When you’re asked to think of a Christmas movie, chances are low that the first one that comes to mind was a recent one. In fact, Hollywood has been on a bit of a losing streak with holiday movies in the past few years.
According to Google, of the top fifteen most popular Christmas movies, only five were released in the 21st century. Of these, only one was produced within the last 20 years (2018’s The Christmas Chronicles).
This doesn’t quite add up. The number of movies Hollywood has dropped since its genesis has only grown exponentially. Even in the early 2000s, the number of films produced in America only resided in the 300s. By 2010, though, this number reached the 500s. And at the end of the same decade? Hollywood was producing nearly 900 films per year at that point. (That is, of course, before the decline caused by COVID.)
So if we’re producing more movies than ever, why are the Christmas movies of today less popular? It’s certainly not an issue of quantity. Anyone familiar with the immensely prolific Hallmark movie franchise can testify to their abundant repertoire of feel-good, cookie-cutter holiday movies. But the modern Christmas movie isn’t limited to romcoms. A notable spike in popularity of Christmas action or horror movies indicates this. Red One (2024), Violent Night (2022) and Krampus (2015) have all contributed to the trend of blending the season with adrenaline and violence.
Copious? Yes. But successful? Not exactly. Of their 300+ films, their highest rated Hallmark movie on IMDb has a 7.6/10, and the mean rating of all their films is a 6.5. The average of the horror or action movies mentioned is 57%– Red One has a score of 30%.
Clearly, the lack of acclaim following more recent Christmas movies can’t be attributed to how many are being produced. So instead of quantity, the focus is shifted towards two other aspects: culture and quality.
The role of culture in what Christmas movies are most popular is straightforward– when movies are dated, they naturally adapt a nostalgic atmosphere perfectly on par with the season. Cherished memories of people watching these movies year after year are part of what makes them into classics. But it’s not the only reason.
If age alone were to account for the success of Christmas films as time progresses, numerous fallacies arise. Why do some decades, like the 1950’s or 1970’s, have no largely popular Christmas movies? Contrarily, of the 15 most popular movies mentioned earlier, more than half of them were produced in the fifteen year window between 1989 and 2004. The sixties was a similarly prominent decade in Christmas movie-making. We have those ten years to thank for titles like Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (1964), A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966), and Frosty the Snowman (1969).
If age alone were to count for what makes Christmas movies popular to produce, this ebbing and flowing simply wouldn’t exist. Here’s where we consider the individual contexts of these successful periods of holiday filmmaking. The sixties was facilitated by the new and thriving popularity of TV. The Baby Boom was easily capitalized off of with television specials aimed towards families. The nineties also saw the creation of a new form of home entertainment through the VCR. Rewatching the same family Christmas movies could easily become a tradition.
Cultural aspects, like periods of nostalgia and technological and societal advancement, can certainly be attributed to the success of older Christmas movies. Yet an anomaly still exists. The trend of Christmas movie production booming every 30 years, as well as today’s increase in streaming service popularity, should hint that the 2020s are optimal for Christmas movie creation. So why do our movies tend to fall short?
The last piece of the puzzle is simple: Today’s Christmas movies are lower quality than their predecessors. The aforementioned Hallmark movies have an infamous reputation of being shamelessly repetitive. Red One was slandered for its artifice. Shade Studios’ Marissa Hill elaborates: “It’s as though the filmmakers wanted to create a Christmas film with the thrills and stunts of a Mission: Impossible movie but forgot to include any of the heart or magic that makes Christmas movies so beloved.” Even the 2018 Grinch, a third major retelling of Suess’ classic, was slammed by audiences for its banality.
But the Christmas movies of decades earlier feel different. It’s a Wonderful Life isn’t a spectacle trying to rope in audiences by meeting its quota of red and green colors and candy canes. The film offers a more humble, yet profound, narrative on the importance of community and the value of life. The less prolific, but timelessly loved Home Alone established new tropes, introduced new characters, and was more centered around the antics and emotions of a boy than it was just Christmas. This is in stark contrast to many Christmas movies of today, where instead of a suicidal family man or a well-meaning but imperfect child, the protagonist will almost irrefutably be Santa Claus. Modern plots don’t feature or utilize Christmas in the nuanced way older ones do. Instead they shamelessly just are Christmas in an attempt to squeeze every last cent out of the holiday while leaving nothing to chance.
This implication can dampen even the brightest of holiday spirits. Have the days of creating Christmas classics to share with family and friends been lost on us? Thankfully, no. Although not as prominent as the classics, certain modern Christmas films have proven that hope of new, quality entries to the holiday catalog hasn’t been lost. 2019’s Klaus, although lesser-known than its preceding counterparts, features a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. Arthur Chirstamas (2011), a personal favorite of mine, garners a 93%. Examples like these remind us that we shouldn’t let the noise of numerous derived Christmas flicks hinder us from appreciating worthwhile movies, fostering new classics and forming traditions.
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