Your ultimate guide to this year’s streaming holiday movies

Christmas is a magical time of the year, not simply limited to one day, but rather to a whole season filled with shopping, parties, and time spent with loved ones and friends. Each year, decorations are hauled out of basements or rediscovered in attics, memories of Christmases past are unboxed and hung on walls and trees. As we prepare for another festive season, it is not just the excitement of unwrapping presents that gets us into the holiday spirit, but also the joy of gathering to watch our favorite Christmas TV specials.

For many, these seasonal programs bring back memories of our childhood and a time when Christmas sparked wonder and warm feelings, reminding us why the season is so remarkable. Whether it’s a tale of Santa’s origins or a variety show that brings together all of our beloved Muppets in Jim Henson’s universe, these specials will always hold a special place in our hearts.

Some Christmas specials span decades and are based on songs and books, and there are also those that feature famous faces and some of our favorite claymation figures—from the most magical toymaker of all time to the reindeer who lit the way—but all of these X-Mas specials have one thing in common: They fill us with happiness and cheer.

To get you into the holiday spirit, Stacker surveyed the history of Christmas TV specials, compiling together the top 10, according to IMDb user rating. To qualify, the film either had to be labeled as a TV special on IMDb or as a TV movie with a runtime of 60 minutes or less. At least 500 votes were required to be considered.

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- Directors: Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin Jr.

- IMDb user rating: 7.7

- Runtime: 51 minutes

Mickey Rooney voices Santa Claus in this stop-motion animation special about the year Santa almost didn’t make his Christmas Eve toy run. A sick Santa decides he is not doing Christmas for the year and is discouraged by the lack of Christmas spirit, so Mrs. Claus and two elves, Jingle and Jangle, have to convince Santa to get back into the swing of things. Shirley Booth voices Mrs. Claus in what would be her last performance before retirement.

- Directors: Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin Jr.

- IMDb user rating: 7.7

- Runtime: 48 minutes

“Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” is Santa’s origin story and explores his beginnings with the Sombertown villain, Burgermeister Meisterburger. This classic Christmas special is based on the classic 1934 holiday song written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie. The hour-long special stars Fred Astaire as narrator and mailman, S.D. Kluger as narrator, and Mickey Rooney as Santa Claus. The Christmas classic also featured a cameo by Rudolph and was turned into a video game in 2011.

- Directors: Wayne Orr, Paul Reubens

- IMDb user rating: 7.8

- Runtime: 49 minutes

In this special, the 1980s pop culture icon gathers several of his friends for a Christmas party at his playhouse. Celebrity guests, including “Love Boat” regular Charo and basketball star Magic Johnson, show up to help celebrate the holiday. The 1950s sweethearts Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello make Christmas cards, while singer Little Richard learns how to skate. Nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, the special also featured a cameo by Cher and an extensive Christmas list for Santa that causes Pee-wee to reconsider just how much he actually needs and wants for Christmas.

- Director: Larry Roemer

- IMDb user rating: 8.0

- Runtime: 47 minutes

This stop-motion special features the titular red-nosed reindeer Rudolph playing the underdog until he saves Christmas with his unique nose. The longest-running holiday special in history, this Rudolph special has aired at least once every year since its 1964 premiere. The story of Rudolph comes from a copywriter at the Montgomery Ward department store being tasked to write a Christmas story, which turned into a book. The book became a song and the song spawned the classical Christmas special, which took over 18 months to create at a cost of more than $500,000.

- Director: Tony Charmoli

- IMDb user rating: 8.1

- Runtime: 50 minutes

Airing on ABC, this special features country crooner John Denver singing and performing alongside the Muppets. A variety hour of songs and skits, “John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together” received one Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Variety or Music Program. The show even won a Director’s Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Musical/Variety. What’s more, the show also had a soundtrack featuring classics like “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” “The Peace Carol,” and “Twelve Days of Christmas.”

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- Directors: Peter Harris, Eric Till

- IMDb user rating: 8.1

- Runtime: 47 minutes

Kermit the Frog and the rest of the Muppets drop in on Fozzie Bear’s mother at her farm, upsetting her winter plans in this Emmy-nominated holiday special. It turns into a reunion of Muppets from the Jim Henson universe when Sesame Street carolers show up, and a Fraggle Rock hole is discovered in the basement. Muppet creator Henson made a cameo appearance in this WGA award-winning show that features Christmas songs like “Jingle Bells,” “Deck the Halls,” and “We Need a Little Christmas.” While the special has been released on video and DVD, all U.S. and Canadian versions have been edited due to music rights.

- Director: Sid Smith

- IMDb user rating: 8.2

- Runtime: 60 minutes

This hour-long Christmas special features comedian and longtime talk show host Bob Hope, joined by celebrity guests. Filmed from Winterfest in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the show features several holiday-themed events including a parade of more than 100 decorated yachts, and the Beach Ball, a festive music and dancing event. The star-studded lineup includes Brooke Shields, Tony Randall, Morgan Fairchild, and Reba McEntire. Watched by an estimated audience of 42 million, Hope was no stranger to entertaining the world with his annual Christmas Show.

- Director: Will Vinton

- IMDb user rating: 8.2

- Runtime: 24 minutes

A small town filled with claymation characters gears up for their Christmas choral celebration in this variety special. Hosted by two prehistoric dinosaurs that are also made of clay, this stop-motion clay animation special aired on CBS on December 21, 1987. The next year, “A Claymation Christmas Celebration” would win the Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program. Not only did the show feature the band California Raisins, who at the time were the stars of a hit advertising campaign, but it also showcased several hit Christmas songs like “Carol of the Bells,” performed by a group of anthropomorphic church bells; “Joy to the World”; and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” which was sung by the California Raisins.

- Director: Bill Melendez

- IMDb user rating: 8.4

- Runtime: 25 minutes

Lovable loser Charlie Brown tries to hold onto the true meaning of Christmas while everyone around him gives into the commercialization of the holiday. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was the first television special based on the popular comic strip created by Charles M. Schulz. This special found its way into pop culture and has remained a mainstay for decades, although selling a half-hour animated primetime special to CBS wasn’t easy. Whether it’s seeing the Peanuts characters bob their heads along to the Vince Guaraldi score or the “Charlie Brown” tree, this timeless classic continues to shine a light on the true meaning of Christmas.

- Directors: Chuck Jones, Ben Washam

- IMDb user rating: 8.4

- Runtime: 26 minutes

Based on the popular 1957 book of the same name by Dr. Seuss, this animated special focuses on a miserable curmudgeon, the Grinch, and his mischievous adventures as he tries to ruin Christmas for the Whos of Whoville. Voiced by Boris Karloff, who narrates the entire story as it happens and plays the green grouch, this program would go on to spawn several alternate versions throughout the years, including a 2000 movie directed by Ron Howard starring Jim Carrey. The song, “You’re a Mean One, Mister Grinch” would become a timeless Christmas classic, and while many believe Karloff sang the tune, it was actually performed by Thurl Ravenscroft, who also voiced Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes mascot, Tony the Tiger. Not very budget-friendly, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” cost over $300,000 to make.

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Since well before Thanksgiving, streaming and cable networks have featured Christmas movies in anticipation of the season. Some are wholesome classics, like “Miracle on 34th Street” or “It's a Wonderful Life,” that have stood as holiday standards for generations. Others are forging new traditions, with prolific holiday production house Hallmark premiering new offerings every year and streamers like Netflix and Amazon working on their own Christmas films in an attempt to capture the market hungry for cheerful movies. 

To help people sort through the many holiday movies out there, Stacker compiled Metacritic data on all Christmas movies and ranked them according to their Metascore (out of 100). Any ties are broken by IMDb user scores (out of 10). To qualify, each film had to be identified as a Christmas movie by critics at significant publications, with at least four reviews from those publications.

Christmas films like “Elf” are fun family comedies, while some films like the horror movie “Black Christmas” take a completely different approach and use Christmas imagery in a very different context. Some films are less sentimental and family-centric, focusing instead on authenticity in depicting the conflicts between family members. Other films are about an entirely different subject matter while taking advantage of Christmas as a backdrop for their distinct imagery and broad themes of family and unity.

Genre is meant to help describe and communicate the tone and style of a film, not to serve as a limiting factor on what films can and cannot be. There are no hard and fast lines that define Christmas movies, and we think leaning into more open interpretations of what fits into certain genres is best practice for getting a pool of films that represent all possible expressions of a particular genre.

Every film on the following list has been considered according to the cinematic history and development of Christmas movies. Keep reading to learn about the very best in the genre.

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- Director: John Landis

- Metascore: 69

- IMDb user rating: 7.5

- Runtime: 116 minutes

During the peak of his “Saturday Night Live” career, Eddie Murphy starred in “Trading Places,” one of his many 1980s film hits. Murphy plays Billy Ray Valentine, a street hustler who is groomed into a stockbroker to replace the educated Louis Winthorpe (Dan Aykroyd) as part of a bet between two mogul brothers. Winthorpe reaches his lowest point at a Christmas office party, but he and Valentine team up to take down the brothers playing with their lives with an elaborate and crowd-pleasing scheme. Despite some heavy subject matter and a few complicated details on stocks and finances, the film carries a light-hearted tone, with one of its famous sequences involving a gorilla on a train, of all possible things.

- Director: Joe Swanberg

- Metascore: 70

- IMDb user rating: 5.5

- Runtime: 82 minutes

Mumblecore extraordinaire Joe Swanberg turned in another mostly improvised film with “Happy Christmas,” which stars Anna Kendrick as an irresponsible woman named Jenny moving in with her older brother (Swanberg) and his wife, Kelly (Melanie Lynskey). While Christmas mainly serves as a backdrop to the story, the film carries the themes of family and happiness, with Jenny ultimately being a positive influence on Kelly as she contemplates how to live a wholesome life.

- Director: Terry Zwigoff

- Metascore: 70

- IMDb user rating: 7.0

- Runtime: 91 minutes

It isn’t a particularly family-friendly Christmas movie, but “Bad Santa” is something of a classic in some circles. The film stars Billy Bob Thornton as a conman who uses an annual gig as Santa Claus at the mall to further his robbery agenda. As Thornton’s bad Santa continues to spiral down due to his alcoholism and sex addiction, doubts emerge about his abilities to sustain this lifestyle. Crude, vulgar, and unusual, this film gets laughs from audiences and critics alike, but it might be one to save for after the kids have hit the hay.

- Director: Joe Dante

- Metascore: 70

- IMDb user rating: 7.3

- Runtime: 106 minutes

Part horror and part dark comedy, “Gremlins” is the cult classic with a storyline built on the premise of a father trying to find a Christmas present for his son. The gift he finds turns out to be a “mogwai,” a creature that spawns mischievous and dangerous little monsters. Grim and violent, the film upset many parents who brought their children to movie theaters. “Gremlins” did manage to leave behind a legacy of critical praise and today is remembered for the contrast between the bright Christmas setting and the dark humor.

- Director: Christian Carion

- Metascore: 70

- IMDb user rating: 7.7

- Runtime: 116 minutes

Finding solace during one of the largest world conflicts in history is a rarity, but “Joyeux Noel” provides a fictional tale of just that. Taking place during World War I, this film depicts the Christmas Eve truce of December 1914 between French, Scottish, and German soldiers, with all of them singing festive songs together and sharing stories about each other’s lives. Against the intentions of their superiors, these soldiers stood in solidarity, if only for a short time.

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- Director: Jalmari Helander

- Metascore: 71

- IMDb user rating: 6.7

- Runtime: 84 minutes

“Rare Exports” had an unusual take on the Christmas movie subgenre, as a bizarre fantasy meets horror meets comedy flick. The Finnish film depicts a group of people residing near a mountain as they trap different reindeer and attempt to capture Santa Claus himself. Featuring deadpan comedy and Christmas-themed horror, this film is nothing if not original.

- Director: Shane Black

- Metascore: 72

- IMDb user rating: 7.5

- Runtime: 103 minutes

Writer-director Shane Black is famous for setting nearly all of his films during Christmastime, and after writing a number of famous action movies in the 1980s, his 2005 directorial debut fully immersed itself in the Christmas spirit. Darkly comedic, complex, and a little bonkers, “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” stars Robert Downey Jr. as a burglar-turned-accidental actor who finds himself in increasingly absurd situations with a private investigator (Val Kilmer). The film caught the attention of Marvel Studios, which hired Downey Jr. as Iron Man and brought on Black to co-write and direct “Iron Man 3,” another Christmas-set film with some frantic and absurd moments of its own.

- Director: John McTiernan

- Metascore: 72

- IMDb user rating: 8.2

- Runtime: 132 minutes

“Die Hard” is easily among the most influential action movie from the 1980s, yet much of contemporary conversation over the film is regarding its status as a Christmas movie. Featuring dark humor and bloody action, “Die Hard” has Bruce Willis starring as John McClane, who attends the office Christmas Eve party of his estranged wife on the same night that an apparent terrorist named Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) leads a team to violently take the entire office skyscraper. The film features several Christmas references, with twisted uses of Santa hats and Christmas-themed duct tape in pivotal scenes, but many could argue that the film is ultimately about a family reuniting.

- Directors: Satoshi Kon, Shôgo Furuya

- Metascore: 73

- IMDb user rating: 7.8

- Runtime: 92 minutes

The late Satoshi Kon, best known for “Paprika” and “Perfect Blue,” was one of the directors behind “Tokyo Godfathers,” an animated comedy film based on the novel “Three Godfathers.” Taking place on Christmas Eve, the film focuses on three homeless people who find a baby and go on a quest to find its parents. With an emphasis on family, this film inherited Christmas spirit and heart, even with its unusual setup.

- Director: Tim Burton

- Metascore: 74

- IMDb user rating: 7.9

- Runtime: 105 minutes

One of Tim Burton’s most iconic movies is “Edward Scissorhands,” which stars Johnny Depp in the eponymous role. As the name implies, Edward has blades as hands, which he got as a result of his being a product of a mad experiment. Though Christmas isn’t a major theme here, one of the essential scenes takes place during Christmas, where Edward creates joy from carving an ice sculpture with his hands and creating snow with the ice shavings. Even with the dark imagery, this Burton film is ultimately one with a heartwarming and hopeful message about finding belonging as an outcast.

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- Director: Whit Stillman

- Metascore: 77

- IMDb user rating: 7.4

- Runtime: 98 minutes

Wealthy young socialites in Manhattan are the focus of “Metropolitan,” a film that takes place in an apartment during the debutante season. These characters form bonds, discuss their respective philosophies on life, and uncover secrets about each other. While the film itself isn’t strictly about Christmas, “Metropolitan” does attempt to capture the feeling of the time between Christmas and New Year’s in New York City.

- Director: Bob Clark

- Metascore: 77

- IMDb user rating: 8.0

- Runtime: 94 minutes

One of the more obvious seasonal classics is “A Christmas Story,” based on a book by Jean Shepherd—who also acted as the movie’s narrator. The film is told through a series of vignettes, with protagonist Ralphie retelling a story from his childhood where he obsessed about getting a BB gun as a Christmas gift. While not immediately popular or successful upon release, the film eventually became an iconic holiday classic thanks to its sense of humor.

- Director: Wong Kar-Wai

- Metascore: 78

- IMDb user rating: 7.4

- Runtime: 129 minutes

Loosely following up on his film “In The Mood For Love,” Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai added some subtle science-fiction elements and constant references to Christmas Eve in “2046.” In this movie, Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) contemplates his unconsummated affair (which viewers saw in “In The Mood For Love”). The film shows subsequent relationships with other women that took place following the affair, with many key scenes taking place on Christmas Eve in different years.

- Director: Charles Poekel

- Metascore: 79

- IMDb user rating: 6.6

- Runtime: 80 minutes

“Christmas, Again” made the rounds at several independent film festivals, including Sundance. The movie focuses on a Christmas tree salesman named Noel (Kentucker Audley) looking to move on from his past while a number of people—one being a romantic interest—help him out of a loop of self-destruction. As opposed to focusing on Christmas itself or showing a more cheery depiction of the holiday season, this film homed in on some of the less festive feelings that might overtake some during the time of year.

- Director: Radu Muntean

- Metascore: 81

- IMDb user rating: 7.0

- Runtime: 99 minutes

Romanian film “Tuesday, After Christmas” depicts a family in discord, as the patriarch (Mimi Branescu) of the family engages in an affair with a younger woman (Maria Popistasu)—who also happens to be the family’s dentist. In love with both women, the man realizes that he must make a decision between the two before Christmas, with an ultimate verdict held off until the Tuesday after. Many Christmas films have themes of warmth and unity, while this particular film took the opposite direction by focusing on conflict and heartbreak.

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- Director: Jean-Marc Vallée

- Metascore: 81

- IMDb user rating: 7.9

- Runtime: 127 minutes

Quebecois film “C.R.A.Z.Y.” tells the story of a young man (Marc-André Grondin) dealing with homophobia from his family and others, and takes place over the span of several years. The young man was born on Christmas, and the film skips around to different Christmases in depicting different points of his life. Even with the serious subject matter, the film manages to feel light-hearted enough to elicit laughs, while still remaining honest and authentic.

- Director: David Cronenberg

- Metascore: 82

- IMDb user rating: 7.6

- Runtime: 100 minutes

A film focused on the Russian mob may not be what one thinks of as a Christmas film, but “Eastern Promises” carries plenty of Christmas-related themes involving gift-giving and family. Taking place before Christmas in snowy England, the film stars Naomi Watts as a woman seeking a lost baby girl and Viggo Mortensen as an FSB agent who has infiltrated a violent Russian gang—the gang being led by the father of the baby. Mortensen’s Oscar-nominated performance was a result of intense research and immersion into the role, which featured a bloody fight scene in a bathhouse.

- Director: Henry Selick

- Metascore: 82

- IMDb user rating: 8.0

- Runtime: 76 minutes

On the line between Halloween film and Christmas film, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is beloved by both those who adore the spooky October season and the festive, snowy December season. The film follows Jack Skellington (voiced by Chris Sarandon, though Danny Elfman, who wrote the film’s score, sang Jack’s songs), the pumpkin king of Halloweentown, a gothic fantasy world filled with spooky creatures. After wandering in the woods, Jack accidentally finds the door to Christmastown and becomes enamored with the concepts and imagery he witnesses. The Tim Burton-produced film is filled with musical numbers, ranging from thrilling and scary to fun and festive, to represent the different holidays it portrays.

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- Director: Arnaud Desplechin

- Metascore: 84

- IMDb user rating: 7.1

- Runtime: 150 minutes

Not every family has the luxury of healthy familial relationships, as the French comedy “A Christmas Tale” reminds us. The film follows a family full of strained relationships and how that family is shaken upon the discovery that the family matriarch (Catherine Deneuve) has leukemia. The film is sharp and funny, successfully engaging critics and capturing the chaos that defines many family gatherings during the holiday season.

- Director: Sean Baker

- Metascore: 85

- IMDb user rating: 7.1

- Runtime: 88 minutes

Shot entirely on the iPhone and making its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, “Tangerine” is the epitome of an independent film. The movie follows a transgender sex worker who discovers that her pimp and boyfriend has cheated on her, with the story tracking her search for him during Christmas Eve. The film received marks for its unique attitude and for its depiction of an often overlooked subculture.

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- Director: Gillian Armstrong

- Metascore: 87

- IMDb user rating: 7.3

- Runtime: 115 minutes

One of the several adaptations of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel “Little Women,” this film features Winona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes, and Susan Sarandon as members of the March clan. As with all adaptations of the novel, this film focuses on the relationships between the March sisters and how those relationships evolve over the years. With wintry scenes sprinkled throughout the film, Christmas serves as the backdrop for one of the more important family gatherings depicted in the film.

- Director: George Seaton

- Metascore: 88

- IMDb user rating: 7.9

- Runtime: 96 minutes

Possibly the oldest Christmas classic that remains a strong favorite to this day is “Miracle on 34th Street.” The film follows a department store Santa who claims to be the real deal. Though the cheery Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) wins the hearts of children and adults alike, his claim that he’s the “real” Santa Claus ultimately leads to a high-profile court case to determine his mental state. From start to finish, the film carries a theme of joy in the face of cynicism and true holiday spirit. Even after attempts to remake the film, the original version still stands its ground as a must-watch, family-friendly seasonal staple.

- Director: Frank Capra

- Metascore: 89

- IMDb user rating: 8.6

- Runtime: 130 minutes

Frank Capra co-wrote and directed “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which remains a largely influential Christmas film even today. An overwhelmed man (James Stewart) is close to committing suicide on Christmas Eve, but his guardian angel intervenes and guides him through points in his life to moments where he made a difference for other people. The film wasn't always the holiday classic it is today—the studio actually lost money at the time of its original release. In 1974 when the producer and original copyright owner (Republic Pictures) failed to renew the copyright, "It's a Wonderful Life" entered the public domain, meaning it was free for TV networks to show, until Republic Pictures found a way to regain control 1993.

- Director: Greta Gerwig

- Metascore: 91

- IMDb user rating: 7.8

- Runtime: 135 minutes

In another remake of the literary classic, “Little Women,” the 2019 rendition directed by Greta Gerwig was lauded for its fresh take on a familiar story through unique cinematography and storytelling. Unlike versions in the past, the story was not scripted chronologically. Viewers get thrown back and forth in time to check in on the formative moments of the women’s lives. The film was nominated for a total of 188 awards around the world and won 72 of them—including an Oscar for Best Achievement in Costume Design.

- Director: Billy Wilder

- Metascore: 94

- IMDb user rating: 8.3

- Runtime: 125 minutes

Legendary actors Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine star in “The Apartment,” a famous romantic comedy centering on extramarital affairs. The film has an important scene that takes place during a Christmas party, with some truths about affairs and entanglements coming to light in the height of drunken revelations. The film is gleeful while also focusing on adultery and less conventional family values.

- Director: Todd Haynes

- Metascore: 95

- IMDb user rating: 7.2

- Runtime: 118 minutes

Based on a 1952 book titled “The Price of Salt,” “Carol” is a queer romance film starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara—and one of the top-rated films of 2015. Taking place during the Christmas season in the 1950s, the film follows Therese (Mara), an aspiring photographer, and Carol (Blanchett), who is undergoing a difficult divorce. The two women connect after a chance encounter and, before long, enter into a passionate, complicated romance. While essentially melodramatic and not necessarily focused on familial themes associated with Christmas, the film has been applauded by critics and audiences alike for its compelling and engaging storyline.