'Sisters': Amy Poehler and Tina Fey team up again for the upcoming comedy

The film centers on two siblings who decide to throw a party before their childhood home is sold. 'Sisters' also stars Maya Rudolph, James Brolin, Ike Barinholtz, and Kate McKinnon, among others.

Comedy stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will release their new movie “Sisters” this December. 

The movie centers on siblings Jane (Tina Fey), the ne’er-do-well of the family, and Maura (Amy Poehler), the rule-following sister, who decide to have one big party before their childhood home is sold. The film co-stars Ike Barinholtz of “The Mindy Project,” “Big Hero 6” actress Maya Rudolph, John Leguizamo of “John Wick,” and “Saturday Night Live” actress Kate McKinnon.

The movie is written by “Saturday Night Live” writer Paula Pell and is being directed by “Pitch Perfect” helmer Jason Moore.

Fey and Poehler have hosted the Golden Globes together multiple times and also both starred in the 2008 comedy “Baby Mama” as well as the 2004 film “Mean Girls.”

The movie will be released this December, an interesting time for a comedy that has reportedly already been rated R by the MPAA.

The traditional thinking is that December is the month for Oscar bait (see last year’s pile-up on Dec. 25 which included the releases of the movies “Unbroken,” “Into the Woods,” “Big Eyes,” “Selma,” and “American Sniper”) or films that will appeal to a wide audience like 2008’s “Marley & Me,” which was released on Dec. 25 and became the 14th-highest grossing movie of the year. 

Trusting "Sisters" to do well on its Dec. 18 release date relies not only the name recognition of Fey and Poehler but also the bet that someone in the world will want to see something besides the new “Star Wars” movie, which comes out that same weekend. (All the other studios have just gotten out of the way that week).

December releases of R-rated comedies have been rare over the past several years.  Even PG-13 comedies, which presumably would have a wider audience, have had a mixed performance at that time of year.

The closest analogues in the R-rated category are last year’s Chris Rock R-rated comedy “Top Five,” which came out in December and performed reasonably well, and the 2012 R-rated comedy “This Is 40,” which drew fairly well at the box office. PG-13 comedies coming out in December have had a mixed performance. 2013’s “Anchorman 2” was a hit (it was also a follow-up to a successful film), but the 2012 comedy “The Guilt Trip” did not perform well. However, 2010’s “Little Fockers” and 2008’s comedy “Yes Man” with Jim Carrey did fine.