’Tis the season to sit around the TV and watch all the new holiday movies and specials! Everyone needs background noise for wrapping presents or something to zone out in front of after a big holiday meal, and the streamers know how to get the job done. It’s a notably less-busy season than usual, as far as new offerings go, but we found ten that should be reliable crowd-pleasers, along with a list of where to find your favorite seasonal films ever made. Enjoy!
It’s not often that a film still in theaters gets the drop on Amazon Prime, but that’s exactly what happened with Jake Kasdan’s holiday adventure film with an A-list cast and C-list reviews. Dwayne Johnson plays Callum Drift, the head of North Pole security, who is called into action when Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons) is kidnapped on Christmas Eve. It turns out that he needs the help of a “naughty list” guy named Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans) to bring Santa back, leading to a comedy-action-adventure flick with deadly snowmen and even an appearance by Santa’s evil brother, Krampus (Kristofer Hivju). Critics mostly hated this blockbuster, but that doesn’t mean it won’t get the job done for families looking for a distraction this holiday season.
Now on Amazon Prime Video.
The brilliant David Lowery (The Green Knight, Pete’s Dragon) co-wrote and directed this animated gem from a story co-written by the legendary Alfonso Cuarón. It’s a short film (21 minutes) that’s loosely based on a true story about an owl that took up residence in the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. Cary Christopher voices the owl, Moon, and he’s joined by a great voice cast that includes Jim Gaffigan, Natasha Lyonne, and John C. Reilly, who performs two original songs! This delicate little heart-warmer is an instant holiday-season classic.
Now on Disney+
It’s a Christmas movie. It’s an action flick. It’s a Jason Bateman film. It’s … a story where airport security agents are the heroes? In true Netflix fashion, Carry-On, starring Bateman as the villain and Taron Egerton as a TSA agent, isn’t exactly a good movie, but it hits all its proper genre notes in entertaining-enough fashion. And while we all love an airplane thriller — Red Eye, you will always be famous — this one adds a twist by taking place almost entirely in the airport.
Now on Netflix
Apparently, nothing is off limits to the Netflix rom-com machine, not even the legend of Frosty the Snowman. Rom-com regular Lacey Chabert plays a small-town café owner named Kathy who is struggling, both emotionally and professionally, after the death of her handyman husband. Kathy puts a magical scarf on a snowman, and a handyman named Jack shows up the next day to help out around the store — and in Kathy’s love life. Yes, it’s a movie about a widow who hooks up with a hunky snowman. Do with that what you will.
Now on Netflix
Do you love the story of The Night Before Christmas? What about Alice in Wonderland? Why not have both? This feature-length animated film sees St. Nick recast in the Alice role, tumbling down the rabbit hole to find the traditional cast of characters, including the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, and a very Scrooge-like Queen of Hearts, who has outlawed Christmas. Can St. Nick work with Alice to save the holiday? Of course he can. Simone Ashley takes on the vocal work for Alice, while Gerard Butler voices Santa and Emilia Clarke embodies the vicious Queen.
Now on Hulu and Prime Video
David Gordon Green takes a sharp right turn from his Halloween trilogy to make an old-fashioned comedy, one heavily inspired by films like The Bad News Bears. Ben Stiller plays a Chicago real-estate mogul who’s forced to travel to the middle of nowhere to help care for his nephews after the death of his sister. Stiller does solid work as the city mouse stuck in a very country house, and the whole thing culminates in a Nutcracker-themed performance, which makes it a holiday movie and among the few original ones this season. The film was selected for the opening night of the Toronto International Film Festival before being picked up by Hulu and dropped on the service on Black Friday.
Now on Hulu
Lindsay Lohan has been quietly amassing a collection of Netflix rom-coms. Her latest sees her playing a woman named Avery who comes home for the holidays to the family of her beau, only to discover that her potential sister-in-law is dating Avery’s ex, Logan (Ian Harding). As you can imagine, wacky high jinks ensue as Avery and Logan try to keep their past (and maybe even their present remaining feelings) from everyone at the holiday gathering — including the family’s judgy matriarch, played by Kristen Chenoweth. It’s taken a long time for Lohan to regain her celebrity status, but movies like this and the upcoming Freaky Friday remake are getting her there. Good for her!
Now on Netflix
Consider this the representative for the waves of original Hallmark and Lifetime holiday movies this season. Both networks basically just play their Christmas-themed rom-coms on repeat for the entire month of December. But the biggest and craziest this year features cameos from Andy Reid and Donna Kelce. Yes, believe it or not, there’s a holiday rom-com that’s essentially Kansas City Chiefs spon-con. Come to think of it, the Chiefs’ trademark red uniforms did always have a bit of the holiday to them. No one knows yet if Jake from State Farm has a cameo too. (And in case you were confused — this one has nothing to do with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s romance. Lifetime has that covered with Christmas in the Spotlight.)
Airing on the Hallmark Channel
Richard Curtis wrote and directed one of the most beloved holiday films of all time in Love Actually, and he used that to launch a trilogy of children’s books about the season, now adapting his own literary work into an animated feature of interconnected stories. Written by Curtis and directed by How to Train Your Dragon vet Simon Otto, That Christmas features Logan Roy himself, Brian Cox, as the voice of Santa Claus, joined by a cast that includes Fiona Shaw and Jodie Whittaker. There aren’t a lot of new holiday films this season, making this an obvious choice to watch while you’re taking a break from shopping.
Now on Netflix
Readers of a certain age may remember the 1982 Richard Pryor comedy Brewster’s Millions, about a man who has to spend $30 million in 40 days to inherit $300 million. Forty-two years later, BET has produced a holiday-themed sequel in which Morgan Brewster (China Anne McClain) has to undergo a similar challenge with a Christmas deadline. Romeo Miller, Telma Hopkins, and two of Pryor’s children (Richard Jr. & Rain) co-star.
Now on BET+
It’s kind of hard to believe that Netflix hasn’t produced more religion-heavy films around the holidays, given how well they often do in theaters and how much productions like this used to be a staple of network TV. The biggest such production this year is the story of Mary (Noa Cohen), seen here in her younger days, preparing for her arranged marriage to Joseph (Ido Tako). Cut to the big day when you-know-who is born, forcing Mary into hiding from the vicious Herod the Great (Sir Anthony Hopkins). Somewhat surprisingly, Mary was directed by D.J. Caruso, who used to make thrillers like Disturbia and Taking Lives and is now making something presumably very different.
Now on Netflix
Netflix keeps experimenting with live programming (hopefully this goes better than Paul versus Tyson), including this concert from the “Espresso” singer, in which she’ll highlight songs from a holiday EP called fruitcake. Of course, as with any musical variety special, there will be special guests, including Chappell Roan, Tyla, Shania Twain, Quinta Brunson, Cara Delevingne, Sean Astin, Jillian Bell, Kyle Mooney, and more. Maybe Santa Claus will show up too.
Now on Netflix
➼ Bad Santa — Prime
➼ A Christmas Story — Max
➼ Die Hard — Prime
➼ Elf — Max
➼ Gremlins — Max
➼ The Holiday — Prime
➼ Home Alone — Disney+, Prime
➼ Home for the Holidays — Paramount+
➼ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966) — Peacock
➼ It’s a Wonderful Life — Prime
➼ Love Actually — Prime
➼ Miracle on 34th Street (1947) — Disney+
➼ The Muppet Christmas Carol — Disney+
➼ National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation — Hulu, Max
➼ The Nightmare Before Christmas — Disney+
➼ Santa Claus: The Movie — MGM+
➼ The Santa Clause — Disney+
➼ Scrooged — Paramount+, Prime
➼ Spirited — Apple TV+
➼ White Christmas — Prime
