Many people re-watch the same Christmas films each year, and I don’t blame them. Classics like Elf and Miracle on 34th Street probably played every December through January during your childhood.
But Hollywood has not stopped making Christmas content. If you are tempted to experiment with newer Christmas films, these are the movies audiences watched for Christmas 2024.
Carry-on is an action thriller in which an enigmatic figure (Jason Bateman) blackmails a TSA agent (Taron Egerton) into allowing a bag to slip unchecked through security and onto a Christmas Eve flight.
Boasting an 88 per cent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, Carry-on is one of those rare Netflix films that exceeds expectations. Audiences have compared the flick to Die Hard and Phone Booth, commending the tight script, excellent pacing, and thrilling action.
Dear Santa is a Paramount+ film in which a dyslexic child writes a letter to Santa Claus but accidentally addresses it to Satan. Satan, played by Jack Black, responds to Liam’s letter hoping to drag the boy’s soul to hell.
His plan changes when he takes a liking to Liam. Now Satan is working actively to help the boy, a development that may produce unintended consequences for the prince of darkness if he returns to hell empty-handed.
Dear Santa is one of 2024’s most controversial films. The notion of a Christmas movie framing Satan as the hero rubbed some parents the wrong way. However, unless your children are too young to differentiate between fiction and reality, I doubt Dear Santa is as harmful as some people have claimed.
Admittedly, it has abysmal audience (40 per cent) and critic (24 per cent) ratings. But the premise is undeniably intriguing.
Red One is an Amazon Prime Video film in which Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson), the North Pole’s head of security undertakes a mission to rescue a kidnapped Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons).
Red One has a poor Rotten Tomatoes critic score (30 per cent). However, general audiences (90 per cent) loved it. The trailers repelled me because Red One looked like a children’s film in the worst possible sense, but that is technically a good thing.
Do you know what the holiday attracts? Lots of children. If you have an abundance of young ones at home, Red One will buy you two hours of freedom while your children, nieces, and nephews lose themselves to the film’s mindless action.
If you are looking for Christmas entertainment with a mature twist, Our Little Secret is a romantic comedy in which two resentful exes who parted ways ten years ago are forced to spend the holidays together when they realize that their partners are siblings.
Chaos ensues because Logan (Ian Harding) and Avery (Lindsey Lohan) are determined to keep their past and the lingering feelings they harbour, a secret. Our Little Secret is the sort of breezy Christmas film you watch in December and forget soon after. It does not require emotional investment or any additional contemplation once it ends.
An Almost Christmas Story is an animated short film (21 minutes long) that follows a young owl in a Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center, who bonds with a lost girl.
Directed by David Lowery, who is responsible for the likes of The Green Knight and Pete’s Dragon and co- written by Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men, Gravity 2013, Roma 2018, Prisoner of Azkaban), critics love this film, praising the whimsical visuals, nostalgic palette and a tone that is equally joyous, melancholic and unsentimental.
We can end on Hot Frosty, another Netflix rom-com in which a small-town cafe owner is mourning the death of her husband.
When a handyman named Jack appears a day after she wraps a magical scarf around a snowman’s neck, Kathy’s life changes dramatically. Knock yourself out; happy viewing.
katmic200@gmail.com