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No matter what your holiday looks like, there is always one fool proof way how to spend it: Go to the movies. The real bonus here is that you don’t have to talk for at least 90 minutes, and after an entire day of family (or friend) time, everyone can use a break. That’s the true holiday miracle. This year there are plenty of options for films that will please everyone in your movie-going party. Maybe you don’t even have to choose between Star Wars and Little Women—a double-feature is a great way to pass those lazy hours after a holiday meal. Or, make this Christmas a weird one and let the bizarro Cats adaptation haunt your waking nightmares. That’s the American way.
Anyway, here’s what you have to work with on Christmas Day.
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1
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Four decades in the making, the final film in the Skywalker Saga finishes the new Disney trilogy following Rey, Poe, Finn, and the rest of the Resistance as they attempt to defeat Emperor Palpatine once and for all.
2
The Aeronauts
Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne star as a pilot and weather scientist who fly perilously high in a hot air balloon and, you know, bond, while they potentially face their deaths.
3
Bombshell
Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie, and Nicole Kidman star in a film about the Fox News stars at the center of the Roger Ailes scandal that rocked the toxic male culture at the media giant.
4
Little Women
Greta Gerwig finally put her stamp on the Little Women series and nailed it with the casting. Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Timothée Chalamet, and Florence Pugh bring the perfect mix of joy and depression that makes for a very emotional Christmas Day.
5
1917
Benedict Cumberbatch stars in this World War I flick in which a group of soldiers are on a mission to deliver a message in enemy territory in order to save the lives of 1,600 men. What’s also incredible is the high stakes filming technique attempted here, where Sam Mendes uses long shots to make this movie seem like it’s filmed in one continuous take.
6
Knives Out
Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Christopher Plummer, Michael Shannon, and more star in black comedy mystery about a family whose patriarch has mysteriously died. It’s a classic whodunnit with a Rian Johnson twist.
7
Spies in Disguise
An animated one for the kids. The world’s best spy, played by Will Smith, is turned into a (blue) pigeon and his nerdy assistant has to solve his case for him. It’s like the trust fall, but instead you’re a bird, and you have to rely on someone else to be a human for you.
8
Jumanji: The Next Level
Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas are back in a second entry of this modern take on the Jumanji franchise. This time, our heroes are sucked back into the adventure videogame to save their friend.
9
Cats
The movie version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical is finally here (in case people were holding their breath). Taylor Swift, Rebel Wilson, Judi Dench, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellan, and more all try to convince us that they are real (?) human-cat hybrids (?). Presumably, this is not a horror movie.
10
Black Christmas
Maybe you like your holiday movies a little untraditional. In this case, a slasher film about a bunch of sorority women who fight back after their sisters are killed off by a stalker is just the ticket. A remake of the 1974 film, this movie obviously comes out on Friday the 13th.
Hilary Weaver is a freelance writer based in New York who writes about politics, queer issues, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, and every woman the Queen has ever made a dame.
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