The Best Christmas Movies in 2022 and Where to Watch Them

It's the middle of December, so we're on the countdown to Christmas! It's Christmas crunchtime! Cram in some Christmas! And what better way to do that than to marathon some holiday films to force you in the mood? Get some Elf for yourself, try hard to watch Die Hard, and watch The Santa Clause just because! The point I'm trying to make here is watch a Christmas movie, gosh darnit.

Our list of the best Christmas movies to watch in 2022 is updated with all the latest streaming destinations, and features childhood favorites like Elf and A Christmas Story, all-time classics like A Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life, and new movies like 8-Bit Christmas and Happiest Season, whether they're on HBO Max, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or anywhere else. If you're looking for more Christmas cheer, check out our guide to every Christmas movie and special airing on TV or streaming on your favorite streaming service, or check out our list of the best new Christmas movies on Hallmark, Parmount+, Netflix, and everywhere else.

8-Bit Christmas

Call it A Christmas Story for today's generation. This 2021 HBO Max original holiday film stars Neil Patrick Harris as a man recalling how he desperately wanted a Nintendo Entertainment System for Christmas when he was a kid in the 1980s, which is a gift that could never shoot his eye out. Like the classic it was clearly influenced by, it's a heartwarming story drenched in nostalgia and cheer, told through the perspective of the people who love Christmas the most: kids who only care about presents. –Tim Surette [TRAILER]       

The Polar Express

Since computer animation has advanced so much in the years since this was released, the visual style of this movie is pretty outdated now, but at the time of its release, it was a huge deal that Tom Hanks, who plays the train conductor, did the motion capture for his character. The movie itself is still pretty sweet, following a young boy's journey on a train to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. [TRAILER] 

A Christmas Story

You could wait for the annual 24-hour TBS marathon of this classic on Christmas, or you could just stream it whenever you want. A Christmas Story is one of our culture's most inescapable movies, centering on a young boy who wants nothing more than to be gifted a BB gun. Do you own one of those leg lamps? If you don't, I'm sure you know someone who does. [TRAILER] 

More holiday TV guides:

• The Ultimate Guide to Christmas Movies and Specials
• The Best New Christmas Movies in 2022
  
• Hallmark Christmas Movie Calendar 2022
• Lifetime Christmas Movie Calendar 2022
• The Best Christmas Movies on Netflix

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Easily the most memorable of the Vacation film series, this is mostly a movie about a bunch of things going wrong for the Griswolds — but at Christmas! Chevy Chase plays the beleaguered patriarch who's determined to have a good holiday despite the presence of his wife's crazy cousin, his thankless job, and malfunctioning string lights. [TRAILER] 

Home Alone

It doesn't get more quintessentially Christmas than Home Alone, the movie about Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin), a kid who gets accidentally left behind when the rest of his family goes on vacation for the holidays. I personally think of this movie most fondly for its bumbling villains: two burglars, played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, known as the Wet Bandits, who end up involved in a dangerous feud with Kevin. [TRAILER] 

A Boy Called Christmas

While most new Christmas movies lean toward being comedies, romances, or David Harbour putting on a Santa beard and violently obliterating terrorists, few try to capture that magical spirit of the holiday. The 2021 British film A Boy Called Christmas goes full-on fantasy, telling the origin story of one of Christmas' most famous figures. Plus, it features an adorable talking mouse. –Tim Surette [TRAILER]      

Elf

Will Ferrell stars as Buddy, a human raised by elves in the North Pole, who travels all the way to New York one Christmas to find his biological father. I defy you to find someone on this planet who hasn't at the very least seen a frame of this movie, which despite being released in 2003 feels like it's been around since the beginning of time. [TRAILER] 

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Jim Carrey plays Dr. Seuss' classic Christmas-hating character, who emerges from his hovel one fateful year to ruin the holiday for the residents of Whoville. Carrey is at his Carrey-est here, hamming it up under all the green fur. [TRAILER]      

Die Hard

Every year, we're collectively burdened with many, many articles about how Die Hard is actually a Christmas movie (is anyone really disputing that at this point?), but even that doesn't take away from how great this film still is. Bruce Willis plays John McClane, a cop trying to save his wife and other hostages at a holiday party that gets taken over by German terrorists. [TRAILER]         

Love Actually

Much like the annual Die Hard discourse, someone always tries to dredge up an annual Love Actually discourse too, and I have to be honest with you, I'm not interested in hearing about it! I love this over-the-top rom-com, about a bunch of interconnected love stories during the Yuletide season, because of how over-the-top it is. Every famous British person ever brought into this world has a role in the film, but the Bill Nighy story is secretly the most moving one. [TRAILER]        

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

When you're done watching Home Alone, why not check out its sequel? There's a convincing argument to be made that Lost in New York, which finds Kevin (Culkin) getting separated from his family at the airport and ending up on a plane to New York City, is even better than the original. [TRAILER] 

The Family Stone

Like so many holiday movies, The Family Stone is super weird, but in a way that just makes it more lovable. It stars Sarah Jessica Parker as an uptight New York City business lady who goes to spend Christmas with her boyfriend's (Dermot Mulroney) family. And then they're all really nice and there is absolutely no conflict whatsoever... just kidding! His family, including Diane Keaton as his mom, Rachel McAdams as his sister, and Luke Wilson as his brother, are pretty judgmental — so much that SJP asks her sister (played by Claire Danes) to come act as her backup. I won't reveal what happens from there, but the whole movie is a ticking time bomb of weird family dynamics, all set against the backdrop of the holidays.

While You Were Sleeping

People will try to tell you this Sandra Bullock romantic comedy is bonkers, and those people will be correct, but make no mistake: It's one of those bonkers movies that just work. Bullock plays Lucy, a public transit worker who saves Peter (Peter Gallagher), a man she's been crushing on from afar, from getting hit by a train on Christmas Day. After he falls into a coma, Lucy becomes accidentally involved in an elaborate lie when Peter's family assumes she's his fiancée. She goes along with the ruse, further complicating things when she finds herself getting closer to his brother (Bill Pullman). [TRAILER] 

Just Friends

In all of its extremely mid-2000s comedy-ness, this movie's kind of hit or miss, but I am of the opinion that it is actually very good, made even better when you watch it during the Christmas season. A pre-Deadpool Ryan Reynolds stars as a formerly overweight high schooler who returns home for the holidays 10 years later, reuniting with the high school crush (Amy Smart) who rejected him at their graduation party. Are there a lot of jokes that definitely would not fly today? Of course. Does Anna Faris also give a pitch-perfect performance as Reynolds' character's eccentric pop star girlfriend? She sure does. Sometimes that's all you need. [TRAILER]      

Jack Frost

The premise of this movie is pretty silly — Michael Keaton plays a husband and father who dies in a car accident only to come back to life as a snowman — and it was a total flop when it was released in 1998, but it's become a holiday classic for plenty of people in the years since. [TRAILER]     

A Charlie Brown Christmas

A Charlie Brown Christmas is great because it's about being depressed during the most wonderful time of the year, which is something we as a society could use more of. There are so many reasons why this cartoon has been such a reliable classic for so many years, from the soundtrack to the dancing to Linus' sweet little speech about the true meaning of Christmas. It just never gets old. [TRAILER] 

Last Holiday

There's no such thing as too many holiday rom-coms, and even if there were, this one would still make our list. Queen Latifah stars as a by-the-books single woman who, after learning she has only three weeks to live, decides to make the most of her last Christmas on Earth. She quits her boring department store job, takes a lavish European vacation, and, at some point, falls in love with LL Cool J. It's just silly enough to work.

White Christmas

Two sisters with a song-and-dance act become involved with two singers, both professionally and romantically, and the four set out to save an inn from going out of business. This is just a nice, wholesome musical, if that's your thing. [TRAILER] 

Krampus

This is the ideal movie for anyone who can't stand all the holiday cheer and is already yearning for next Halloween. It's based on the German folklore about Krampus, a demonic beast who comes to kill bad kids, and centers on a dysfunctional family who have to band together to protect each other from the monster. This movie often verges on ridiculous — there's a scene where a bunch of gingerbread cookies come to life, for example — but that's part of the fun. Also part of the fun: It stars Toni Collette and Adam Scott! [TRAILER]   

The Muppet Christmas Carol

This is not only the greatest Christmas Carol adaptation ever made, but it's also one of the greatest Christmas movies ever made, period. You already know the story of Ebenezer Scrooge (played here by Michael Caine), but it's instantly made better by the presence of Kermit, Gonzo, and Miss Piggy. [TRAILER] 

A Christmas Carol (1938)

If you're really interested in the origins of A Christmas Carol, you can't get much more classic than this. Reginald Owen plays Scrooge in this one. [TRAILER]       

A Christmas Carol (1984)

There's also this Christmas Carol! There are so many Christmas Carols. This is good if you prefer fewer Muppets and more genuinely spooky ghosts. George C. Scott plays Scrooge here. [TRAILER]      

Scrooged

In case you needed another Christmas Carol adaptation, this is the one that stars Bill Murray as a disillusioned TV executive who is visited by a bunch of ghosts who try to help him regain his spirit. One of the ghosts is played by Carol Kane, which is fun. [TRAILER]     

The Princess Switch

Why settle for just one Vanessa Hudgens when you can have two? At this point, Netflix has so many Christmas movies it's kind of impossible to know where to start, but we recommend beginning your journey here. Hudgens plays a duchess who switches places with a baker from Chicago (also played by Hudgens), who just happens to be her exact doppelgänger, and then — you'll never believe it — things get complicated. If you're as delighted by the insanity of this movie as we are, there are two more in the series. [TRAILER]

It's a Wonderful Life

What did we say about Christmas movies about depressed people? This classic follows George Bailey (James Stewart), a man considering ending his life on Christmas Eve. He's visited by a guardian angel who shows him what life in his town would have been like had he not been there. This is a good one to watch if you want to feel good about humanity. [TRAILER]

The Santa Clause

After accidentally causing the death of Santa Claus (can you believe that's how this movie starts?), a divorced dad (Tim Allen) is tasked with taking on the Santa mantle. [TRAILER] 

Little Fockers

Did you know Little Fockers — which is, somehow, the third movie in the Meet the Parents series — is technically a Christmas movie in that it takes place at Christmastime? It's true. The story picks up five years after Meet the Fockers, and is basically just a comedy of errors all about a man (Ben Stiller) trying way too hard to impress his father-in-law (Robert De Niro). It's easily the biggest dud in the trilogy, but if you're a fan, you're a fan. [TRAILER] 

Prancer

A young girl nurses a wounded reindeer back to health, believing it's one of Santa's and wanting to return it before Christmas. It's sweet! Be ready to cry. [TRAILER]      

Happiest Season

Abby (Kristen Stewart) goes home to meet her girlfriend's (Mackenzie Davis) family for the holidays, only to learn that her partner isn't out, forcing them to hide their relationship. More gay Christmas movies, please. [TRAILER] 

Shazam

Shazam, which follows a 14-year-old foster kid who gains the ability to transform into a superhero, can totally be read as a Christmas movie since it takes place during the holidays and is all about family and love and togetherness. Well, it's also about trying to defeat an evil scientist, but mostly the gushy stuff. [TRAILER] 

Black Christmas

If Krampus doesn't have enough scares for you, check out this horror film about a group of sorority sisters who are stalked by a killer during the holiday season. Its influence on the slasher genre can't be overstated, and its final scene will stick with you for a while. [TRAILER] 

Klaus

Klaus is so beautifully animated that you almost forget to pay attention to the story, which functions as a super sweet Santa Claus origin story: A lazy, underachieving postman (voiced by Jason Schwartzman) befriends a reclusive toymaker (voiced by J.K. Simmons), and the two set out to bring joy via handmade gifts to a dark, dreary town. [TRAILER] 

Love Hard

The most crowd-pleasing of the 2021 crop of made-for-streaming Christmas rom-coms was this Netflix original starring Nina Dobrev as a relationship advice writer who — you'll never believe this — has trouble in her own love life, so she takes a chance on an online suitor and surprises him near the holidays. Only thing is, she was being catfished by a shy guy (Jimmy O. Yang), successfully transforming into a rom-com lead). As an apology, he tries to help her get the guy (Darren Barnet) she thought she wanted, and you know what happens next, but the miracle that this legitimately funny movie pulls off is making you believe in it. –Tim Surette [TRAILER]