Big names, beloved things, and fa-la-la-la franchises

By Linda Holmes

As we have passed Peak TV, it's probably fair to say we've passed Peak Christmas Movie. That doesn't mean there aren't still a lot of them, but it means they're not exploding all over the place like they were for a while. The biggest lists come from (no surprise) Hallmark and Lifetime (and "faith-based" Great American Family), but there are a handful from other outlets, including Netflix, Prime, BET, OWN, and UPtv.

There was a time when I tried to run down all of them. I was younger then. We all were. We had more time, as the ghost of Christmas future had not ... whoa, sorry, that got dark. We're hitting the highlights this year, because we've all got things to do. Hopefully, one of yours is watching Christmas movies. (Because while these are technically holiday movies and we will get to that, they are overwhelmingly Christmas movies, and I would never want to be obtuse about that.)

It's all franchises now

One thing that has ramped up in the last few years is holiday movies that are in continuity, either through story continuity or branding, with other holiday movies. In other words, existing IP is not just for comic book characters.

Hallmark, having exhausted most of the personal pronouns in its Time for [blank] To Come Home for Christmas series, is now at it with a series they launched in 2022 with Three Wise Men and a Baby. They followed that with Three Wiser Men and a Boy last year, and now they've got Three Wisest Men (that seems ominous, but in fact there is still a child). These films feature three of Hallmark's big guns in the leading-man department: Andrew Walker, Paul Campbell and Tyler Hynes. They play brothers, and their mom is played by Margaret Colin, who played Tom Selleck's kinda-love-interest in the original Three Men and a Baby, which is a cute touch. Now that these are the wisest of men, it's hard to imagine they can get any wiser for a fourth movie next year, but never say never. Three Wizened Men is always an option someday.

There's another NFL Hallmark movie this year, following last year's Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story. That story seemed meant to capitalize on the romance audience's interest in Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, but now they've moved entirely beyond Kansas City with Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story. This one is set in Buffalo (obviously) and is again about family devotion to football. My guess is that once this series gets established, as long as there is Hallmark and as long as there is the NFL, these are likely to continue making money for everyone. I just want it to last long enough to see what they come up with for Philadelphia.

Save that [beloved thing]!

Christmas, in TV movies, is a time to save small businesses and performances. For example: on Lifetime, A Pickleball Christmas (Dec. 20) revolves around a tennis star's effort to save his family's racquet club, while Christmas in Alaska (Dec. 12) has a man trying to save an inn run by his sister. Over at Hallmark, A Royal Montana Christmas has a man contemplating whether to take over his parents' ranch. Christmas at the Catnip Cafe features two people who unwillingly end up co-owning a cat cafe. UPtv has a movie out now about saving a Christmas ranch. It's called Saving the Christmas Ranch. Champagne Problems on Netflix appears to follow one of the truly classic formulas: the child of a company owner (him) versus the person sent in to represent the big-business buyer (her).

Meanwhile, Hallmark's The Snow Must Go On features a high school musical that might have to be canceled, while Lifetime's Deck The Hallways (with Loretta Devine!) is about a woman trying to revive her grandparents' legendary holiday party.

Let's talk big names

Some people are sort of "Christmas famous" and some people are closer to regular famous, and every year, some of the regular-famous people make holiday movies. Let's take a look.

Brandy Norwood stars in Christmas Everyday on Lifetime, about a fashion designer named Fancy (Norwood) who is managing a busy Christmas, including the wedding of her younger sister, who's actually played by Norwood's daughter, Sy'Rai Smith. Lifetime also has the appealing duo of Vivica A. Fox and Jackée Harry in The Christmas Campaign. And for the record, as has been the case for a while, Black actors are featured far more frequently on Lifetime than on Hallmark, as well as on BET and OWN, which also have holiday slates.

Zooey Deschanel, certainly someone with Christmas chops, is in Merv on Prime Video, opposite Charlie Cox. They play a couple that breaks up and then takes their dog on a holiday trip together to help the dog feel better. Similarly, Michelle Pfeiffer is in Oh. What. Fun., also a Prime offering, directed by Michael Showalter and co-starring Felicity Jones, Chloë Grace Moretz, and — of interest to Christmas-movie enthusiasts — Dominic Sessa, the breakout kid from The Holdovers. It's about a woman who goes all-out for Christmas every year, until one day she turns up missing. Honestly, I suspect she's going to be okay. I don't think it's that kind of movie.

Linda's guide to 2025's holiday movie offerings can be read in in its entirety here.

If you're in the mood to debate bad holiday movies, join us. We made the case against four of the worst Christmas movies of all time in this episode of PCHH.