“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”

New Line Cinema

2 hours, 49 minutes

In 2001, when the first installment of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy was released, there was a palpable sense of relief. The movie was kind of a gamble, especially for fans of the novels. Peter Jackson was the Oscar-winning fantasy auteur he would become, and previous attempts to bring Tolkien to life had been sketchy at best.

“Red Dawn”

Film District

1 hour, 33 minutes

Whenever you go to see a remake, there’s always the question hanging out there, “was this really necessary?” You might say the same thing for the adaptation of a book or a play or a video game, but with those, the filmmakers can always use the translation into new media as the excuse.

“Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 2”

Lionsgate Films

1 hour, 55 minutes

“Wreck-It-Ralph”

Walt Disney Animation Studios

1 hour, 41 minutes

Who would have thought 20 years ago that you would go to see a Walt Disney animated film and think, “Hey, that wasn’t half bad.” No one knew then that Pixar, Blue Sky, and Dreamworks would go on to completely dominate animation and that Disney would be forced to buy its biggest competitor in order to compete.