Christmas Movies

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

A selection of movies with Christmas themes or settings to help get you in the spirit of the season.

Christmas Classics

It's a Wonderful Life

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

A Christmas Carol (1951)

Christmas Comedies

Bad Santa

Big Business (1929)

Babes in Toyland (1938)

A Christmas Story (1983)

Trading Places (1983)

Better Off Dead (1985)

Ernest Saves Christmas (1988)

Scrooged (1988)

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

While You Were Sleeping (1995)

About a Boy (2002)

Bad Santa (2003)

Elf (2003)

Love Actually (2003)

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (2011)

The Night Before (2015)

Office Christmas Party (2016)

A Bad Moms Christmas (2017)

The Christmas Chronicles (2018)

Noelle (2019)

The Christmas Chronicles 2 (2020)

Modern-Day Christmas Films

A Christmas Tale

Prancer (1989)

La Bûche (1999)

'R Xmas (2001)

8 Women (2002)

Tokyo Godfathers (2004)

A Christmas Tale (2008)

Nothing Like the Holidays (2008)

The Best Man Holiday (2013)

Black Nativity (2013)

Jingle Bell Rocks! (2013)

Happy Christmas (2014)

Dear Santa (2020)

Happiest Season (2020)

Christmas Cult Films

Black Christmas

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)

Black Christmas (1974)

Female Trouble (1974)

Christmas Evil (1980)

Gremlins (1984)

Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special (1988)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

The Ref (1994)

The Day of the Beast (1995)

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)

A Christmas Horror Story (2015)

Krampus (2015)

Better Watch Out (2017)

Anna and the Apocalypse (2018)

All the Creatures Were Stirring (2018)

Christmas Presence (2018)

Fatman (2020)

Other Christmas Classics

Meet John Doe

A Christmas Past: Vintage Holiday Films 1901-1925 (2001)

Scrooge (1935)

Boys Town (1938)

Holiday (1938)

A Christmas Carol (1938)

Meet John Doe (1941)

Going My Way (1944)

Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

The Bishop's Wife (1947)

3 Godfathers (1948)

Holiday Affair (1949)

The Lemon Drop Kid (1951)

O. Henry's Full House (1952)

White Christmas (1954)

The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020)

Films Set at Christmastime (Classic)

The Curse of the Cat People

Little Women (1933)

The Thin Man (1934)

The Curse of the Cat People (1944)

Mr. Arkadin (1955)

The Night of the Hunter (1955)

All That Heaven Allows (1956)

An Affair to Remember (1957)

The Apartment (1960)

Pocketful of Miracles (1961)

Donovan's Reef (1963)

Films Set at Christmastime (1980s-1990s)

Batman Returns

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

Fanny and Alexander (1983)

Brazil (1985)

The Dead (1987)

Lethal Weapon (1987)

The Decalogue: Episode 3 (1988)

Die Hard (1988)

Ghostbusters II (1989)

The War of the Roses (1989)

Die Hard 2 (1990)

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Batman Returns (1992)

Little Women (1994)

Babe (1995)

Smoke (1995)

Everyone Says I Love You (1996)

The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)

Rushmore (1998)

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Go (1999)

Films Set at Christmastime (2000-present)

Carol

Reindeer Games (2000)

Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)

Serendipity (2001)

Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Far from Heaven (2002)

Morvern Callar (2002)

The Company (2003)

Mean Girls (2004)

Rick (2004)

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2005)

The Matador (2005)

Miss Potter (2006)

12:08 East of Bucharest (2006)

Doubt (2008)

In Bruges (2008)

The Merry Gentleman (2009)

The Warrior's Way (2010)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Jersey Boys (2014)

Carol (2015)

Tangerine (2015)

The Nice Guys (2016)

Green Book (2018)

Roma (2018)

The Irishman (2019)

Lady and the Tramp (2019)

Little Women (2019)

Shazam! (2019)

Emma (2020)

Beautiful Something Left Behind (2021)

Animation & TV Specials

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Vintage Mickey (2005)

Somewhere in Dreamland (1936)

The Night Before Christmas (1941) [Tom & Jerry]

Gift Wrapped (1952) [Tweety & Sylvester]

Lady and the Tramp (1955)

Christmas Cracker (1963) [animated short]

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)

A Christmas Carol (1971) [animated, 25 mins.]

The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974)

The Pink Panther: A Pink Christmas (1978)

Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)

An American Tail (1986)

Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988)

Christmas with the Simpsons (1989)

Olive the Other Reindeer (1999)

SpongeBob SquarePants: Christmas (2003)

The Polar Express (2004)

Shaun the Sheep: We Wish Ewe a Merry Christmas (2010)

Arthur Christmas (2011)

Rise of the Guardians (2012)

A Very Murray Christmas (2015)

The Grinch (2018)

Klaus (2019)

Miscellaneous (Approach with Caution)

Fred Claus

Christmas Eve (1947)

Santa Claus (1959)

The Judy Garland Christmas Special (1963)

To All a Goodnight (1980)

Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)

One Magic Christmas (1985)

Santa Claus: The Movie (1985)

Silent Night, Deadly Night III: Better Watch Out (1989)

Home Alone (1990)

The Santa Clause (1994)

Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving (1999)

The Family Man (2000)

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

Reindeer Games (2000)

101 Reykjavik (2001)

Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights (2002)

Friday After Next (2002)

Christmas with the Kranks (2004)

Surviving Christmas (2004)

The Family Stone (2005)

Joyeux Noël (2005)

Just Friends (2005)

Rent (2005)

Black Christmas (2006)

Deck the Halls (2006)

The Holiday (2006)

The Ice Harvest (2006)

The Nativity Story (2006)

Fred Claus (2007)

P2 (2007)

Four Christmases (2008)

While She Was Out (2008)

A Christmas Carol (2009)

Bad Santa 2 (2016)

Why Him? (2016)

Black Christmas (2019)