From 'Love Actually' to 'Falling for Christmas', here is our round-up of the best holiday movies you can stream right now.
20 Holiday Movies to Get You Into the Festive Spirit
From 'Love Actually' to 'Falling for Christmas', here is our round-up of the best holiday movies you can stream right now.
One of the most lovely aspects of the holiday season is the build-up of excitement in the weeks leading up to Christmas Day. It’s time to bring out the decorations, put some presents under the tree, and indulge in some guiltless holiday binge-watching.
If you’re anything like us, you might have kickstarted the silly season a little early with some festive movie marathons. We can’t think of a better way to bring more happiness into our lives than by getting comfy on the couch with our favourite linen throw and watching a joyful holiday movie. Especially when it’s a new release – you can read on for some of our favourite new movies and old classics in the genre.
From a heartwarming staple to a comedic love story, here are the films that need to be on your holiday watchlist to get you into the festive spirit. Happy binge-watching, everybody!
1. Falling for Christmas
Where can I watch it? Netflix
Lindsay Lohan returns to rom-coms in Falling for Christmas, a Netflix movie about an heiress who suffers a bout of amnesia after a skiing accident, finding herself adrift in a mountainous small town during the holiday season. So far, so cliche, but it’s a fun silly season watch nonetheless.
2. Love Actually
Where can I watch it? Netflix
This cheeky British rom-com featuring an all-star cast will make you laugh, cry, and add Billy Mack’s ‘Christmas is All Around’ to your playlist. The film explores the interconnected lives of eight different couples and the overriding message that love comes in all forms. It also cleverly captures the chaotic, wholesome, and inspiring elements of the holiday season.
3. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Where can I watch it? Netflix
Not just for kids, this movie adaptation of the Dr Seuss classic Christmas tale owes everything to Jim Carrey, whose improvisation and incredible comic timing as the Grinch makes this film so entertaining to watch.
4. The Noel Diary
Where can I watch it? Netflix
This movie isn’t number one on Netflix globally for nothing. The charming romantic comedy starring Justin Hartley (yes, that Justin Hartley, for fans of Selling Sunset) and Barrett Doss, follows a bestselling author who thinks he’s better off alone, and the mysterious woman who comes into his life at Christmas time, in search of her mother. Can the pair solve a mystery, reunite each other with their families and, maybe, fall for each other? Just in time for Christmas?
5. Elf
Where can I watch it? Netflix
Christmas can get stressful – be it financially, emotionally, or logistically. Let Will Ferrell inject some humour into your life as Buddy, a man raised by Santa who travels to New York City to find his biological dad. It’s as silly and sweet as it sounds.
6. A Charlie Brown Christmas
Where can I watch it? Apple TV+
Unfortunately, the holiday season isn’t always sunshine and rainbows, and no one knows that better than our friend Charlie Brown. Here, Charlie dons a director’s cap and attempts to put together a Christmas play. Of course, like every CB cartoon before it, the film delivers a deeper moral message.
7. Spirited
Where can I watch it? AppleTV+
There’s serious star power in this AppleTV+ Christmas movie. Think: Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds, who both lead this update of A Christmas Carol, which is a family-friendly musical with lots of fun set pieces.
8. Something from Tiffany’s
Where can I watch it? Prime Video
Coming to Prime Video on December 9 is this Zoey Deutch romantic comedy, about a Christmas nightmare: what if two little blue boxes from Tiffany & Co got swapped by mistake, and on Christmas day one woman ended up with an engagement ring for someone else? And what happens when, after swapping them back, a connection is felt between the two strangers locked in this miscommunication? Sounds like a perfect romantic comedy and festive season watch to us.
9. Home Alone
Where can I watch it? Disney+
Home Alone isn’t just a classic holiday film, it’s a classic film in general and has remained a Christmas movie staple for many of us. This highly-popular film is an all-around good time for children and adults alike and will take you on a wild adventure that's equal parts storytelling, comedy and danger.
10. Guardians Of The Galaxy: Holiday Special
Where can I watch it? Disney+
That’s right, you read that correctly – Guardians of the Galaxy has released a Christmas special and it’s totally wonderful. Marvel fans (and those who love the Guardians series) will delight in this charming telemovie about your chosen family and finding your way home for the holidays.
11. Happiest Season
Where can I watch it? Binge
Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis lead this sweet romantic comedy, which is streaming in Australia on Binge and Foxtel. Abby and Harper are a happy couple until they decide to go home to meet Harper’s ultra-conservative family for the holidays, and Harper asks Abby to pretend that they are just friends. Highjinks and some heartbreak ensue, but ultimately this film is a heart warmer.
12. The Family Stone
Where can I watch it? Disney+
Think your family is crazy? Okay, they probably are. But so is everyone else’s. And if you’re looking for proof, watch The Family Stone. Starring Claire Danes, Diane Keaton, Dermot Mulroney, Sarah Jessica Parker and Luke Wilson, it’s the perfect example of why families should never spend too long seated around a dinner table – especially when wine is involved.
13. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Where can I watch it? Amazon Prime
The third instalment of Chevy Chase’s National Lampoon series is about as frivolous and light-hearted as a Christmas movie comes, but it’s the perfect dose of nostalgia mixed with corny comedy.
14. The Santa Clause
Where can I watch it? Disney+
Featuring Tim Allen, this '90s holiday flick is one of our absolute favourites and a Christmas-time staple. The light-hearted story centres around Scott Calvin, an ordinary father who accidentally causes Santa Claus to fall off his roof and becomes subject to "the Santa clause."
15. Let It Snow
Where can I watch it? Netflix
There’s a fantastic cast of young actors in this sweet teen movie, including Kiernan Shipka, Odeya Rush and Shameik Moore. Several stories collide, Love Actually-style, in this tale of teens snowed out during a storm over the holidays.
16. Miracle on 34th Street
Where can I watch it? Disney+
This classic movie can’t be beaten at Christmas time, and it’s family-friendly too. Susan doesn’t believe in Santa Claus, but when a legal stoush over a department Father Christmas comes close to home, she will have to rethink what she holds to be true about the festive season.
17. The Preacher’s Wife
Where can I watch it? Disney+
Denzel Washington shines as an angel on a mission to play cupid in this '90s rom-com, but the whole thing is worth watching just for Whitney Houston’s gospel rendition of ‘Joy to the World'.
18. Jingle All the Way
Where can I watch it? Disney+
This one might call for a little explanation. Released in 1996, Jingle All the Way follows Arnold Schwarzenegger as he races around New York City trying to get his hands on the sold-out Turboman doll he promised his kid for Christmas. Sinbad plays his archenemy, and while it's entirely cheesy it ends up being quite good. Enter with low expectations and exit thoroughly entertained.
19. The Holiday
Where can I watch it? Stan
A classic for a reason, this Nancy Meyers-directed rom-com stars Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet as two women who swap houses – and find love – over the festive season. Jude Law and Jack Black co-star. This one is always on high rotation come Christmas time.
20. The Nightmare Before Christmas
Where can I watch it? Disney+
This nostalgic Tim Burton classic follows Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, who stumbles upon Christmas Town and is enchanted by its festive spirit. Eager to bring Christmas to his own town, Jack tries to take over the holiday, leading to a series of misadventures as he enlists the help of Halloween Town's quirky residents.
