List of theatrical Christmas films

This is a list of Christmas films which were theatrically released. Films in this list always feature important references to the holiday's symbols, such as family gatherings, trees and decorations, the Christ child, or Santa Claus.

Christmas classics

These are Christmas films released in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

Title	Year	Description
Babes in Toyland	1961	Disney adaptation of the Herbert operetta.
Beyond Tomorrow (Beyond Christmas)	1940	The first half of this fantasy film takes place on Christmas Eve as three old men befriend two strangers, a young man and woman, who return their wallets.
The Bishop's Wife	1947	An angel helps a bishop rearrange his priorities during the Christmas season.
A Christmas Carol	1938	MGM's adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic story.
A Christmas Carol	1951	American title of British film Scrooge (see below).
Christmas Holiday	1944	A stranded soldier listens as a cabaret singer recounts a doomed marriage to a killer.
Christmas in Connecticut	1945	A columnist must entertain her boss and a returning war hero for the holidays. Remade for television in 1992.
Holiday Affair	1949	Romance blooms between a young widow and a sales clerk at Christmastime.
Holiday Inn	1942	Musicians prepare for a white Christmas at a cozy lodge.
I'll Be Seeing You	1944	A war veteran finds romance with furloughed prisoner during the holidays.
It's a Wonderful Life	1946	After attempting to commit suicide on Christmas Eve, a man is rescued by a guardian angel and shown what his hometown would be like had he never lived.
Scrooge	1935	Early film adaptation of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol starring Sir Seymour Hicks.
Scrooge	1951	Dickens' ghostly meditation on Christmas. This version of the story, with Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge, is universally regarded as the very best.
Miracle on 34th Street	1947	Macy's Santa, with help from the U.S. Postal Service, restores a little girl's faith. Remade for television in 1955, 1959, 1973.
The Shop Around the Corner	1940	Unbeknownst to each other, coworkers become romantic pen pals at Christmastime.
White Christmas	1954	As in Holiday Inn, musicians bring Irving Berlin's lyrics to Vermont lodge. (The story is not a remake, however.)

Contemporary Christmas classics

These are Christmas films released in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

Title	Year	Description
A Christmas Story	1983	All Ralphie wants for Christmas is a Red Ryder BB gun.
All I Want for Christmas	1991	Two kids plot to reunite their estranged parents at Christmas.
Home Alone	1990	Kevin McCallister, an eight-year-old boy, is mistakenly left behind when his family flies to Paris for their Christmas vacation.
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York	1992	Kevin McCallister, now ten-years-old, mistakenly travels to New York City without his family on Christmas.
Jingle All the Way	1996	A Dad competes with others to find sold out hot toy for his son.
Mickey's Christmas Carol	1983	Disney's animated adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic story.
Miracle on 34th Street	1994	Theatrical remake.
The Muppet Christmas Carol	1992	Jim Henson's creations tackle Charles Dickens' festive favorite.
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation	1989	The Griswold family plans turn to disaster, this time at Christmas. Followed by a made-for-TV sequel.
One Magic Christmas	1985	At Christmas time an angel shows a young mother the true meaning of the holiday.
The Nightmare Before Christmas	1993	Jack, a Halloween skeleton, discovers Christmas and attempts to hijack it.
The Santa Clause	1994	-
Scrooge	1970	A musical adaptation of Dickens' tale, starring Albert Finney in the title role.
Scrooged	1988	Modern, dark-humored interpretation of Dickens' story, with Christmas spirits visiting a cynical, selfish TV exec, played by Bill Murray.

Modern Christmas classics

These are Christmas films released in the 2000s and 2010s.

Title	Year	Description
Angels Sing	2013	A man who as a child loved Christmas, but after a tragic accident, his holiday spirit was crushed. He needs to find his holiday spirit again, and meets a man named Nick, who gives him a gift that helps him find the joy of Christmas again.
Arthur Christmas	2011	Santa's youngest son must deliver a bicycle to an overlooked girl before Christmas morning dawns. 3-D/CGI animated film.
A Christmas Carol	2009	Walt Disney Pictures/ImageMovers Digital performance capture film starring Jim Carrey.
Christmas with the Kranks	2004	When a suburban couple decide to forgo Christmas festivities, preferring to take a cruise to the Caribbean instead, their neighbours refuse to allow such Scrooge-like behaviour.
Deck the Halls	2006	Rival neighbors duke it out when one of them decides to light his house up so it can be seen from outer space
Elf	2003	A human who thinks he is an elf searches for his family in New York.
The Polar Express	2004	A magical train takes a boy and other children up to the north pole to meet Santa Claus.
The Santa Clause 2: The Mrs Clause	2002	Sequel to The Santa Clause; Santa must find a Mrs. Claus.
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause	2006	Santa battles Jack Frost to keep his title.
Unaccompanied Minors	2006	Bored kids make up their own holidays while stuck in an airport after Christmas.

Films set around Christmas

Title	Year	Description
A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas	2011	Kumar accidentally burns down Harold's Christmas tree with a pot joint and the two go on a fun and whacky adventure to get a new one before his wife and her father return home.
Bachelor Mother	1939	A department-store salesgirl finds and begins to care for an abandoned infant at Christmas time.
Bad Santa	2003	Wicked comedy directed by Terry Zwigoff, starring Billy Bob Thornton as a foul-mouthed,disreputable robber who poses as Father Christmas in order to break into shopping Malls.
Batman Returns	1992	Christmas comes to Gotham City and with the winter chill comes the devious Penguin to thwart Batman.
Bernard and the Genie	1991	Bernard gets fired from his job and walked out on by his girlfriend on Christmas Eve, taking everything from his flat. All that is left behind is an old lamp. His Christmas suddenly becomes brighter when he rubs it.
Black Christmas	1974	A murderous stranger terrorizes some sorority girls during the holiday break. Remade in 2006.
Blizzard	2003	A young girl is told a tale by her aunt of a young ice skater and an enchanted reindeer.
Brazil	1985	The wrongful arrest of a man on Christmas because of a bureaucratic error causes a series of events in which a low-level government employee tries to find the woman of his dreams and in the process begins to live counter to the state's banal bureaucracy.
Bush Christmas	1947	Children quest for stolen horses at Christmas time.
The Candlemaker	1957	A candlemaker entrusts his young son with the task of making church candles for Christmas Eve in this animated short.
The Cheaters	1945	An alcoholic ex-actor is invited to Christmas dinner by a rich family and enlisted to help them swindle a woman out of her inheritance.
Christmas at Maxwell's	2006	The Austin family faces a bleak Christmas when Suzie, extremely ill, gathers the family to go away and spend their last Christmas together before she dies.
A Christmas Carol	1971	Oscar-winning animated adaptation, with Alastair Sim and Michael Hordern recreating their roles as Scrooge and Marley's Ghost, narrated by Michael Redgrave; produced by Chuck Jones.
Christmas Child	2003	A life-sized nativity statue leads a man to learn about his past.
Christmas Comes But Once a Year	1936	Grampy rehabilitates old toys and brings Christmas joy to an orphanage in this animated short.
Christmas Eve	1947	An heiress attempts to bring her adopted sons back home by Christmas Eve to rescue her fortune from a scheming nephew.
Christmas Evil (You Better Watch Out)	1980	A psychotic killer spends the holiday punishing the naughty as Santa Claus.
Christmas in Boston	2005	Gina and Seth have been pen pals for 13 years and now will have the chance to meet. Both used their best friends pictures to send to each other and now will let their friends meet.
Christmas in the Clouds	2001	Comedic misunderstandings abound at a Native American ski resort during the holidays.
Christmas in Wonderland	2007	A father and his three kids move from Los Angeles to Edmonton. While shopping at West Edmonton Mall, they discover counterfeit money, unintentionally catch the criminals, and later make a discovery about Santa Claus.
A Christmas Tale (Un conte de Noël)	2008	A family gets together in the worst of circumstances during Christmas.
The Christmas That Almost Wasn't	1966	An attorney tries to stop a miser from evicting Santa Claus and confiscating his toys.
Comfort and Joy	1984	A DJ recovers from a breakup and gets mixed up in a turf war between rival ice cream vendors during the holiday season.
Coopers' Christmas	2010	A family gets a video camera for Christmas and tapes how dysfunctional the family is.
Crash	2004	The film is set during Christmas.
Creepers Christmas	2010	A boy saves a dragon the week before Christmas.
Dear Santa	2011	A spoiled 24-year-old woman decides fate has spoken when she discovers a little girl's letter to Santa asking for a new wife for her widowed father for Christmas.
The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya	2010	Haruhi and her friends are gonna celebrate Christmas, but the next morning, Kyon finds out that all of his friends either don't know him or don't attend at the North High School. So it's up to Kyon to crack this mystery, before Christmas.
Die Hard	1988	New York Cop John McClane attends the company Christmas party of his estranged wife, a high-powered businesswoman in Los Angeles.
Die Hard 2: Die Harder	1990	Officer John McClane picks up his wife from the airport to celebrate the holiday with their families.
Don't Open Till Christmas	1984	A murderer stalks the streets of London.
Elves	1989	Nazi scientists genetically engineered an small creature whose goal is to impregnate a young girl of a certain bloodline: the grandchild of a former nazi officer.
Ernest Saves Christmas	1988	Ernest P. Worrell helps Santa.
Exit Speed	2008	The film is set around Christmas Eve.
Eyes Wide Shut	1999	An erotic thriller set just before Christmas. Christmas trees appear in nearly every scene.
The Family Stone	2005	A woman wants acceptance from her boyfriend's eccentric clan at Christmastime.
The Family Man	2000	A fast-lane investment broker wakes up to find that his sports car and girlfriend have become a mini-van and wife.
Feeders 2: Slay Bells	1998	Aliens invade Earth over the Christmas holidays, and it's up to Santa Claus and his elves to save the world.
The Fitzgerald Family Christmas	2012	A terminally ill man prepares to spend a last Christmas with his estranged wife and combative adult children.
Fitzwilly	1967	A butler and his staff fund their employer's charitable activities with various illicit schemes, climaxing in an attempt to rob Gimbels department store on Christmas Eve.
Four Christmases	2008	A couple struggle to visit all four of their divorced parents on Christmas Day.
Fred Claus	2007	Santa's bitter older brother is forced to move to the North Pole.
Friday After Next	2002	Stoner buddies Craig and Day-Day start new jobs as security guards on Christmas Eve after a robber dressed as Santa robs their house and ruins their Christmas party plans.
Frozen River	2008	A single mother turns to people-smuggling to provide for her family at Christmas.
Gift Wrapped	1952	Sylvester tries to catch and devour Tweety on Christmas morning in this animated Looney Tunes short.
The Great Rupert (A Christmas Wish)	1950	Trained squirrel passes money along to needy family just before Christmas.
Gremlins	1984	Gets Gizmo during the holidays.
The Hebrew Hammer	2003	After the murder of Santa by his reindeer, an orthodox Jewish blaxploitation hero saves Hanukkah from the clutches of Santa's evil son.
High Crimes	2002	During Christmas, an attorney and her husband become involved in a mystery based on her husband's past.
The Holiday	2006	Two women swap homes for the holidays and meet up with their dream men.
The Holly and the Ivy	1952	An English clergyman reunites with his grown children for Christmas.
Ho Ho Ho	2009	Horaţiu is an 8-year-old boy who still believes in Santa Claus. As a Christmas gift, his mother takes him to the mall to buy him a gift.
Homeless for the Holidays	2009	A man's family is in danger of losing everything right before Christmas.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas	2000	A furry green creature wants to ruin Christmas for denizens of Whoville.
The Ice Harvest	2005	A seemingly perfect crime on Christmas Eve spirals out of control.
I'll Be Home for Christmas	1998	A college student finds it hard to get home for Christmas.
Iron Man 3	2013	Takes place around Christmas
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus	2002	When a young boy catches his mom kissing Santa, he decides to be as naughty as he can until he drives Santa back to the North Pole.
It Happened on Fifth Avenue	1947	A hobo occupies a millionaire's posh New York mansion each year while the family winters in Florida. The plot thickens when he gives shelter to former servicemen and their families and the family returns sooner than expected.
Jack Frost	1996	A killer snowman terrorizes a small town during the holidays.
Jack Frost	1998	A dad gets second chance as a snowman.
J'ai Rencontré Le Père Noël	1984	Young boy and girl take a plane to Lapland to visit Santa so he will save the boy's parents who have been kidnapped in Africa.
Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas)	2005	World War I trenches go silent during the "Christmas truce" of 1914.
Just Friends	2005	Chris Brander returns to New Jersey to chase after his high school crush.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang	2005	Set during Christmas, a murder mystery brings together a private eye, a struggling actress, and a thief masquerading as an actor.
The Lemon Drop Kid	1951	When the Lemon Drop Kid (Bob Hope) accidentally steers Moose Moran's girl away from a winning bet at the racetrack, he is forced to come up with $10,000 to repay the angry gangster. Fortunately it is Christmas, a time when people can be persuaded to part with money for the right cause.
Lethal Weapon	1987	Set during Christmas.
A Lively Christmas Eve	1962	On Christmas Eve, A veteran communist discovers to his horror that his daughter is about to marry a dissident. Eventually, the two reconcile in the spirit of the holiday, as the young man re-embraces socialism. While the film features Santa Claus, a family reunion and a Christmas tree (decorated with sputniks), it ignores the Christian connotations of the holiday.
Love, Actually	2003	We follow a large group of inter-related people for the five weeks leading up to Christmas, exploring their various love-states: new romance, sexual flings, new marriage, old marriage, siblings, parent-child, young love, and infidelity, as well as several others.
Lovely, Still	2008	An elderly bachelor romances a widowed neighbor during the Christmas season, with unexpected results.
The Magic Christmas Tree	1964	A witch's ring gives a young boy the titular tree, which comes to life and grants him three wishes.
Make the Yuletide Gay	2009	An openly gay college student struggles with concealing his sexual orientation from his parents when he goes home for Christmas.
The Man Who Came to Dinner	1942	A hobbled, self-centered New York wit makes Christmas unbearable for the family whose Ohio home he has commandeered.
The Nativity Story	2006	The Biblical account of the birth of Jesus Christ.
The Nightmare Before Christmas	1993	Inhabitants of Halloween Town try to host Christmas.
Noel	2004	A series of events link five disparate strangers in New York on Christmas Eve.
Nothing Like the Holidays	2008	A Puerto Rican family, living in the area of Humboldt Park in west Chicago, face what may be their last Christmas together.
The Nutcracker (Schelkunchik)	1973	The titular Christmas toy comes to life and battles the Mouse King in this animated adaptation of Tchaikovsky's ballet.
Nutcracker: The Motion Picture	1986	The Pacific Northwest Ballet performs in this adpatation of the Tchaikovsky work.
The Nutcracker in 3D	2010	Live-action 3D adaptation of the ballet.
Nutcracker Fantasy	1979	Stop-motion animated adaptation of the ballet.
The Nutcracker Prince	1990	Animated adaptation of the ballet.
O. Henry's Full House	1952	Five of the author's famous short stories, three of which take place during Chistmastide: The Cop and the Anthem, The Last Leaf & The Gift of the Magi. Narrated onscreen by John Steinbeck; made by five famous directors, with an all-star cast.
Pastorela	2011	A veteran cop is dismissed from his favorite role in a Mexican Christmas representation as the Devil and he fights back to recover it.
The Perfect Holiday	2007	A young girl turns to a department store Santa in the hopes that he will help find a new husband for her divorced mother.
The Planet of Junior Brown (Junior's Groove)	1997	A young piano prodigy with a controlling mother retreats into a fantasy world and reaches out to a better life around Christmas time.
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale	2010	Finnish fantasy film directed by Jalmari Helander about hunters in the Korvatunturi mountains who discover the secret behind Santa Claus.
The Ref	1994	Denis Leary stars as a sarcastic house burglar who ends up in the abode of the most dysfunctional family on the eastern seaboard just in time to partake of their Christmas Eve feast.
Reindeer Games	2000	Ex-con Ben Affleck fakes his way into Charlize Theron's arms only to find himself the unwilling mastermind of a Christmas Eve casino heist.
Remember the Night	1940	A brilliant DA with a future in politics falls for a streetwise Christmastide shoplifter.
Santa Claus	1959	Santa battles evil demon in outer space. A Spanish-language film for which an English-dubbed version also exists.
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians	1964	Martians kidnap Santa Claus (John Call) because there is nobody on Mars to give their children presents.
Santa's Slay	2005	In this horror/comedy film it is revealed that Santa Claus is actually a demon who lost a bet with an Angel, but when the bet is off, he returns to his evil ways.
Santa with Muscles	1996	An evil millionaire gets amnesia and then believes that he is Santa Claus.
The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives	1933	Santa Claus brings a poor orphan boy to his workshop in this animated Merrie Melodies short.
The Shop Around the Corner	1940	Bickering Budapest store clerks pine for pen pals as Christmas approaches.
Silent Night, Bloody Night	1974	Christmas Eve killings surround the attempted sale of an abandoned house.
Silent Night, Deadly Night	1984	The controversial slasher film about a murderous Santa Claus.
Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2	1987	Killer's younger brother embarks on his own murder spree after escaping from mental hospital. Followed by three direct-to-video sequels (see below).
Stalking Santa	2006	Dr. Lloyd Darrow, a self-proclaimed "Santalogist," sets out to prove the existence of Santa Claus.
Stealing Christmas	2003	A burglar, on the run, ends up playing Santa Claus in a small town, and decides to rob their bank.
Surviving Christmas	2004	A smug, cynical young millionaire pays a family to spend Christmas with him.
Susan Slept Here	1954	A Hollywood screenwriter hosts a teen vagrant for the Christmas holiday.
Tenth Avenue Angel	1948	A child of the tenements helps an ex-con find a new life as Christmas approaches and learns that cattle genuflect at midnight on Christmas Eve, in memory of the birth of Jesus.
This Christmas	2007	The Whitfield family comes together for their first Christmas in several years.
Toy Tinkers	1949	Chip 'n' Dale steal nuts from Donald Duck's home using a variety of Christmas toys in this animated short.
Trading Places	1983	A rich man and a poor man switch classes as part of a social experiment through the holiday season.
Trapped in Paradise	1994	A kindly town's hospitality melts Christmas burglars' hearts.
'Twas the Night Before Christmas	1914	A boy gets a ride in Santa's sleigh.
What Would Jesus Buy?	2007	Documentary about the commercialization of Christmas.
While You Were Sleeping	1995	After a lonely transit worker saves a man on Christmas Day, she spends the holidays with his family and pretends to be his fiancee while he lies in a coma.
We're No Angels	1955	A trio of escaped convicts (Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov & Aldo Ray) and their pet snake, Adolph, help a shopkeeper and his wife avoid financial ruin while steering their daughter toward true love on Christmas Eve.

See also

• List of Christmas films
• Christmas in the media
• Christmas music
• Genre studies
• List of Christmas television specials
• Lists of films