On the spy for the best Netflix Christmas movies? Of course, you are. Nothing fits the bill better in the festive season than a good holiday movie – and Netflix has them by the bucketload.
While we've all got a number of holiday favorites we like to check out every year, Netflix is no slouch when it comes to releasing new Christmas movies that enter our viewing rotation.
As of 2022, Netflix has more festive originals than ever before, with the likes of Luke Evans, Lindsay Lohan and Olivia Colman among the stars lining up to lead the streaming service's new array of Christmas movies.
In our handy guide, we'll run you through the best Netflix Christmas movies to be found on the streamer, and we've limited this list to Netflix Originals, so no matter where you're subscribed to the streaming service, you can enjoy everything below. These are the best Christmas movies on Netflix right now – and while the majority are family-friendly, we'd advise checking out the age ratings for each before you start watching.
Merry NetfliXmas, one and all…
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020)
This tale delivers winter whimsy by the truckload. A brand new spectacle for 2020, this musical adventure deserves to be seen on the biggest TV available, and with the best sound system you can find.
Boasting original songs by John Legend, Usher, and more, the family film tells the story of the legendary inventor and toymaker Jeronicus Jangle (played by Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker). When his trusted apprentice (Keegan-Michael Key) steals one of his unique creations, it’s up to his smart granddaughter – and some inventions wizardry, naturally – to save the day. File this under future family favorites, and expect to watch it every December.
Falling For Christmas (2022)
Lindsay Lohan leads the way in Netflix's shiniest new offering for 2022, giving the classic plotline of total memory loss a festive sprinkling.
Lohan plays Sierra Belmont, a spoiled and aloof heiress, who is given a job at her father's Aspen ski resort with the ludicrous title of Vice President of Atmosphere. Traveling there with Tad, her shallow influencer boyfriend, the pair head to the top of a mountain for a photo shoot where he proposes to her. But, just as he pops the question, a harsh causes her to lose balance and she falls, knocking her head on a tree and losing her memory.
Discovered by a local named Jake Russell, who runs a small hotel near the resort, Sierra bonds with Jake and his family and slowly builds a new life. But, when her old connections return, she soon has a choice to make.
Glee star Chord Overstreet plays Russel, with George Young, Jack Wagner and Olivia Perez among the supporting cast.
It won't win any Oscars, but it's good fun, fleet-footed, and a good dollop of festive schmaltz.
The Christmas Chronicles (2018)
If the idea of Kurt Russell as a super cool Santa sounds like fun to you (it should do, because it is) then The Christmas Chronicles makes for perfect Christmas streaming fodder.
The comedy sees Santa accidentally get interrupted by two kids on his Christmas Eve deliveries - and crashes his sleigh, losing his presents in the process, before embarking on an adventure with the children to save Christmas. As if the kids in your life weren't already going to love it, it comes from the director of The Angry Birds Movie, Clay Kaytis, who also happened to animate Frozen - so it has family rewatchability deep in its warm, festive heart.
Plus, it comes with Christmas pedigree too, as it’s produced by Home Alone and Harry Potter helmer Chris Columbus.
The Christmas Chronicles: Part 2 (2020)
Make it a double bill this year with the new The Christmas Chronicles sequel, in which Goldie Hawn joins the action-packed adventure, too, as Mrs Claus. Set two years since the kids saved Christmas (sorry, spoilers), they’re now slightly older teens - and with their new Christmas plans spending the holidays as a recently blended family not filling them with holiday joy, they find themselves on a mission to save the North Pole, this time, instead. If you didn’t already consider Kurt and Goldie Hollywood’s golden couple, just wait until you see them in full Christmas costume.
Black Mirror: White Christmas
Before we get into more Christmas princes, royal babies, accidental romances and other fun stuff, how about a properly harrowing movie-length episode from Charlie Brooker's anthology series Black Mirror? This episode covers several interlinking stories, told between two men (played by Mad Men's Jon Hamm and Rafe Spall) seemingly spending Christmas in some kind of The Thing-style station in the icy tundra, as they explain how they each came to be there.
Get ready for a few brutal twists in this dystopian drama, which, obviously, is not one for the kids.
The Princess Switch (2018)
There’s something undeniably joyful about movies where one actor plays all the leads (see: The Parent Trap, The Nutty Professor, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me). In the Princess Switch, High School Musical alum Vanessa Hudgens takes the lead(s), in a Prince And The Pauper-inspired story of a princess who bumps into her doppelgänger, a baker, and they decide to switch places so the royal can experience, a “normal” life. Quaint Christmas markets, opulently decorated palaces and lurve ensues, and we can’t get enough…
Dolly Parton’s Christmas On The Square (2020)
When you look up the phrase “camp as Christmas” in the dictionary, the page has got to be nothing but a full-page color poster for this exact film. Not only does the iconic Dolly Parton lend her acting talents to this downhome treat as a literal angel, but the just-released musical also features 14 original songs with music and lyrics by Dolly herself, too.
When a Scrooge-style woman threatens to ruin Christmas for her small hometown, it’s up to family, love - and Dolly - to warm her cold heart. Don your sparkliest, tinsel-lined cowboy boots and have yourself a Dolly holiday.
Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (2022)
Luke Evans, Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley and Jonathan Pryce lend their voices to this animated musical retelling of Charles Dickens' classic tale.
If you don't know the story, it goes a bit like this, a miserly businessman Ebenezer Scrooge who cares little for the fate of others, is visited by the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, and the spirits of Christmas past, present and future in the hope that he will learn the error of his ways.
Sparkly, wide-eyed and skillfully told, it's a story we all know, but one well, well worth revisiting once again.
The Princess Switch: Switched Again (2020)
If you liked two princess lookalikes - what about three? The sequel to The Princess Switch has Vanessa Hudgens playing a third character: the evil cousin, Lady Fiona, a sort of Made in Chelsea-esque party girl villian with her own nefarious schemes and surrounded by more Christmas decor than you can fill a palace with. Is it cheesy? Yes. Is it loads of fun? Also yes.
A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby (2019)
Now, some would say that this being the lowest rated movie in the entire ‘A Christmas Prince’ romcom franchise means that this is a Netflix Original Christmas movie to avoid. But ignore those people: they don’t realize that that’s what makes this so good. The attempts at gags, the OTT royal clichés, the fact that it doesn’t quite make any sense - embrace it all, and you’ll be in for a great Christmas night in. A hefty glass of Baileys or the alcoholic beverage of your choice to watch it with helps, too.
Klaus (2019)
This Christmas movie marked Netflix’s first ever Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature, as well as winning the BAFTA for Best Animated Film. It’s no surprise why: the Scandivian-set Santa Claus origin story, starring Jason Schwartzman voicing the lead as postman who builds an unlikely friendship with the eponymous toymaker Klaus, combines beautiful hand-drawn animation and a timeless story. The result is a modern Christmas classic.
A Very Murray Christmas (2015)
The Christmas special is as much a time-honored tradition as decorating the tree to Mariah Carey, or considering packing up and starting a new life in a distant country the morning after the Christmas party.
In this one, BIll Murray plays himself, hosting a Christmas special that gets canceled due to a snowstorm, and goes on to find shelter in a bar. If you don’t fancy the annual Christmas special of your favorite sitcom, stick this on instead. Though it’s not a huge statement to make, we can guarantee it’ll be better.
The Knight Before Christmas (2019)
Vanessa Hudgens appears not once, not twice, but thrice on this list, as she’s quickly emerging as the Queen of Netflix Original Christmas Rom Coms (or princess, or princess’s lookalike, or cousin, or… anyway). In this, she turns her expertise to a schmaltzy romance with a fantasy twist, as she plays a small town teacher who helps a time-travelling knight fulfil his quest - but after their adventure, will he really want to return home?
Operation Christmas Drop (2020)
Watch too many Netflix romcoms, and you’ll be forgiven for thinking that Christmas only comes to tiny country hometowns, whose residents have never set up an Alexa, been to an Apple store, or even tried shop-bought gingerbread (baking is a serious character trait around these parts).
We’re a fan of new release Operation Christmas Drop, not least of which for its sun-drenched tropical setting - a Yuletide romance hooked on a beautiful Washington DC congressional assistant being paired up with a hunky Airforce Captain to take up the yearly tradition of airlifting goods to the citizens of Guam for Christmas.
The Holiday Calendar (2018)
Not only does The Vampire Diaries’ Kat Graham star in Operation Christmas Drop, but the actor also takes the lead in The Holiday Calendar, which serves the dual purpose of being a cute romcom, as well as an important life lesson in the magic of Advent calendars.
Watch early on in the Christmas season to get into the spirit with this as a delightfully silly, whimsical starter. In fun NetfliXmas-verse crossover facts, this movie can be seen playing on a TV in The Knight Before Christmas - and it's filmed in the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, in Ontario, Canada, where Netflix's Christmas movie Christmas Inheritance was also shot.
Let It Snow (2019)
A series of interweaving stories make up this warm and cosy young adult romcom, based on the novel of the same name by Maureen Johnson, John Green, and Lauren Myracle. Set against the backdrop of a snowstorm during Christmastime, it follows the interlocking lives of teens facing life, love and school dilemmas - all with a feel-good festive tone that won’t leave you bawling your eyes out, which can’t be said for other John Green adaptations.
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