18)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL
ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (12/12-12/14)
@ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL
ZOOTOPIA 2 (animation) (12/12-12/14), DAVID sneak preview (faith animation) (12/14, 12 p.m.)
NOW PLAYING | Midwest
For detailed and curated listings of Chicago-area film presentations and related events, please visit the fine folks at Cine-File and subscribe to their definitive “Cine-List” weekly blast. And for northern Illinois industry news, be sure to read Reel Chicago, Screen Magazine, and the Chicago Reader.
COMING SOON | Area-wide Events
12/20
Chicago Filmmakers presents “Picture ReStart” short film series
feat. final program, “Bringing It All Back Home”
@ Chicago Filmmakers Firehouse Cinema, Chicago, IL, 6 p.m.
1/16-1/18, 2026
Champaign Movie Makers* “48-Hour Film Competition”
@ Lincoln Square, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m.
4/3-4/10, 2026
28th annual Wisconsin Film Festival, Madison, WI
4/9-4/12, 2026
36th Onion City Experimental Film Festival, Chicago, IL
COMMUNITY & CAMPUS SERIES | Champaign-Urbana area
Chambana Film Society presents “The Savoy Arthouse”
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL, 3 p.m. unless noted otherwise
12/21: LOCKE; 12/28: “Short Docs” program
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Compiled by Jason Pankoke.
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“Calendar du C-U”
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