16 Best Christmas Movies on Paramount+ to Watch This Season
The stockings are hung, the lights are twinkling, and the scent of cookies fills the air—now it’s time to pick the perfect Christmas movie to complete the holiday vibes.
Whether you’re curling up with the family for a Christmas Eve tradition or sneaking in a little festive me-time after a busy day of shopping, Paramount+ has a holiday lineup packed with seasonal favorites. From heartwarming classics to modern hits that’ll have you laughing and tearing up in equal measure, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.
Here’s our list of the best Christmas movies on Paramount+ to make your season merry and bright.
Arthur Christmas (2011)
Director: Sarah Smith
Starring: James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, and Ashley Jensen
Watch On: Paramount+
The film centres on Arthur, the youngest son of Santa Claus, who discovers that his father’s high-tech ship has failed to deliver one girl’s present. Accompanied only by his grandfather, a Christmas elf and a team of reindeer, he embarks on a mission to deliver the girl’s present personally in the early morning hours of Christmas Day before sunrise.
Bad Santa (2003)
Director: Terry Zwigoff
Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Lauren Graham, Brett Kelly, Lauren Tom, John Ritter, Bernie Mac
Watch On: Paramount+
A miserable conman and his partner pose as Santa and his Little Helper to rob department stores on Christmas Eve. But they run into problems when the conman befriends a troubled kid.
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Scrooged (1988)
Director: Richard Donner
Starring: Bill Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe, John Glover
Watch On: Paramount+
A selfish, cynical television executive is haunted by three spirits bearing lessons on Christmas Eve.
Trading Places (1983)
Director: John Landis
Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche
Watch On: Paramount+
Upper-crust executive Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd) and down-and-out hustler Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy) are the subjects of a bet by successful brokers Mortimer (Don Ameche) and Randolph Duke (Ralph Bellamy). An employee of the Dukes, Winthorpe is framed by the brothers for a crime he didn’t commit, with the siblings then installing the street-smart Valentine in his position. When Winthorpe and Valentine uncover the scheme, they set out to turn the tables on the Dukes.
Little Women (1994)
Director: Gillian Armstrong
Starring: Winona Ryder, Gabriel Byrne, Trini Alvarado, Samantha Mathis, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes, Christian Bale, Eric Stoltz, Mary Wickes, Susan Sarandon
Watch On: Paramount+
In this 1994 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic, the March sisters confront growing pains, financial shortages, family tragedies and romantic rivalries in mid-19th-century Massachusetts. Jo (Winona Ryder) struggles for independence and sometimes clashes with her beloved mother and her sisters Meg, Amy and Beth. She also contends with their cranky Aunt March, their impulsive neighbor Laurie (Christian Bale) and kindly linguistics professor Friedrich Bhaer (Gabriel Byrne).
Last Holiday (2006)
Director: Wayne Wang
Starring: Queen Latifah, Gérard Depardieu, LL Cool J, Timothy Hutton
Watch On: Paramount+
The discovery that she has a terminal illness prompts introverted saleswoman Georgia Byrd (Queen Latifah) to reflect on what she realizes has been an overly cautious life. So Georgia withdraws her life savings and jets off to Europe where she lives like a millionaire. Upbeat and passionate, Georgia charms everybody she meets, including renowned Chef Didier (Gérard Depardieu). The only one missing from her new life is her longtime crush Sean Matthews (LL Cool J).
[Related Content: 30 Best Holiday Movies of All Time]
Dear Santa (2024)
Director: Bobby Farrelly
Starring: Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Robert Timothy Smith, Brianne Howey, Hayes MacArthur, Austin Post, and P. J. Byrne
Watch On: Paramount+
Dear Snata is a new Best Christmas movies on Paramount+ to watch this season. It tells the story of dyslexic and meek six-grader who writes a Christmas list to Santa Claus to help with his problems only for his misspelling to lead to him meeting Satan who helps him out.
A Christmas Carol (1984)
Director: Clive Donner
Starring: George C. Scott, Frank Finlay, David Warner, Susannah York, Edward Woodward, Roger Rees, Liz Smith
Watch On: Paramount+
It is one of the best classic Christmas movies on Paramount+. The film received positive reviews, with praise going to the sets, soundtrack, cinematography, and the performances of the cast, particularly Scott’s portrayal of Scrooge.
Made-for-television version of the Charles Dickens classic. Ebenezer Scrooge is a hard-nosed, single-minded businessman in Victorian London. He has no friends, has disowned his only living relative–his nephew Fred Hollywell–and generally treats everyone he meets with extreme contempt. He despises Christmas, only cares about making money and only grudgingly gives his loyal clerk Bob Cratchit the day off.
However on Christmas Eve, he is visited by the ghost of his long-dead partner Jacob Marley, who warns him to change his miserly ways. He is shown the true meaning and spirit of Christmas by three ghosts who show him his own past and present–and what the future holds for him if he doesn’t improve his behavior.
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Michael Hall, Kathy Baker, Vincent Price, and Alan Arkin
Watch On: Paramount+
It tells the story of an unfinished artificial humanoid who has scissor blades instead of hands, is taken in by a suburban family, and falls in love with their teenage daughter.
Home for the Holidays (1995)
Director: Jodie Foster
Starring: Holly Hunter, Robert Downey Jr., Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning, Dylan McDermott, Geraldine Chaplin, Steve Guttenberg, Cynthia Stevenson, Claire Danes, Austin Pendleton, and David Strathairn
Watch On: Paramount+
After losing her job, making out with her soon to be ex-boss, and finding out that her daughter plans to spend Thanksgiving with her boyfriend, Claudia Larson has to face spending the holiday with her family. She wonders if she can survive their crazy antics.
A Christmas Proposal (2021)
Director: Martin Wood
Starring: Adam Rodriguez, Jessica Camacho, Jaime M. Callica
Watch On: Paramount+
Hoping to impress his family during a Christmas visit, a hotshot Seattle attorney asks a down-on-her-luck chef to pose as his girlfriend. Their business arrangement soon gets complicated as real sparks begin to fly during the holiday season.
A Loud House Christmas (2021)
Director: Jonathan Judge
Starring: Wolfgang Schaeffer, Jahzir Bruno, Lexi DiBenedetto, Dora Dolphin, Sophia Woodward, Catherine Ashmore Bradley, Morgan McGill, Aubin Bradley, Lexi Janicek, Mia Allan, Ella Allan, Charlotte Anne Tucker, Lainey Jane Knowles, Muretta Moss, Catherine Taber and Brian Stepanek
Watch On: Paramount+
It is the first live-action work and second film in the overall franchise after The Loud House Movie (2021).
Lincoln is gearing up for the ultimate Christmas, until he finds out that most of his sisters have plans to be elsewhere for the big day. Determined to remind his family that they all need to be together, Lincoln and his best friend Clyde embark on a mission to sabotage their plans and preserve the family’s holiday traditions.
Daddy’s Home 2 (2017)
Director: Sean Anders
Starring: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Linda Cardellini, John Cena, with John Lithgow and Mel Gibson
Watch On: Paramount+
It is the beast Christmas comedy films on Paramount Plus, a sequel to Daddy’s Home (2015), it stars Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Linda Cardellini, John Cena, with John Lithgow and Mel Gibson. The plot follows now-reformed fathers Brad and Dusty (Ferrell and Wahlberg), now co-parenting Dusty’s kids, who have to deal with their own fathers (Lithgow and Gibson) visiting for the holidays.
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Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
Director: John Hughes
Starring: Steve Martin, John Candy, Laila Robins and Michael McKean
Watch On: Paramount+
It tells the story of Neal, an uptight marketing executive, and Del, a well-meaning but annoying salesman, who become travel companions when their flight is diverted, and embark on a 3-day odyssey of misadventures trying to reach Chicago in time for Neal’s Thanksgiving Day dinner with his family.
Deck the Halls (2006)
Director: John Whitesell
Starring: Danny DeVito, Matthew Broderick, Kristin Davis, and Kristin Chenoweth
Watch On: Paramount+
Optometrist Steve Finch loves those Christmas traditions he has set up with his family and his town. As such, he has a schedule of activities for them starting on December 1st and is the unofficial consultant for anything Christmas-related in his town of Cloverdale, Massachusetts. During the Christmas season, the Halls move into the house across the street from the Finches. They, in general, are different in outlook and temperament than the Finches. Unlike Steve, Buddy Hall scams his way through life and never follows through with anything he starts.
While Kelly Finch, Tia Hall, and their children begin friendships based largely on those differences, Steve and Buddy butt heads based on those differences. It begins with Buddy striving to have his house seen from space by decorating it as lavishly and brightly as possible. One of the results of this task is that he becomes the new go-to guy for anything Christmas-related in Cloverdale, usurping Steve’s coveted position. As Steve and Buddy’s open animosity grows, they may threaten the joy of Christmas for all, most specifically their families who have their own ideas of what they would like to do over the Christmas season.
When Christmas was Young (2022)
Director: Monika Mitchell
Starring: Karen David, Tyler Hilton, Jayce Barreiro
Watch On: Paramount+
The story follows a headstrong music manager in desperate need of a hit song for his last remaining client, who finds himself falling for a gifted singer-songwriter with abandoned dreams of making it big, as he attempts to secure the rights to a Christmas song she wrote years ago.
Must Love Christmas (2022)
Director: Martin Wood
Starring: Liza Lapira, Neal Bledsoe, Nathan Witte
Watch On: Paramount+
A renowned romance novelist famous for her Christmas-themed books finds herself snowbound in the charming town of Cranberry Falls, where she unexpectedly becomes involved in a love triangle between her childhood crush and a reporter determined to interview her to save his dying magazine.
[Related Content: 39 Best Christmas Movies on Amazon Prime Video in 2024]
What are the best Christmas movies I can stream on Paramount+?
Here are the best Christmas movies on Paramount+, you can stream in this holiday.
- A Christmas Carol (1984)
- A Christmas Carol (1999)
- A Christmas Proposal (2021)
- A Loud House Christmas (2021)
- Albert (2016)
- Arthur Christmas (2011)
- Bad Santa (2003)
- Daddy’s Home 2 (2017)
- Dear Santa (2024)
- Deck the Halls (2006)
- Christmas Takes Flight (2021)
- Edward Scissorhands (1990)
- Home for the Holidays (1995)
- Last Holiday (2006)
- Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to All! (2022)
- Must Love Christmas (2022)
- Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
- Santa Hunters (2014)
- Santa Stole Our Dog! (2017)
- Scrooged (1988)
- Scrooge (1970)
- Tiny Christmas (2017)
- Trading Places (1983)
- When Christmas was Young (2022)
