11 New Holiday Movies We're Looking Forward to This Year

It’s hard to believe that the holiday season is upon us, but alas, we are staring down the rapidly approaching Thanksgiving holiday, which then leads to all things snow, Santa, presents and ornaments. (That is, if you haven’t already skipped Thanksgiving.) One of the best cold weather activities is a cozy movie night, with a holiday flick queued up on the TV. Below are 11 holiday movies we’re looking forward to this season, from Hallmark feel-good films to theater drops and Netflix releases starring the likes of Johnny Depp, Leighton Meester, Arnold Schwarzenegger and more.

• Best for: Ages 10+
• Director: Jeff Beesley
• Cast: Amanda Schull, Victor Webster, Barbara Niven
• Run time: 83 minutes
• Rating: TV-G

In this new Hallmark movie, Lexi (Amanda Schull), a single mom and astute planner, expects to spend the holidays with her free-spirited mother and teenage daughter at a ski lodge where Lexi has been hired to plan the annual holiday party. She quickly clashes with Ridge (Victor Webster), the lodge owner’s son, but the two soon team up to matchmake their own parents—with unexpected results.

• Best for: 10+
• Director: Dustin Rikert
• Cast: Lyndsy Fonseca, Robert Buckley, Marsha Mason
• Run time: 83 minutes
• Rating: N/A

Avery Clark (Lyndsy Fonseca) is an ambitious freelance journalist assigned to profile a football superfan. The catch: She doesn’t know the first thing about the game. So when the subject proposes that her grandson, Matt (Robert Buckley), show Avery the ropes, the couple go about experiencing all the best game day traditions. Soon Avery, who’s always on the move, begins to realize that maybe being rooted to a place—and a person—isn’t so bad.

• Best for: Ages 14+
• Director: Cathryn Michon
• Cast: Dennis Quaid, Milo Ventimiglia, Brooke Lena Johnson, Thomas Haden Church
• Run time: 99 minutes
• Rating: TV-14

Based on W. Bruce Cameron’s 2020 novel, this Netflix film is told through the perspective of basset hound Winstead (Thomas Haden Church), whose owner, Sander Goss (Dennis Quaid), has become a curmudgeon after the death of his wife. His relationship with his teenage granddaughter, Ello, is on the rocks, when her mother suddenly falls gravely ill. All of this is complicated by the arrival of a corgi puppy, Ruby, into the family fold. Expect to need the tissues, but don’t worry—no dogs pass away.

• Best for: Ages 13+
• Director: David Lipper
• Cast: Lucy Hale, Ian Harding
• Run time: N/A
• Rating: N/A

Hulu will be premiering a remake of The Twelve Dates of Christmas, reuniting Pretty Little Liars co-stars Lucy Hale and Ian Harding. The original plot line saw protagonist Kate (now Christina, played by Hale in the remake) stuck in a Groundhog Day-style time loop until she figured out her love life. Rather than getting stuck on the Christmas Eve loop, Christina orchestrates 12 dates in the 12 weeks leading up to Christmas, panicked that all her siblings are beating her to the altar.

• Best for: Ages 10+
• Director: Tyler Perry
• Cast: Durrell “Tank” Babbs, Fantasia Barrino Taylor, Fred Hammond, Ann Nesby
• Run time: 103 minutes
• Rating: TV-PG

Tyler Perry’s latest film centers on a New York City pastor, Issac (Tank Babbs), who inherits a struggling church that is under threat of demolition. Issac must battle his own doubt and temptation as he tries to steer the church through murky waters. This movie puts music front and center, featuring R&B and gospel heavyweights like Yolanda Adams, Fred Hammond, Shirley Caesar, CeCe Winans and The Clark Sisters.

• Best for: Ages 17+
• Director: Adam Pålsson
• Cast: Felice Jankell, Happy Jankell, Christian Fandango Sundgren
• Run time: N/A
• Rating: TV-MA

Felice Jankell and Happy Jankell star as two sisters, Mathilda and Freddie Stjärne, who couldn't be more different. So, it’s a problem when they then must swap identities in the weeks leading up to Christmas. The movie is based on the audiobook Christmas in St. Anna by Eleonor Sager.

• Best for: Ages 13+
• Director: Ti West
• Cast: Johnny Depp, Rupert Grint, Sam Claflin, Daisy Ridley, Ian McKellen
• Run time: 116 minutes
• Rating: PG-13

Everyone knows Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, and horror director Ti West is back with an adaptation that delves into the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge. The stacked cast stars Johnny Depp as the titular character alongside Rupert Grint as Bob Cratchit. Ian McKellen takes the role of Scrooge’s deceased business partner, Bob Marley, while Sam Claflin and Daisy Ridley round out the cast as Scrooge’s nephew, Fred, and his wife, Clara.

• Best for: Ages 14+
• Director: Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum
• Cast: Leighton Meester, Jared Padalecki
• Run time: N/A
• Rating: TV-14

Leighton Meester stars as Hannah Brooks, a bodyguard assigned to protect movie star Jack Stapleton (Jared Padalecki) after the latter is targeted by a stalker. In an effort to prevent his mother from worrying excessively, Jack asks Hannah to pretend to be his girlfriend as the two head to Jack’s family ranch over Christmas. Hannah, who has just endured a breakup and her mother’s death, reluctantly steps into the role. But as lines between the professional and personal start to blur, Hannah must decide how she really feels about…everything.

• Best for: Ages 13+
• Director: Nanea Miyata.
• Cast: Amber Stevens West, Corbin Reid, Tommy Miles, Jenifer Lewis
• Run time: N/A
• Rating: N/A

Last year’s The Christmas Showdown followed two friends, April (Corbin Reid) and Chastity (Amber Stevens West), as they competed for the chance to work in the design department for a Christmas show. This year, the cast is back with the sequel. It picks up as the two friends are now running an events production company. The mayor, in a bid to revive their struggling town, brings in a mega-watt, national events planning company that poses stiff competition. April and Chastity must band together to save their business and their town, with the help of their love interests along the way.

• Best for: Ages 10+
• Director: Adam Shankman
• Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Alan Ritchson, Awkwafina, Liza Koshy
• Run time: N/A
• Rating: PG

Arnold Schwarzenegger has shed his Terminator persona for the boots of Saint Nick. But, it wouldn’t be a Schwarzenegger film without a little action. In The Man With the Bag, Santa’s magical bag of gifts is stolen. This leads him to team up with Vance, a thief on the naughty list, in order to retrieve it before Christmas Eve.

• Best for: Ages 17+
• Director: Tommy Wirkola
• Cast: David Harbour, Kristen Bell, Jared Harris
• Run time: 110 minutes
• Rating: R

Santa Claus is a universal shorthand for holiday cheer, but not in the Violent Night franchise. In the original 2022 film, viewers met a jaded, bitter Saint Nick who has decided to retire. But while doing a gift run on Christmas Eve, he finds himself in the middle of a hostage situation, and ends up on a rampage to rescue the trapped family. In Violent Night 2, David Harbour reprises his role as Santa, who has now been put on the naughty list and sapped of his powers.

• Best for: Ages 10+
• Director: Frank Capra
• Cast: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers
• Run time: 129 minutes
• Rating: PG

This Hollywood classic came out in 1946, but I had to shout it out because it’s coming back to theaters December 18. (If you’re impatient, you can also stream it for free on Xumo Play.) For the uninitiated, the Frank Capra masterpiece tells the story of George Bailey (James Stewart), a man contemplating suicide before the holidays, and Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers), his guardian angel. Clarence is tasked with saving George in order to earn his angel wings.