Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon star in this drama based on the historical novel by Sara Gruen, following the adventures of a young vet working in a travelling circus during America's Great Depression in the 1930s. After his parents are killed in a car accident, promising Ivy League student Jacob Jankowski (Pattinson) suffers an emotional breakdown and runs away before graduating, eventually finding work as a vet with the down-at-heel Benzini Brothers circus. There he meets a host of colourful characters including tyrannical animal trainer August (Christoph Waltz) and his beautiful wife Marlena (Witherspoon).

Matt Damon stars in this feelgood family feature based on the memoir by Benjamin Mee. Newly widowed Benjamin (Damon) is finding life difficult trying to raise his two young children. Urged on by his father, Duncan (Thomas Haden Church), to start over, Benjamin decides to purchase a rundown zoo in the countryside in the hope that it will bring his family together again. Having to care for 47 species, and with his friends thinking he's mad, Benjamin sets out to restore the zoo to its former glory with the help of a small but loyal staff led by Kelly Foster (Scarlett Johansson).