Like the summer period Christmas is one of the prime times of the year for success at the box office and this year is a mixed bag of fantasy, action, sweeping epic and animation with something for everyone.

Here at FemaleFirst we have skipped forward a couple of months to bring you an early guide to the festive period and what you should be watching this December.

It's sequels that dominate the opening week of the month as Jason Statham returns as Frank Martin for Transporter 3, the somewhat surprisingly successful franchise that propelled him to fame.

The film continues the story of Frank, a professional "transporter" who has relocated to Paris to continue his low-key business of delivering packages without questions.

In the first of the festive films for the kids all the loveable characters are back, Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo, King Julien, Maurice and the penguins, in "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.

Left marooned on the distant shores of Madagascar, the New Yorkers have hatched a plan so crazy it just might work. With military precision, the penguins have repaired an old crashed plane...sort of.

Once aloft, this unlikely crew stays airborne just long enough to make it to the wildest place of all, the vast plains of Africa itself, where our zoo-raised crew encounters species of their own kind for the very first time.

While discovering their roots, they quickly realize the differences between the concrete jungle and the heart of Africa.

Despite long-lost relatives, romantic rivals and scheming hunters, Africa seems like a "crack-a-lackin" great place...but is it better than their Central Park home?

Transporter 3 and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa are released 5th December.

In past years fantasy film like The Lord of the rings, Harry Potter and The Golden Compass have enjoyed major popularity at the box office and this year is no different as Inkheart is finally released.

Based on the novel by Cornelia Funke the film boasts an all star cast Inkheart follows a twelve year old girl named Meggie (Eliza Bennett) who discovers that her bookbinder father Mortimer or Mo (Brendan Fraser) has the ability to bring characters from books into the real world when he reads aloud.

Meggie also shares this ability and this power is linked to the disappearance of Meggie's mother nine years ago.

Mo brought to life four characters to life - Basta, Capricorn, Dustfinger and Dustfinger's pet Marten Gwin.

Sci- Fi is also on the agenda this Christmas with The Day the Earth Stood Still, a remake of the 1951 movie. starring Keanu Reeves.

Reeves portrays Klaatu, an alien whose arrival on our planet triggers a global upheaval.

As governments and scientists race to unravel the mystery behind the visitor's appearance, a woman (Jennifer Connelly) and her young stepson get caught up in his mission - and come to understand the ramifications of his being a self-described "friend to the Earth."

Inkheart and The Day the Earth Stood still are released 12th December

The vampire genre of movie has found success in the past with the like of Dracula, Blade and Interview with a Vampire but we haven't seen them on the big screen for a couple of years.

Twilight" tells the story of 17-year-old Bella Swan (Stewart) who moves to the small town of Forks, Washington to live with her father, and becomes drawn to Edward Cullen (Pattinson), a pale, mysterious classmate who seems determined to push her away.

But neither can deny the attraction that pulls them together... even when Edward confides that he and his family are vampires.

Their unorthodox romance puts her in physical danger when Edward's nemesis comes to town and sets his sights on Bella.

Twilight is released 19th December.

And Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a sweeping romance epic as Baz Lurhmann brings together two of biggest Aussie exports Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman in Australia.

Australia is a romantic action-adventure set in northern Australia prior to World War II, centres on an English aristocrat (Nicole Kidman) who inherits a ranch the size of Maryland.

When English cattle barons plot to take her land, she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn cattle driver (Hugh Jackman) to drive 2,000 head of cattle across hundreds of miles of the country's most unforgiving land.

While out with the cattle the pair experience the bombing of Darwin, Australia, by the Japanese forces that had attacked Pearl Harbour only months earlier.

Australia hits cinemas on 26th December.

Other films that will still be doing well as the box office come December will be Quantum of Solace, Waltz with Bashir, Oscar contender Changeling and High School Musical 3: Senior Year.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw