If visions of sugar plums are already dancing in your head, you’re in luck! We’ve rounded up the very best Christmas movies for 2019. From the looks of this year’s lineup, you’re in for a treat! From the soon-to-be classic stories you expect in Hallmark Christmas movies to the very best Christmas movies on Netflix this year, we’ve got new and classic Christmas movies that will satisfy your every Christmas wish! We even included a few movies about Christmas dogs. (Don’t mind Snot— he’s just yakking on a bone!)
1. It’s a Wonderful Life
The hard-won uplift and triumph of director Frank Capra’s fantasy drama hasn’t lost a bit of its power over the decades. James Stewart gives his most iconic performance as George Bailey, a banker who discovers the value of his life thanks to a visit from his guardian angel. According to the American Film Institute, It’s a Wonderful Life is the most inspiring movie of all time.
2. Miracle on 34th Street
Winner of three Academy Awards (it was also nominated for Best Picture), George Seaton’s dramedy stars Edmund Gwenn as a department store Santa who claims to be the real thing. The fresh, well-acted 1994 remake starring Richard Attenborough is a Christmas classic in its own right.
3. A Christmas Story
Based on the writings of Canada’s Jean Shepherd, the family comedy—centered on a boy who pines for a Red Ryder air rifle—has aired in 24-hour blocks on TNT and/or TBS since Christmas 1997. (Director Bob Clark also helmed a different kind of holiday classic, the 1974 cult slasher flick Black Christmas.)
4. The Bishop’s Wife
Cary Grant, Loretta Young and David Niven star in this Samuel Goldwyn–produced rom-com about a bishop mentored by a charming angel. The Bishop’s Wife was remade successfully in 1996 as The Preacher’s Wife with Denzel Washington, Whitney Houston and Courtney B. Vance.
5. Meet Me in St. Louis
Produced by Arthur Freed (whom many credit as the brains behind The Wizard of Oz), this turn-of-the-20th-century slice-of-life musical showcases Judy Garland debuting “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” The number will give you chills to this day.
6. The Shop Around the Corner
James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan star as co-workers who can’t stand each other—only to realize they’re falling in love through anonymous letters. Sound familiar? The Shop Around the Corner was remade decades later as You’ve Got Mail, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.
7. A Charlie Brown Christmas
Timeless proof that you don’t need a big budget to enchant millions, this jazzy, restrained half-hour animated special premiered on TV as Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts became an international sensation in the mid-’60s. It has been a yuletide staple ever since.
Check Out Our Ultimate List of the Best Classic Christmas Movies of All Time
8. A Christmas Carol (also known as Scrooge)
Out of all the countless film adaptations of Charles Dickens‘ 1843 novel, this 1951 British production directed by Brian Desmond Hurst is the best, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that Alastair Sim is hands-down the greatest Ebenezer Scrooge you’ll ever see. So many good actors have portrayed Scrooge as a mere curmudgeon, a grouchy old man–and that’s it. Sim’s Scrooge is pathetic, heartless and cruel–seemingly beyond redemption. He’s also an instantly recognizable, fully-realized human being, and that’s why we gradually gain deep sympathy for him.
9. Die Hard
Though John McTiernan’s action masterpiece has a slightly higher body count and a few more explosions than It’s a Wonderful Life, it’s still a Christmas movie! And a darn good one at that. Bruce Willis‘ Christmas Eve battle royale against Alan Rickman and a team of heavily armed terrorists atop Nakatomi Plaza stands tall as one of the finest action pictures ever made, along with the likes of James Cameron‘s Aliens and George Miller‘s Mad Max: Fury Road. An unexpected box office smash, Die Hard was nominated for four Academy Awards and launched the career of Bruce Willis into the stratosphere.
10. Black Christmas
One of the earliest slasher films, Black Christmas is a genuinely unsettling and nasty little thriller about a group of sorority sisters who are stalked and preyed upon by an anonymous killer. The film was a box office success, thanks in part to its brilliant tagline: “If this movie doesn’t make your skin crawl, IT’S ON TOO TIGHT!” Fun fact: Elvis Presley considered Black Christmas one of his all-time favorite films, as does Steve Martin. Just please be sure to check out the 1974 original and not the 2006 remake, which upped the gore quotient about tenfold and retained exactly none of the mystery and suspense. Another remake, directed by Sophia Takal starring Imogen Poots, Cary Elwes, Aleyse Shannon and Brittany O’Grady comes to theaters Dec. 13.
11. Elf
Before he directed Iron Man, The Jungle Book, and the highly anticipated live-action remake of The Lion King, Jon Favreau directed Will Ferrell in this good-natured and irresistible family comedy that became an instant smash, earning $220.4 million worldwide on a $33 million budget and quickly joining the ranks of mainstream audiences’ all-time favorite holiday films. Elf inspired the 2010 Broadway musical Elf: The Musical and NBC’s 2014 stop-motion animated television special Elf: Buddy’s Musical Christmas starring Jim Parsons and Mark Hamill.
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12. Christmas in Connecticut
Few screen actors in history have left behind a contribution comparable to that of Barbara Stanwyck, and though her most immortal roles are quintessential femme fatale Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity and bad-girl-with-a-heart-of-gold Jean Harrington in The Lady Eve, she’s splendid as always in this romantic comedy about a single New York food writer who falls for one of her fans. The most bizarre bit of trivia around this film is certainly the fact that it was remade into a far less well-received TV film on TNT in 1992 directed by… Arnold Schwarzenegger? Believe it.
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13. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
All Clark Griswold wants is “a fun, old-fashioned family Christmas.” He’ll take his family into the woods to cut down a Christmas tree; decorate the outside of the house with lights; enjoy the pleasant company of relatives; and host a delicious turkey dinner. He’ll also use the nice, fat bonus he expects from his boss to cover the cost of a new swimming pool. That would all be lovely, wouldn’t it? There’s just one problem: this is a Vacation movie, which means that even getting to the woods will be a death-defying ordeal.
Related: The Real Reason People Still Love National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
14. The Santa Clause
Divorced dad Scott (Tim Allen) has custody of his son (Eric Lloyd) on Christmas Eve. After a man in a Santa suit falls from his roof and dies, they are magically transported to the North Pole, where an elf named Bernard explains that Scott must take Santa’s place before the next Christmas arrives.
15. Christmas With the Kranks
Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis play parents who hatch a scheme to skip Christmas—until they have to throw together a last-minute holiday for their daughter’s surprise visit.
16. Scrooged
The 1988 Christmas comedy reimagines Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and stars Bill Murray as a megalomaniacal TV exec.
17. A Very Murray Christmas
Both Bad Santa and Bad Santa 2 are available on Netflix this season, if you’re looking for a dark comedy fix.
18. Get Santa
Santa crashes his sleigh, and 9-year-old Tom and his dad have to help him get back to Lapland just in time for Christmas.
19. Home Alone
In this John Hughes classic, troublemaking 8-year-old Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) must defend his house from a pair of burglars (the W-E-T bandits) when he is accidentally left home alone by his family when they rush to the airport for a vacation in Paris.
20. Christmas Wishes & Mistletoe Kisses
Weeks before Christmas, Abbey (Jill Wagner) is hired to decorate the estate of businessman Nick (Matthew Davis). She must break down the wall between her and Nick, all while keeping the holiday spirit alive.
21. Merry & Bright
The story begins when Cate (Jodie Sweetin), CEO of the Merry & Bright Candy Cane Company, meets Gabe (Andrew Walker) during the busy Christmas season. She assumes Gabe is the suitor her well-meaning mother is trying to set her up with when in reality, he works for Empire Corporate Recovery, which has been hired to take a closer look at Merry & Bright’s operation and find ways to make the company more profitable. As Cate and Gabe begin to work together, they find ways to elevate the business and find that they have more in common than savvy business sense.
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22. Christmas Scavenger Hunt
When Belinda (Kim Shaw) heads back to her hometown for the holidays, things get complicated when she is forced to team up with her ex, Dustin (Kevin McGarry), at the town’s annual Christmas scavenger hunt.
23. A Christmas Duet
Well-loved music duo Averie (Chaley Rose) and Jesse (Rome Flynn), famous for their duet “Wouldn’t Be Christmas,” haven’t played together since they went their separate ways years ago. Averie gave up music and opened a beautiful lodge in a snowy Vermont town—while Jesse still tours, struggling to find the same kind of success they had as a duo. When fate brings them together over the holidays at Averie’s lodge just in time for the annual Yuletide Festival, can the magic of Christmas help reunite them once again?
24. The Mistletoe Secret
When Aria Eubank (Kellie Pickler) convinces a famous travel writer to do a feature story on her beloved hometown, Midway, Utah, it looks like the town’s tourism drop is about to be reversed. However, when the travel guru and his ghostwriter both show up, Aria finds her heart torn between the charismatic but pompous Sterling Masters (Patrick Duffy) and Alex Bartlett (Tyler Hynes), the real talent behind ‘Masters of Travel,’ and the man who has genuinely fallen for her.
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25. Christmas Under Wraps
Christmas Under Wraps is still the highest rated Hallmark Christmas movie to date! In it, Dr. Lauren Brunell (Bure) is a surgery resident counting on being accepted into a prestigious hospital. But when those plans fall apart, Lauren must take the only other opening available: a position in the small, remote town of Garland, Alaska. Lauren moves to Garland where she is immediately charmed by Andy Holliday (David O’Donnell), a handsome local. As Lauren starts to fall in love with the town and Andy, she suspects something is up with Andy’s father (Brian Doyle-Murray) and his top-secret shipping warehouse. Could Andy’s father be Santa Claus?
26. A Shoe Addict’s Christmas
This holiday flick combines two things we love: Christmas and shopping for shoes! Bure stars as Noelle, a department store worker who finds herself locked in the store after closing. Noelle’s affinity for footwear leads her to the shoe department where Charlie (Jean Smart), an eccentric woman who claims to be her guardian angel, appears out of thin air, having been sent to help her embrace romance, passion and the Christmas spirit. When Charlie has her try on a new pair of shoes, Noelle is magically transported back to Christmases past and given a chance to change her current circumstances.
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27. Journey Back to Christmas
Bure has said this is her favorite of all the Christmas movies she’s made for Hallmark. In this time-travel story about a nurse, Hanna (Bure) is plucked out of her day-to-day life in 1945 and propelled 71 years forward in time into a community she barely recognizes. Hanna is trapped in a violent storm brought about by the Christmas Comet and is knocked unconscious. When she awakens, she’s in 2016. Dazed and confused, Hanna is rescued by a local police officer (Oliver Hudson). As Hanna looks to unravel the truth about what happened to her, she discovers the small kindnesses she showed to others in her life are resonating in present time.
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28. Pride, Prejudice and Mistletoe
Financial advisor Darcy Fitzwilliam (Chabert) returns home from the city for the holidays, only to be thrown into a whirlwind of charity event planning and a comedy of errors with her high school nemesis, Luke Bennett (Brendan Penny).
29. The Sweetest Christmas
After breaking up with her long-term boyfriend just before the holidays, passionate baker Kylie (Chabert) reconnects with her high school sweetheart, Nick (Lea Coco). Thanks to their newly rekindled friendship, Kylie uses Nick’s restaurant to prepare for a gingerbread baking competition with a large cash prize that would help her open her own bakery.
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30. A Christmas Melody
Chabert stars with her All in Love co-star, Brennan Elliott in this film directed by Mariah Carey. The film follows Kristin (Chabert) and her young daughter Emily (Broadway sensation Fina Strazza). Kristin has returned to her Ohio hometown after closing her Manhattan boutique. Kristin and Emily struggle to find a new normal with the help of local music teacher, Danny (Elliott) and coffee shop owner Sarah (Kathy Najimy).
31. Sweet Mountain Christmas
Country music star Laney Blu (Megan Hilty) hasn’t been back to her Tennessee hometown in years. Though she’s set to headline a Christmas concert in NYC, Laney decides to make a quick pit-stop to see her family. When a freak snowstorm hits, she finds herself stranded in the town with a handsome snowplow driver named Robbie (Marcus Rosner). As the storm lets up, will Laney head off to NYC or will home be where her heart is?
32. The Road Home For Christmas
Two rival musicians, Lindsay (Marla Sokoloff) and Wes (Rob Mayes) suddenly find themselves without a gig on Christmas Eve and decide to take a road trip to their neighboring hometowns together. During the drive, the mismatched pair find themselves surrounded by Santa conventioneers, saving a Christmas nativity play, performing onstage in Nashville with music royalty (Marie Osmond), and braving a massive snowstorm which just may lead them to making sweet music together.
33. No Time Like Christmas
Bronwyn (Rachel McLaren) plays cupid after her sister Emma (Kyla Pratt) finds her college boyfriend’s engraved watch at a vintage jewelry shop. She sends her to the same bed and breakfast in Vermont that Fletcher (Ed Ruttle) is staying at a week before Christmas. Throughout the week, the two fight their feelings for one another as they plan a Christmas Eve show in hopes of saving the local theater.
34. Christmas Reservations
Holly (Melissa Joan Hart) is the event coordinator at her family lodge. She’s in charge of planning every event and keeping all the guests happy, but when her college sweetheart, (Ricardo Chavira) now widowed with two children, checks in, Holly discovers she has her own reservations about life and love.
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35. Radio Christmas
When her Philadelphia radio station is closed for repairs during the holidays, DJ Kara Porter (Keisha Knight Pulliam) is forced to broadcast from the small town of Bethlehem. Desperate to increase her numbers, Kara seeks to uncover the identity of the town’s Secret Santa, an anonymous benefactor that saved all of Bethlehem’s Christmas festivities.
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36. White Christmas
Legendary director Michael Curtiz helmed several of the most noteworthy films of Hollywood’s Golden Age, including The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Casablanca (1942), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Mildred Pierce (1945) and this essential Christmas musical, the highest-grossing film of 1954. Filmed in vivid Technicolor, White Christmas was the first movie ever released in VistaVision, a widescreen process using twice the surface area of standard 35mm film.
37. Santa’s Apprentice
This featherweight yet altogether delightful and sweet animated feature is suitable for all ages. A French-Australian-Irish co-production dubbed in American English for Netflix, Santa’s Apprentice will easily entertain very young children, and parents should be pleased with the film’s positive messages about self-belief and kindness.
38. The Star
With the upcoming launch of Disney+ we’ve lost some of our favorite animated classics, but there’s still plenty of family friendly fare to go around. In The Star, a small but brave donkey named Bo finds the courage to break free from his mundane mill life an embark on the adventure of his dreams. Along with three camels and some eccentric stable animals, Bo and his new friends follow the Star and become accidental heroes in the greatest story ever told.
39. Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Though Ron Howard‘s big-budget adaptation of Dr. Seuss‘ classic story received mixed reviews upon release, it was an unqualified box office smash, spending four weeks atop the North American box office and ultimately becoming the second highest-grossing holiday film ever behind Home Alone, with over $345 million. One thing everyone could agree to admire was Jim Carrey‘s screen-commanding, supremely dedicated and undeniably impressive performance.
40. Tree Man
Filmmakers Jon Reiner and Brad Rothschild capture the story of Francois, a burly Canadian tree seller and father of three, who leaves his family in Quebec for 35 days, setting up his ‘shop’ in New York right before Thanksgiving as he’s done for years (and braving the snow, rain and wind and sleeping in his van in the process) and leaving Christmas Day. This documentary isn’t really about Christmas per se. Rather, it’s a look at some close-knit communities inside a vast metropolis, it’s about connections and family and the fixtures who dot the streets for just a short stretch of time but make a huge impact.
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41. A Christmas Movie Christmas
UPtv kicked off its holiday movie extravaganza with A Christmas Movie Christmas. The film pokes fun at every Christmas movie cliche when two sisters (one aptly named Eve Bell) find themselves trapped in a Christmas movie. There’s the perfect ruby-cheeked grandmother who loves baking Christmas cookies, the perfectly handsome boyfriend, the other potential love interest that loves to handcraft greeting cards for his crush, the miserly boss and even a Christmas decorating montage.
42. Christmas with a Prince: Becoming Royal
In this sequel to Christmas with a Prince, this film takes place one year after Dr. Tasha (Kaitlyn Leeb) and Prince Alex (Nick Hounslow) met and fell in love. Tasha is on her way to spend the holidays in San Saverre and get a taste of royal life. When Alex surprises her with a royal engagement, she spends her first magical days there trying to stay grounded.
43. Rock N’ Roll Christmas
An estranged mother/daughter country music duo (Catherine Mary Stewart, Beverley Mitchell) reunite after years apart to release a Christmas single after a video of them goes viral. Now, they’re going to need a lot of forgiveness and a little Christmas magic to write a song that perfectly captures the spirit of Christmas and brings their family back together.
44. Christmas Cupcakes
When their family bakery may have to close its doors right before Christmas, rival sisters Kim (Erin Karpluk) and Gina (Cindy Busby) must team up in a national baking competition to win the grand prize. Thrown into a world of fierce competitors and a ticking clock, it will take a Christmas miracle to save the bakery, though they may discover a prize much larger than they had hoped for. Premieres November 17.
45. A Christmas Recipe for Romance
When a prestigious food festival and cooking competition comes to her small town, Abby (Madeline Leon) sees it as the perfect opportunity to book up her failing family-run inn and win some much-needed cash to save it from foreclosure. The only problem is… Abby is a terrible cook! Add a pinch of sugar and a dash of Christmas magic, and she may just end up cooking up more than a winning recipe.
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46. Holiday in the Wild
Kate Conrad (Kristin Davis) has booked a ‘second honeymoon’ with her husband but instead of thanking her, he brings their relationship to a sudden end. So a jilted Kate proceeds to Africa for a solo safari. During a detour through Zambia, she helps her pilot, Derek Holliston (Rob Lowe), rescue an orphaned baby elephant. They nurse him back to health at a local elephant sanctuary, and Kate extends her stay through Christmastime. Her love for the new surroundings just might extend to the man who shared her journey.
47. Klaus
When Jesper (Jason Schwartzman) distinguishes himself as the postal academy’s worst student, he is stationed on a frozen island above the Arctic Circle, where the feuding locals hardly exchange words—let alone letters. Jesper is about to give up when he finds an ally in local teacher Alva (Rashida Jones), and discovers Klaus (J.K. Simmons), a mysterious carpenter who lives alone in a cabin full of handmade toys.
48. The Knight Before Christmas
After a magical sorceress transports medieval knight Sir Cole (Josh Whitehouse) to present-day Ohio during the holiday season, he befriends Brooke (Vanessa Hudgens), a clever and kind science teacher who’s been disillusioned by love. Brooke helps Sir Cole navigate the modern world and helps him discover how to fulfill his mysterious one true quest—the only act that will return him home.
49. Holiday Rush
In this heartwarming film, a loving father (Romany Malco) reconnects with his children and opens his heart to love when they all learn that true joy comes from not what you have, but who you have around you.
50. Merry Happy Whatever
It’s an Undateable reunion on Merry Happy Whatever! Bridgit Mendler and Brent Morin co-star alongside Dennis Quaid in this hilarious and heartwarming comedy that proves while family may not come wrapped up in a neat little bow, it sometimes can still be the greatest gift.
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51. Last Christmas
This rom-com set in London about a young woman working as a department store elf features the music of late singer George Michael, including “Last Christmas” and previously unreleased tracks. Starring Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), Emma Thompson (Late Night) and Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians). November 8
52. Feast of the Seven Fishes
A slice of life story that follows a large Italian family on Christmas Eve as they prepare for the traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes, reminisce about the past, and seek love in the future.
53. Frozen 2
In this followup to the wildly popular 2013 animated filmed featuring the voices Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel, Elsa the Snow Queen (Menzel) and her sister Anna (Bell) embark on an adventure far away from the kingdom of Arendelle.
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54. The Moodys
This American adaptation of an Australian comedy series follows the Moody family during a very dysfunctional Chicago Christmas. Starring Elizabeth Perkins and Denis Leary. Fox, six episodes, December 4
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55. Noelle
Kendrick, 34, spreads that joy big-time in the comedy movie Noelle, which premieres November 12, on the new Disney+ streaming service. She plays the “half-bossy, half-sweetheart” character of the title, who happens to be the daughter of newly retired Santa Claus. Her brother Nick (Bill Hader of Barry fame) is next in line to take the job in the North Pole but goes missing. It’s up to Noelle to find him and save the holiday. “Lessons are learned and feelings are felt, and it’s warm and fuzzy with laughter along the way,” she says. “It’s all so darling, I could just scream.”
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56. Snoopy in A Charlie Brown Christmas
Whether he’s dancing on a piano or decorating his doghouse, Charlie Brown’s loyal sidekick knows how to celebrate this special time of year.
57. Max in How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
Even though he was a pawn in the nefarious Grinch’s scheme, Max was a lovable and loyal companion—and he makes a pretty good reindeer, too!
58. Snot in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Cousin Eddie’s dog Snot is cute—but you don’t want to be around him if you’re wearing shorts.
59. Barney in Gremlins
The main character’s companion, Barney was surprisingly OK with all of the Mogwais’ shenanigans.
60. Bumpus Hounds in A Christmas Story
Sure, they ruined the Christmas turkey—but the Bumpus dogs were a great foe to the main character’s old man.
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