The forecast for December movies is fair to partly cloudy for Oscar hopefuls, in a year that finds no clear cut leader as the studios move ahead full steam into awards season 2009-2010.

Kicking off the month in limited release on Dec. 4 is "Up in the Air," a comedy-drama from writer-director Jason Reitman that follows a corporate hatchet-man (George Clooney) cross country to deliver devastating news to unsuspecting employees of various companies that they've lost their jobs -- until he's grounded himself. The film has strong Oscar prospects including a likely Best Actor nominee in Clooney and a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Anna Kendrick as a tightly wound junior executive who shakes up Clooney's perfect world.

Reitman, who was nominated for directing and producing the comedy-drama "Juno," also stands a chance to be nominated in the same categories here, and will likely score another nod for his screenplay.

Also new on Dec. 4, "Everybody's Fine" should also leave everybody feeling fine come awards time, with an impressive ensemble cast including Robert De Niro, Drew Barrymore and Kate Beckinsale. De Niro stars as a widower who hits the road to reunite his grown children, in a comedy drama that also stars Sam Rockwell.

Several major contenders hit the big screen Dec. 11, including a new drama from "Lord of the Rings" Oscar winner Peter Jackson.

Opening in limited release Dec. 11 and wide in January is "The Lovely Bones," the big-screen adaptation of the acclaimed novel by "Lord of the Rings" Oscar winner Peter Jackson. "Atonement" Best Supporting Actress nominee Saoirise Ronan stars as a young girl who was murdered and watches her family – and murderer – from heaven. The mystery drama in all likelihood will nab Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress nominations for Jackson and Ronan, respectively, along with potential supporting nods for co-stars Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg and Susan Sarandon.

Clint Eastwood, who starred in and directed "Gran Torino" last year, stays behind the camera this time around for "Invictus," a true story set in post-apartheid South Africa in 1995, where Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) rallies to unite his countrymen in a bid for the Rugby World Cup. Freeman, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby," is a front-runner for Best Actor Oscar nomination, as is co-star Matt Damon. Two-time Best Director winner Eastwood's name should also be called quite often come awards season, both for directing and producing "Invictus."

Countering the suspense and drama on Dec. 11 is a likely Best Animated Feature Oscar nominee in "The Princess and the Frog," which finds Walt Disney Studios returning to traditional hand-drawn animation for the first time since 2004's "Home on the Range." Starring the voice of Anika Noni Rose ("Dreamgirls"), "The Princess and the Frog" breaks new ground for Disney in that it features an African-American princess.

On Dec. 18, it will be sink or swim for "Titanic" Oscar winning director and producer James Cameron, who launches his long-awaited, mega-budgeted science fiction opus "Avatar." Shot almost completely in a computer-generated environment, the film keys in on a band of humans fighting with the indigenous population on a distant planet – and the struggle of a man-turned-alien avatar (Sam Worthington) -- who develops a loyalty to both sides. Sigourney Weaver (an Oscar nominee in Cameron's "Aliens") and Zoe Saldana ("Star Trek") co-star.

Nearly two years after his show-stopping role in "There Will Be Blood," two-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis is back -- this time in a musical -- in "Chicago" director Rob Marshall's film adaptation of the Broadway smash "Nine." The film stars Day-Lewis as famed film director Guido Contini -- and keys in on his quest to find personal and professional harmony with several different women in his life. The Oscar-caliber cast includes previous winners Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench and Sophia Loren, as well as previous nominee Kate Hudson and singing sensation Fergie.

On the case Christmas Day is "Sherlock Holmes," starring two-time Oscar nominee Robert Downey Jr. in the title role, and two-time Oscar nominee Jude Law as Holmes' partner-in-crime solving Dr. John Watson. Directed by Guy Ritchie ("Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"), "Sherlock Holmes" also stars Rachel McAdams.

Also Dec. 25 is perennial Oscar nominee and two-time winner Meryl Streep's "It's Complicated," where two men vie for the affection of Streep's character, Jane. If the film doesn't produce any Oscar nominees it will at the very least produce two hosts, as it co-stars Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.