100 Best Christmas Movies of All Time

Nothing says Christmas like the joy of settling in for a holiday movie marathon. In my house, it’s a time-honored tradition to grab some cocoa, wrap up in fuzzy blankets, and press play on Home Alone and Elf—it’s impossible not to laugh at Buddy’s endless enthusiasm for syrup and holiday cheer. While everyone has their go-to festive favorite, there’s always room for a new classic or two to sprinkle some extra magic into the season.

That’s why I’ve curated a list of the best Christmas movies of all time—a mix of heartwarming dramas, hilarious comedies, enchanting animations, and even a few unexpected gems. Whether you’re a fan of timeless tales like Miracle on 34th Street or prefer the action-packed holiday spirit of Die Hard, this collection has something for everyone.

Ready to fill your watchlist? Let’s dive into the ultimate lineup of the best Christmas movies guaranteed to make your season merry and bright!

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

Director: Frank Capra
Starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers, Beulah Bondi, Ward Bond, Frank Faylen, Gloria Grahame
Storyline: An angel visits a frustrated businessman to show him what life would look like if he never existed.The classic Christmas film is based on the short story The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern, which was inspired by Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. It is helmed by Frank Capra and stars James Stewart.
Watch On: Amazon Prime Video, The Roku Channel, Freevee, Xumo Play

Die Hard (1988)

Director: John McTiernan
Starring: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson
Storyline: A New York City police officer tries to save his estranged wife and several others taken hostage by terrorists during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.
Watch On: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, FuboTV, AMC Plus Apple TV Channel, AMC+ Amazon Channel, AMC+, TNT, TBS, tru TV, Tubi TV

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Director: Vincente Minnelli
Starring: Judy Garland, Margaret O’Brien, Leon Ames, Lucille Bremer
Storyline: “Meet Me in St. Louis” is a classic MGM romantic musical comedy that focuses on four sisters (one of whom is the nonpareil Judy Garland) on the cusp of the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. The film spotlights the sisters’ education in the ways of the world, which includes, but isn’t limited to, learning about life and love, courtesy of the prototypical boy next door. In the end, love — accompanied by song, dance and period costumes, all in glorious Technicolor — conquers all.
Watch On: Max, Max Amazon Channel, Tubi TV

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Director: George Seaton
Starring: Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn, Gene Lockhart, Natalie Wood, Porter Hall, William Frawley, Jerome Cowan, Philip Tonge
Storyline: Kris Kringle, seemingly the embodiment of Santa Claus, is asked to portray the jolly old fellow at Macy’s following his performance in the Thanksgiving Day parade. His portrayal is so complete that many begin to question if he truly is Santa Claus, while others question his sanity.
Watch On: Disney Plus, fuboTV, Peacock Premium, Paramount Plus, AMC Plus, Apple TV Channel, Amazon Prime Video, Roku Premium Channel, Pluto TV

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Starring: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan, Joseph Schildkraut
Storyline: Eschewing regional politics in the years leading up to World War II, the film is about two employees at a leathergoods shop in Budapest who can barely stand each other, not realizing they are falling in love as anonymous correspondents through their letters.
Watch On: fuboTV, Max, Max Amazon Channel, Epix Amazon Channel, MGM Plus

Home Alone (1990)

Director: Chris Columbus
Starring: Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, Catherine O’Hara
Storyline: An eight-year-old troublemaker, mistakenly left home alone, must defend his home against a pair of burglars on Christmas Eve.
Watch On: Disney Plus

Elf (2003)

Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Will Ferrell, James Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Ed Asner, Bob Newhart
Storyline: Raised as an oversized elf, Buddy travels from the North Pole to New York City to meet his biological father, Walter Hobbs, who doesn’t know he exists and is in desperate need of some Christmas spirit.
Watch On: Hulu, Max, Max Amazon Channel

Klaus (2019)

Director: Sergio Pablos
Starring: Jason Schwartzman, J. K. Simmons, Rashida Jones, Will Sasso, Neda Margrethe Labba, Sergio Pablos, Norm Macdonald, Joan Cusack
Storyline: A selfish postman and a reclusive toymaker form an unlikely friendship, delivering joy to a cold, dark town that desperately needs it.
Watch On: Netflix

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

The Nightmare Before Christmas Movie Photo

Director: Henry Selick
Starring: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O’Hara, William Hickey, Glenn Shadix, Paul Reubens, Ken Page, Ed Ivory
Storyline: The film follows the misadventures of Jack Skellington, Halloweentown’s beloved pumpkin king, who has become bored with the same annual routine of frightening people in the “real world.” When Jack accidentally stumbles on Christmastown, all bright colors and warm spirits, he gets a new lease on life — he plots to bring Christmas under his control by kidnapping Santa Claus and taking over the role. But Jack soon discovers even the best-laid plans of mice and skeleton men can go seriously awry.
Watch On: Amazon Prime Video, Disney+

A Christmas Story (1983)

Director: Bob Clark
Starring: Peter Billingsley, W. Lyle Richardson, Melinda Dillon, Ian Petrella
Storyline: In the 1940s, a young boy named Ralphie Parker attempts to convince his parents, teacher, and Santa Claus that a Red Ryder Range 200 Shot BB gun really is the perfect Christmas gift.
Watch On: Max

A Christmas Carol (1951)

Director: Brian Desmond Hurst
Starring: Alastair Sim, Kathleen Harrison, Mervyn Johns, Hermione Baddeley
Storyline: Ebenezer Scrooge, a curmudgeonly, miserly businessman, has no time for sentimentality and largely views Christmas as a waste of time. However, this Christmas Eve, he will be visited by three spirits who will show him the error of his ways.
Watch On: Hulu

Batman Returns (1992)

Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken
Storyline: While Batman deals with a deformed man calling himself the Penguin wreaking havoc across Gotham with the help of a cruel businessman, a female employee of the latter becomes the Catwoman with her own vendetta.
Watch On: Max, Max Amazon Channel

The Holdovers (2023)

Director: Alexander Payne
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa, Carrie Preston
Storyline: Nobody at Barton Academy likes Paul Hunham – a history teacher who is tired of the world and everyone in it. But when he’s put in charge of students who have nowhere to go over Christmas, Paul faces a new and unprecedented challenge – how to care for students who are living without a happy home to return to. Angus is one of those. Grieving the loss of his father, Angus is a holdover at Barton Academy and is being taken care of by Paul. The pair must learn how to understand each other if they are to survive the Holiday period.
Watch On: Amazon Prime Video

Carol (2015)

Director: Todd Haynes
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson, Jake Lacy, Kyle Chandler
Storyline: Aspiring photographer Therese spots the beautiful, elegant Carol perusing the doll displays in a 1950s Manhattan department store. The two women develop a fast bond that becomes a love with complicated consequences.
Watch On: Netflix, fuboTV, Paramount+ with Showtime, Paramount Plus Apple TV Channel , Paramount+ Amazon Channel, Paramount+ Roku Premium Channel

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Tangerine (2015)

Director: Sean Baker
Starring: Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, Karren Karagulian, Mickey O’Hagan, Alla Tumanian, James Ransone
Storyline: It’s Christmas Eve in Tinseltown and Sin-Dee is back on the block. Upon hearing that her pimp boyfriend hasn’t been faithful during the 28 days she was locked up, the working girl and her best friend, Alexandra, embark on a mission to get to the bottom of the scandalous rumor. Their rip-roaring odyssey leads them through various subcultures of Los Angeles, including an Armenian family dealing with their own repercussions of infidelity.
Watch On: Netflix, Hulu, fuboTV, VUDU Free, Tubi TV, Pluto TV

White Christmas (1954)

Director: Michael Curtiz
Starring: Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen, Dean Jagger
Storyline: Two talented song-and-dance men team up after the war to become one of the hottest acts in show business. In time they befriend and become romantically involved with the beautiful Haynes sisters who comprise a sister act.
Watch On: Amazon Prime Video, AMC Plus Apple TV Channel, AMC+ Amazon Channel

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation Movie Photo

Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik
Starring: Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Randy Quaid, Diane Ladd
Storyline: Based on Hughes’s short story, “Christmas ’59”, published in National Lampoon, the film tells the story of Clark Griswold’s efforts to have a good old-fashioned family Christmas as they take a hilarious turn for the worse.
Watch On: Hulu, Max, Max Amazon Channel

The Polar Express (2004)

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Tom Hanks, Michael Jeter, Nona Gaye, Peter Scolari
Storyline: Set on Christmas Eve, it tells the story of a young boy who sees a mysterious train bound for the North Pole stop outside his window and is invited aboard by its conductor. He joins other children as they embark on a journey to visit Santa Claus, who is preparing for Christmas.
Watch On: Hulu, Max, Max Amazon Channel

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)

Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas Movie Photo

Director: Chuck Jones, Ben Washam
Starring: Boris Karloff, June Foray, Thurl Ravenscroft, Dallas McKennon
Storyline: A grumpy hermit hatches a plan to steal Christmas from the Whos of Whoville.
Watch On: Peacock Premium, NBC, USA Network

The Santa Clause (1994)

Director: John Pasquin
Starring: Tim Allen, Judge Reinhold, Wendy Crewson, David Krumholtz, Peter Boyle
Storyline: The first installment in The Santa Clause franchise, it stars Tim Allen as Scott Calvin, an ordinary man who accidentally causes Santa Claus to fall from his roof to his supposed death on Christmas Eve. When he and his young son, Charlie, finish the late St. Nick’s trip and deliveries, they go to the North Pole where Scott learns that he must become the new Santa and convince those he loves that he is indeed Santa Claus.
Watch On: Disney Plus

Love Actually (2003)

Director: Richard Curtis
Starring: Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Keira Knightley, Martine McCutcheon, Bill Nighy, Rowan Atkinson
Storyline: The film delves into different aspects of love as shown through 10 separate stories involving a variety of individuals, many of whom are interlinked as the plot progresses. The story begins five weeks before Christmas and is played out in a weekly countdown until the holiday, followed by an epilogue that takes place in the New Year.
Watch On: Amazon Prime Video, Starz Apple TV

Gremlins (1984)

Director: Joe Dante
Starring: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Frances Lee McCain
Storyline: A young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town.
Watch On: Max, Max Amazon Channel

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)

Director: Maury Laws, Larry Roemer
Starring: Burl Ives, Larry D. Mann, Billie Mae Richards, Paul Soles
Storyline: A young reindeer Rudolph lives at the North Pole. His father is one of Santa’s reindeer and it is expected that Rudolph will eventually be one too. However, he has a feature which is a setback and causes him to be ostracized: his red nose.
Watch On: Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video

The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)

The Man Who Invented Christmas Movie Photo

Director: Bharat Nalluri
Starring: Dan Stevens, Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Pryce, Justin Edwards
Storyline: In 1843 London, author Charles Dickens finds himself in financial trouble after writing three unsuccessful novels in a row. Desperate for a hit, Dickens relies on real-life inspiration and his vivid imagination to bring Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim and other classic characters to life in “A Christmas Carol,” forever changing the holiday season into the celebration known today.
Watch On: Amazon Prime Video

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Michael Hall
Storyline: The solitary life of an artificial man – who was incompletely constructed and has scissors for hands – is upended when he is taken in by a suburban family.
Watch On: Disney Plus, Hulu, fuboTV, Peacock Premium, Peacock Premium Plus

Scrooged (1988)

Director: Richard Donner
Starring: Bill Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe, John Glover
Storyline: A selfish, cynical television executive is haunted by three spirits bearing lessons on Christmas Eve.
Watch On: Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Paramount Plus, Paramount Plus Apple TV Channel , Paramount+ Amazon Channel, Paramount+ Roku Premium Channel, Pluto TV

Trading Places (1983)

Director: John Landis
Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche
Storyline: 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.
Watch On: Paramount Plus, AMC Plus Apple TV Channel , Paramount+ Amazon Channel, AMC+ Amazon Channel, Paramount+ Roku Premium Channel, AMC+

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Little Women (2019)

Director: Greta Gerwig
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet, Meryl Streep, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, James Norton, Louis Garrel, Chris Cooper
Storyline: In the years after the Civil War, Jo March lives in New York and makes her living as a writer, while her sister Amy studies painting in Paris. Amy has a chance encounter with Theodore, a childhood crush who proposed to Jo but was ultimately rejected. Their oldest sibling, Meg, is married to a schoolteacher, while shy sister Beth develops a devastating illness that brings the family back together.
Watch On: Hulu

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

Director: Brian Henson
Starring: Michael Caine, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Jerry Nelson
Storyline: A retelling of the classic Dickens tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, miser extraordinaire. He is held accountable for his dastardly ways during night-time visitations by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.
Watch On: Disney Plus

Arthur Christmas (2011)

Director: Sarah Smith
Starring: James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, and Ashley Jensen
Storyline: 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.
Watch On: fuboTV, Paramount Plus, Paramount+ Amazon Channel, Paramount+ Roku Premium Channel, Tubi TV

Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch (2018)

Director: Scott Mosier, Yarrow Cheney
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Rashida Jones, Kenan Thompson, Angela Lansbury, Pharrell Williams
Storyline: The plot follows the Grinch and his pet dog Max who plan to stop Whoville’s Christmas celebration by stealing all the town’s decorations and gifts.
Watch On: Amazon Prime Video

The Holiday (2006)

Director: Nancy Meyers
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Jack Black, Eli Wallach, Edward Burns, Rufus Sewell
Storyline: Two women, one from the United States and one from the United Kingdom, swap homes at Christmas time after bad breakups with their boyfriends. Each woman finds romance with a local man but realizes that the imminent return home may end the relationship.
Watch On: Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, NBC

A Christmas Tale (2008)

Director: Arnaud Desplechin
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Roussillon, Anne Consigny, Mathieu Amalric
Storyline: The troubled Vuillard family is no stranger to illness, grief, and banishment, but when their matriarch requires a bone-marrow transplant, the estranged clan reunites just in time for Christmas.
Watch On: AMC+, Amazon Prime Video, MUBI, AcornTV, Apple TV

Better Watch Out (2016)

Director: Chris Peckover
Starring: Olivia DeJonge, Levi Miller, Ed Oxenbould, Aleks Mikic, Dacre Montgomery, Patrick Warburton, Virginia Madsen
Storyline: Ashley travels to the suburban home of the Lerners to baby-sit their 12-year-old son Luke at Christmastime. She must soon defend herself and the young boy when unwelcome intruders announce their arrival.
Watch On: Peacock Premium, The Roku Channel, Tubi TV, Crackle, Pluto TV

A Christmas Story Christmas (2022)

Director: Clay Kaytis
Starring: Peter Billingsley, Julie Hagerty, Erinn Hayes, Ian Petrella
Storyline: Follows the now-adult Ralphie as he returns to the house on Cleveland Street to give his kids a magical Christmas like the one he had as a child, reconnecting with childhood friends, and reconciling the passing of his Old Man.
Watch On: Max, Max Amazon Channel

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

Director: Bill Melendez, Phil Roman
Starring: Peter Robbins, Christopher Shea, Tracy Stratford, Sally Dryer
Storyline: Christmastime is here. Happiness and cheer. And for Peanuts fans everywhere, it just wouldn’t be Christmas without this classic holiday delight. Christmas lights may be twinkling red and green, but Charlie Brown has the Yuletide blues. To get in the holiday spirit, he takes Lucy’s advice and directs the Christmas play. And what’s a Christmas play without a Christmas tree? But everyone makes fun of the short, spindly nevergreen Charlie Brown brings back – until the real meaning of Christmas works its magic once again
Watch On: Apple TV Plus, fuboTV, Amazon

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The Family Stone (2005)

Director: Thomas Bezucha
Starring: Dermot Mulroney, Sarah Jessica Parker, Diane Keaton, Luke Wilson
Storyline: An uptight, conservative businesswoman accompanies her boyfriend to his eccentric and outgoing family’s annual Christmas celebration and finds that she’s a fish out of water in their free-spirited way of life.
Watch On: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, fuboTV, Tubi TV

A Boy Called Christmas (2021)

Director: Gil Kenan
Starring: Maggie Smith, Isabella O’Sullivan, Joel Fry
Storyline: In this origin story of Father Christmas, an ordinary boy–with a loyal pet mouse and a reindeer at his side–sets out on an extraordinary adventure to find his father, who is on a quest to discover the fabled village of Elfhelm.
Watch On: Netflix

Bad Santa (2003)

Director: Terry Zwigoff
Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Lauren Graham, Brett Kelly, Lauren Tom, John Ritter, Bernie Mac
Storyline: 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.
Watch On: Paramount Plus, Paramount Plus Apple TV Channel , Paramount+ Amazon Channel, Paramount+ Roku Premium Channel, Pluto TV

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2005)

Director: Shane Black
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan, Corbin Bernsen
Storyline: A private investigator, a struggling actress and a thief posing as an actor must band together to solve a murder shrouded in mystery. Starring Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer and Michelle Monaghan, the comedy thriller is partially based on Brett Halliday’s 1941 novel, Bodies Are Where You Find Them.
Watch On: Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Video

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Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

Director: Peter Godfrey
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, Sydney Greenstreet, Reginald Gardiner
Storyline: While recovering in a hospital, war hero Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan) grows familiar with the Diary of a Housewife column written by Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyck). Jeff’s nurse arranges with Elizabeth’s publisher, Alexander Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet), for Jeff to spend the holiday at Elizabeth’s bucolic Connecticut farm with her husband and child. But the column is a sham, so Yardley hastens to arrange a publicity ploy by setting up single, nondomestic Elizabeth on a country farm.
Watch On: Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video

Tokyo Godfathers (2003)

Director: Satoshi Kon
Starring: Yoshiaki Umegaki, Aya Okamoto, Toru Emori
Storyline: Middle-aged alcoholic Gin (Toru Emori), teenage runaway Miyuki (Aya Okamoto) and former drag queen Hana (Yoshiaki Umegaki) are a trio of homeless people surviving as a makeshift family on the streets of Tokyo. While rummaging in the trash for food on Christmas Eve, they stumble upon an abandoned newborn baby in a trash bin. With only a handful of clues to the baby’s identity, the three misfits search the streets of Tokyo for help in returning the baby to its parents.
Watch On: Amazon Prime Video, The Roku Channel, Tubi TV, Pluto TV, Freevee

Spirited (2022)

Director: Sean Anders
Starring: Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, Octavia Spencer, Sunita Mani, Patrick Page, Marlow Barkley, Tracy Morgan
Storyline: In the film, The Ghost of Christmas Present is nearing retirement, which would mean a return to Earth. He sets his sights on an “unredeemable” man named Clint Briggs, who ends up helping the Ghost come to terms with his own past.
Watch On: Apple TV Plus, Amazon

Black Christmas (1974)

Director: Bob Clark
Starring: Olivia Hussey, Margot Kidder, Keir Dullea, John Saxon
Storyline: As winter break begins, a group of sorority sisters, including Jess (Olivia Hussey) and the often inebriated Barb (Margot Kidder), begin to receive anonymous, lascivious phone calls. Initially, Barb eggs the caller on, but stops when he responds threateningly. Soon, Barb’s friend Clare (Lynne Griffin) goes missing from the sorority house, and a local adolescent girl is murdered, leading the girls to suspect a serial killer is on the loose. But no one realizes just how near the culprit is.
Watch On: Amazon Prime Video, Peacock Premium, AMC+, Fandor, Shudder, Screambox, Night Flight Plus, The Roku Channel, Tubi TV, Crackle

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While You Were Sleeping (1995)

Director: Jon Turteltaub
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher, Peter Boyle, Glynis Johns, Jack Warden
Storyline: A transit worker pulls commuter Peter off railway tracks after he’s mugged, but—while he’s in a coma—his family mistakenly thinks she’s Peter’s fiancée, and she doesn’t correct them. Things get more complicated when she falls for his brother, who’s not quite sure that she’s who she claims to be.
Watch On: Disney Plus, Paramount Plus Apple TV Channel, The Roku Channel

Remember the Night (1940)

Director: Mitch Leisen
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Beulah Bondi, Elizabeth Patterson
Storyline: Unexpected love blossoms when an assistant district attorney agrees to take a recidivist shoplifter home so she doesn’t have to spend Christmas alone in jail.
Watch On: Plex

The Best Man Holiday (2013)

Director: Malcolm D. Lee
Starring: Morris Chestnut, Taye Diggs, Regina Hall, Terrence Howard, Sanaa Lathan, Nia Long, Melissa De Sousa, Harold Perrineau
Storyline: Nearly 15 years after they were last together as a group, college friends Lance (Morris Chestnut), Harper (Taye Diggs), Candace (Regina Hall), Quentin (Terrence Howard), Robyn (Sanaa Lathan), Jordan (Nia Long), Murch (Harold Perrineau), and Mia (Monica Calhoun) finally reunite over the Christmas holidays. Though much has changed in their lives, the friends discover just how easy it is for long-forgotten rivalries and passionate romances to be reignited.
Watch On: Amazon Prime Video

The Apartment (1960)

Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray
Storyline: A Manhattan insurance clerk tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but office politics and his own romantic hopes complicate matters.
Watch On: Amazon Prime Video

The Family Man (2000)

Director: Brett Ratner
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Téa Leoni, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Piven
Storyline: A fast-lane investment broker, offered the opportunity to see how the other half lives, wakes up to find that his sports car and girlfriend have become a mini-van and wife.
Watch On: Netflix, Peacock Premium, Starz Apple TV Channel

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
Storyline: 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).
Watch On: Paramount Plus, Apple TV Channel, Amazon Prime, Pluto TV

8-Bit Christmas (2021)

Director: Michael Dowse
Starring: Neil Patrick Harris, Winslow Fegley, June Diane Raphael, Steve Zahn
Storyline: In 1980s Chicago, a 10-year-old sets out on a quest to get the Christmas gift of his generation: the latest and greatest video-game system.
Watch On: Max, Max Amazon Channel, TNT, TBS, tru TV

Happiest Season (2020)

Director: Clea DuVall
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Daniel Levy, Mary Holland, Victor Garber, Mary Steenburgen
Storyline: The film follows a young woman who struggles to admit to her conservative parents that she is a lesbian while she and her girlfriend visit them during Christmas.
Watch On: Hulu

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020)

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey Movie Photo

Director: David E. Talbert
Starring: Forest Whitaker, Madalen Mills, Keegan-Michael Key, Hugh Bonneville, Anika Noni Rose, Phylicia Rashad, Lisa Davina Phillip, Ricky Martin
Storyline: Decades after his apprentice betrays him, a once joyful toymaker finds new hope when his bright young granddaughter appears on his doorstep.
Watch On: Netflix

Let It Snow (2019)

Director: Luke Snellin
Starring: Isabela Merced, Shameik Moore, Kiernan Shipka, Odeya Rush, Liv Hewson, Mitchell Hope, Jacob Batalon, Joan Cusack
Storyline: In a small town on Christmas Eve, a snowstorm brings together a group of young people. They soon find their friendships and love lives colliding, and come Christmas morning, nothing will be the same.
Watch On: Netflix

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale Movie Photo

Director: Jalmari Helander
Starring: Onni Tommila, Jorma Tommila, Per Christian Ellefsen, Tommi Korpela, Rauno Juvonen, Ilmari Järvenpää, Peeter Jakobi, Jonathan Hutchings, Risto Salmi
Storyline: Young Pietari lives with his reindeer-herding father in arctic Finland. On the eve of Christmas, a nearby excavation makes a frightening discovery and an evil Santa Claus is unleashed…
Watch On: Peacock Premium, AMC+, Fandor Amazon Channel, Screambox Amazon Channel, Midnight Pulp, Peacock Premium Plus, Tubi TV, Freevee

Noelle (2019)

Director: Marc Lawrence
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Bill Hader, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Billy Eichner, Julie Hagerty, Shirley MacLaine
Storyline: Kris Kringle’s daughter, Noelle, sets off on a mission to find and bring back her brother, after he gets cold feet when it’s his turn to take over as Santa.
Watch On: Disney Plus, fuboTV

Almost Christmas (2016)

Director: David E. Talbert
Starring: Kimberly Elise, Danny Glover, John Michael Higgins, Romany Malco, Mo’Nique, J.B. Smoove, Gabrielle Union, David E. Talbert, Donnie Simpson
Storyline: Walter Meyer (Danny Glover) is a retired mechanic who lost the love of his life almost a year ago. For the holidays, he invites his now grown children and their families to his house (where they all grew up) for a traditional celebration. Walter soon realizes that if his bickering children and the rest of the family can spend five days together under the same roof, it will truly be a Christmas miracle.
Watch On: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu

Last Christmas (2019)

Director: Paul Feig
Starring: Emilia Clarke, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Emma Thompson
Storyline: Kate is a young woman who has a habit of making bad decisions, and her last date with disaster occurs after she accepts work as Santa’s elf for a department store. However, after she meets Tom there, her life takes a new turn.
Watch On: Max, Max Amazon Channel

Silent Night (2002)

Director: Rodney Gibbons
Starring: Linda Hamilton, Matthew Harbour, Romano Orzari, Alain Goulem, Martin Neufeld, Mark Antony Krupa, James McGowan, Michael Elkin, Michael Sinelnikoff, Cassian Bopp, Harald Winter
Storyline: In a cabin on a World War II front, a German mom with a young son mediates a truce between three German and three American soldiers so they can all celebrate Christmas Eve 1944 together.

It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947)

Director: Roy Del Ruth
Starring: Don DeFore, Ann Harding, Charles Ruggles, Victor Moore, Gale Storm
Storyline: A New Yorker hobo moves into a mansion and along the way he gathers friends to live in the house with him. Before he knows it, he is living with the actual home owners.
Watch On: Tubi TV

The Christmas Chronicles (2018)

Director: Clay Kaytis
Starring: Kurt Russell, Judah Lewis, Darby Camp, Lamorne Morris, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Oliver Hudson
Storyline: The plot follows two children, Kate and Teddy, who notice Santa Claus in their home and jump into his sleigh with his reindeer; however, they accidentally cause the sleigh to crash, and the presents are lost. As Christmas morning approaches, it is up to the children and Santa to save Christmas by correctly delivering all of the presents.
Watch On: Netflix

A Bad Moms Christmas (2017)

Director: Scott Moore, Jon Lucas
Starring: Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Cheryl Hines, Christine Baranski, Susan Sarandon
Storyline: Amy, Kiki and Carla – three under-appreciated and over-burdened women – rebel against the challenges and expectations of the Super Bowl for mothers: Christmas. And if creating a more perfect holiday for their families wasn’t hard enough, they have to do all of that while hosting and entertaining their own mothers.
Watch On: Netflix

The Snowman (1982)

Director: Jimmy T. Murakami, Dianne Jackson
Starring: David Bowie, Raymond Briggs, Mel Smith
Storyline: On Christmas Eve, a young boy builds a snowman that comes to life and takes him to the North Pole to meet Father Christmas.
Watch On: VUDU Free, Pluto TV

Office Christmas Party (2016)

Director: Will Speck, Josh Gordon
Starring: Jason Bateman, Olivia Munn, T.J. Miller, Jillian Bell, Vanessa Bayer, Courtney B. Vance, Rob Corddry, Sam Richardson, Randall Park, Kate McKinnon, and Jennifer Aniston
Storyline: When Carol Vanstone, CEO of the technology company Zenotek, expresses her intention to close the Chicago branch, run by her brother Clay, he and his co-workers organize a Christmas party in an effort to impress a potential client and save their jobs. But the party gets out of control…
Watch On: TNT, TBS, tru TV

Holiday Inn (1942)

Director: Mark Sandrich
Starring: Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Marjorie Reynolds, Virginia Dale
Storyline: In this Irving Berlin musical, Jim (Bing Crosby) and Lila are members of a performing trio who plan to quit and run a country hotel. When Lila says she has fallen in love with the dancer in the act, Ted (Fred Astaire), Jim leaves town with a broken heart. After turning the inn into a holidays-only live entertainment venue, Jim winds up booking — and falling for — Linda (Marjorie Reynolds). But when Ted shows up at the place after being dumped by Lila, he too sets his sights on beautiful Linda.
Watch On: Amazon Prime Video

Last Holiday (2006)

Director: Wayne Wang
Starring: Queen Latifah, Gérard Depardieu, LL Cool J, Timothy Hutton
Storyline: 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).
Watch On: Amazon Prime Video, Paramount Plus, Apple TV+ Roku Premium Channel, Tubi TV

The Night Before (2015)

Director: Jonathan Levine
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anthony Mackie, Jillian Bell, Lizzy Caplan, Jillian Bell, Mindy Kaling, Michael Shannon
Storyline: Ethan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Isaac (Seth Rogen), and Chris (Anthony Mackie) have been friends since childhood, and for a decade, their yearly Christmas Eve reunion has been an annual night of debauchery and hilarity. Now that they’re entering adulthood, the tradition is ending, and to make it as memorable as possible, they set out to find the Nutcracka Ball–the Holy Grail of Christmas parties.
Watch On: Amazon Prime Video, Amazon, Starz Apple TV Channel, Starz Roku Premium Channel, Starz, Starz Amazon Channel, Xumo Play

A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (2011)

A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas Movie Photo

Director: Todd Strauss-Schulson
Starring: John Cho, Kal Penn, Neil Patrick Harris, Danneel Ackles
Storyline: Six years have elapsed since Guantanamo Bay, leaving Harold and Kumar estranged from one another with very different families, friends and lives. But when Kumar arrives on Harold’s doorstep during the holiday season with a mysterious package in hand, he inadvertently burns down Harold’s father-in-law’s beloved Christmas tree. To fix the problem, Harold and Kumar embark on a mission through New York City to find the perfect Christmas tree, once again stumbling into trouble at every single turn.
Watch On: Tubi TV, Amazon Prime Video

Violent Night (2023)

Director: Tommy Wirkola
Starring: David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, Beverly D’Angelo
Storyline: When a team of mercenaries breaks into a wealthy family compound on Christmas Eve, taking everyone inside hostage, the team isn’t prepared for a surprise combatant: Santa Claus (David Harbour, Black Widow, Stranger Things series) is on the grounds, and he’s about to show why this Nick is no saint.
Watch On: Starz Apple TV Channel, Starz Roku Premium Channel, Starz, Starz Amazon Channel

8 Women (2001)

Director: François Ozon
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle Béart, Fanny Ardant, Virginie Ledoyen, Danielle Darrieux, Ludivine Sagnier, Firmine Richard
Storyline: Eight women gather to celebrate Christmas in a snowbound cottage, only to find the family patriarch dead with a knife in his back. Trapped in the house, every woman becomes a suspect, each having her own motive and secret.
Watch On: Apple TV+

About a Boy (2002)

Director: Paul Weitz, Chris Weitz
Starring: Hugh Grant, Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz, Nicholas Hoult
Storyline: Will Freeman is a good-looking, smooth-talking bachelor whose primary goal in life is avoiding any kind of responsibility. But when he invents an imaginary son in order to meet attractive single moms, Will gets a hilarious lesson about life from a bright, but hopelessly geeky 12-year-old named Marcus. Now, as Will struggles to teach Marcus the art of being cool, Marcus teaches Will that you’re never too old to grow up.
Watch On: Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video

Meet Me Next Christmas (2024)

Director: Rusty Cundieff
Starring: Christina Milian, Devale Ellis, Kofi Siriboe, Tymika Tafari, Mitch Grassi, Scott Hoying, Kirstin Maldonado, Kevin Olusola, Matt Sallee, Kalen Allen
Storyline: In pursuit of a fairytale romance with the man of her dreams, Layla must race through New York City to get her hands on the hottest ticket in town: the sold out Pentatonix Christmas Eve Concert.
Watch On: Netflix