Usually this is my first post of the holiday season, but I ended up doing a Christmas in July post that highlighted upcoming 2021 holiday releases I was looking forward to. I also usually like to get this post up in October, right before the first Hallmark movie premieres before Halloween. Due to my October blog break, I decided to hold off and draft some early November posts as I was not actively posting on the blog. Here’s my usual spiel, without further ado!
Everyone knows that this season begins for me basically on Halloween or the day after. I just want to enjoy my Christmassy stuff for two full months instead of one, and it costs you $0 to mind ya business and let me be happy. I normally refrain from making blog posts until we’re nearing the end of November, but I thought it would be fun to do a holiday movie round-up post BEFORE posting any of my holiday movie reviews, which always come throughout December. This means I’m sharing ALL of the holiday movies on my radar that are releasing this year. I wanted to get this post out early enough for people to make plans, set their DVRs, and order Disney+ in preparation. Without further ado, here are all the movies you could see this year and where to find them!
Again, these are broken down by where you can find them. I thought I would get the smaller lists done first, so if Hallmark and Lifetime movies aren’t your thing, you’re able to skip out of this post before reading through them 😉 Anything you see in the purple boxes are synopses pulled from the relevant websites – check here, here, and here.
Network/Streaming Services
Weirdly, CBS has decided to make a couple of holiday movies this year! A Christmas Proposal and Christmas Takes Flight will premiere at some point this holiday season on the network. Hopefully they’ll be streaming too since I don’t have access to CBS aside from Paramount Plus.
Peacock will be debuting The Real Housewives of the North Pole this holiday season too, which seems really fun. It’s about “the Christmas Queens of North Pole, Vermont” and their friendship-ending argument around a holiday decorating competition.
Netflix
Love Hard (11/5): This is an interesting one about catfishing and likely ends up as a “playing Cyrano” kind of story, starring Nina Dobrev. She travels across the country to meet her online crush only to learn it’s her dorky best friend.
Father Christmas is Back (11/7): I think this is a British movie premiering on Netflix in the US?
The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star (11/18): Man they are going to keep milking these movies and I will continue to watch.
A Boy Called Christmas (11/25): This is a fantasy Christmas story that seems to be a Santa origin story. Looks like it could be fun and family-friendly.
A Castle for Christmas (11/26): A bestselling author hightails it to Scotland to escape a scandal, where she falls in love with a castle and fights with the duke who owns it.
Single All the Way (12/2): Gay rom com from Netflix! Plus fake dating around the holiday season.
David and the Elves (12/6): This one involves a kid and an elf fleeing town while Santa looks for the elf and the kid’s parents try to bring the holiday spirit into their new house.
A California Christmas: City Lights (12/16): It looks like this is a sequel and I don’t remember watching the first, so I’ll have to add both to my list!
Hallmark
Hallmark has too many movies for me to list premiere dates like I did above, so check the list below for full titles and release dates. I’ll be highlighting the movies I’m most excited for below (not all of them).
You, Me and the Christmas Trees: Danica McKellar is one of the best and this seems cute, about an evergreen tree expert who helps a Christmas tree farmer. BONUS is that this takes place in Connecticut!
Boyfriends of Christmas Past: Another kind of updated version of A Christmas Carol – her four ex boyfriends visit her a la ghosts of Christmas past, before she loses her best guy friend.
The Santa Stakeout: Tamera Mowry is in this one so you know it’s on the list. I don’t love watching movies or shows about cops but this one will be an exception most likely.
Coyote Creek Christmas: Another good couple of leading actors for this one so I’m excited for it but the limited synopsis about a “Christmas around the world party helping two people find love at home” sounds like a whatever premise.
Gingerbread Miracle: Two old high school friends get together over magical gingerbread cookies that grant wishes. Works for me!
Next Stop, Christmas: I love time travel “what if” concepts – this one centers around a main character who wonders what would have happened if she married a former boyfriend and followed her dreams. When she takes the train home for the holidays, she ends up 10 years in the past to revisit that Christmas where her paths diverged.
A Christmas Treasure: This one involves a 100-year-old time capsule and the MC wondering if she should further her writing career in NYC. Not much to go on, but sounds good to me so far.
Open by Christmas: The MC finds an unopened Christmas card from a high school secret admirer and spend the holiday season trying to figure out who wrote it back then.
My Christmas Family Tree: I’m loving this one – it stars two hot dudes and one of the main actresses from Friday Night Lights! The concept sounds fun too: she receives DNA test results and discovers she has a whole family she didn’t know about, then travels there for the holidays.
Nantucket Noel: This one had me at the title – the setting is all I need to hear!
A Kiss Before Christmas: OMG I didn’t even need to read the summary to see that this has Susan and Mike from Desperate Housewives reuniting in a Hallmark movie. Goodbye, I will see you there. (I did read the summary though and it’s another time-travel-ish one so good LORD I cannot wait).
The Christmas Contest: Speaking of reunions I need, we’ve got Hallmark movie leading lady CCB reuniting with her costar from Fuller House. I’m in.
Eight Gifts of Hanukkah: After last year’s Hanukkah movie didn’t sound good based on reviews, I skipped it. This one sounds pretty good and has Jake Epstein from Degrassi!!!!
A Very Merry Bridesmaid: Now that my wedding (and the many others I attended as a bridesmaid) is over, I’m down to consume wedding-related TV again. This is about a girl’s birthday falling on Christmas Eve and her brother’s wedding day, with her childhood crush attending and making sure she still gets to celebrate.
Sister Swap: A Hometown Holiday PLUS Sister Swap: Christmas in the City. I enjoy Ashley Williams’ Hallmark movies and these ones have her sister (IRL) starring as her sister in two different movies. I think they take place at the same time, with the sisters swapping cities for the holidays – each movie will tell each of their perspectives?
A Royal Queens Christmas: Julian Morris is one of my top underrated celebrity crushes and I cannot wait to see this man in a Hallmark movie. It also stars one of the actresses from The Secret Life of the American Teenager. I need this film.
The Christmas House 2: Deck those Halls: I liked the first one of these a decent amount so a sequel should be fun! Always down for more Jonathan Bennett too.
Lifetime
Last year was the first I really messed with Lifetime and this year I’ll highlight a few movies that sound particularly good to me (aka just the ones with actors and actresses I’m looking forward to seeing. Full list HERE.
Dancing Through the Snow: AnnaLynne McCord stars in this one, where she is the ballet teacher of a cute little girl (with a handsome father).
Miracle in Motor City: Tia Mowry is on Lifetime this year, with her sister on Hallmark. I don’t know if I’ll actually watch this since it centers around a church and is music-oriented (not things I’m usually drawn to) but it could be good!
A Christmas Village Romance: Jake Epstein here on Lifetime too! This is about a pioneer village town struggling to stay afloat, so they host a Christmas gala.
A Christmas Dance Reunion: Okay, this one has Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman from High School Musical, which is the main reason I’d want to watch. I do also love that it takes place at a Christmassy resort.
Holiday in Santa Fe: Mario Lopez had a goofy movie last year and I’m down to watch whatever he’s in this year too. Why not?
Blending Christmas: Haylie Duff stars in this one, so I’m intrigued. It involves a holiday proposal and the blending of families.
Mistletoe in Montana: Melissa Joan Hart is in this one and she usually does a good job. I tend to prefer snowy holiday movies in cold climates but I’m cool with a Montana ranch setting too.
Toying with the Holidays: Chad Michael Murray – need I say more?
Candy Cane Candidate: Jake Epstein again for some reason, but I’m happy about it. Give me all the Degrassi people you can. Enemies to lovers makes this sound even more appealing too.
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