Anticipation with a positive tone

Solution 1:

The first word that comes to mind for me as a native American English speaker is "eager." Oxford dictionaries defines eager as follows:

Eager - adjective - (Of a person) wanting to do or have something very much

the man was eager to please

young intellectuals eager for knowledge

In the example you provided I might say, "I am eager for the release of Movie X."

A few other (informal) possibilities I might use colloquially are: "jazzed," "thrilled," "itching," or "dying."

I am jazzed for the release of Videogame X next month.

I am thrilled about Christmas this year.

I am itching for my wife to get home from work.

I am dying to get out of this office and go fishing.

But the most common choice I would make to express anticipation for something is "looking forward to."

I am looking forward to a cold beer when I get home.

Solution 2:

Also consider pumped up (“Excited, particularly due to anticipation” – wiktionary) (or just pumped, without a preposition) and stoked (“(slang) Feeling excitement or an exciting rush” – wiktionary), both of which are used to express excitement about near-future events.

Unfortunately, pumped seems a bit clumsy when used in the examples in the question, which concern movies and Christmas. But stoked probably works ok informally:

I am so stoked about this new movie When the Rains Come!
I am so stoked about Christmas this year!

Solution 3:

Extreme emotion can be indicated using the container (or failure of container?) metaphor:

I can hardly contain myself waiting for the third 'Hobbit Movie'.

While 'cannot etc contain oneself' is normally restricted to the emotion of excitement, in

He was beside himself waiting for the party to start.

there needs to be a direct (beside himself with joy) or deducible (as here) contextual indicator of the type of extreme emotion involved. Anger and anxiety are quite possible.

'He was out of his mind with ...' is usually reserved for negative emotions.