Christmas is one of the busiest periods for streaming services, as they bring out a selection of old and new movies for the festive season. What are some of the most enjoyable Christmas movies to look out for this year?
Falling for Christmas – Netflix
This 2022 release features Lindsay Lohan following her two-movie deal with Netflix that she signed earlier this year. Lohan plays Sierra Belmont, who is a shallow and spoilt heiress to a hotel chain. However, things get more complicated when she’s involved in a skiing accident and loses her memory.
She gets looked after by widower Jake Russell, played by Chord Overstreet, over the Christmas period. The movie’s plot has been criticised for being rather too obvious and formulaic, but Lohan’s return to a major acting role after more than a decade has been praised, and Falling for Christmas has had good viewing figures since its release.
Netflix will be hoping that brings 2022 to a successful end, with this streaming wrap up confirming that the year started poorly as their subscription numbers fell for the first time in a decade. However, things improved thanks to the release of the likes of the second season of Bridgerton and the fourth season of Stranger Things.
A Christmas Story Christmas – HBO Max
This belated sequel to 1983’s A Christmas Story is a comedy starring Peter Billingsley as Ralph Parker and Erinn Hayes as his wife, Sandy. The plot sees Ralph and Sandy move to Chicago, but they go home for the festive season after receiving news that his father has died, and Ralph has the responsibility of making Christmas special this year.
Released on HBO Max in mid-November, reviews for A Christmas Story Christmas have been pretty good so far. It flicks between short slices of action, with some working better than others but overall the film manages to pull together enough charm and nostalgia for it all to work.
The original A Christmas Story remains one of the key festive movies on this service, and it’s joined by films like The Polar Express and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. 2003’s Elf starring Will Ferrell is one of the other big Christmas movies offered by HBO Max this year.
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Destined at Christmas – Tubi, fuboTV, Amazon Prime Video
In this case, it’s a fairly simple movie about Kim (Shae Robins) and Theo (Casey Elliott) who meet during the madness of the Black Friday sales in a store. However, while there’s chemistry between them, the store’s power is cut and the couple get separated before they’ve even had a chance to really get to know each other.
As the Christmas season begins, fate plays its part in bringing them back together again. Reviews of Destined at Christmas so far point out that it’s a simple but reasonably enjoyable romantic film that may help viewers to get into the Christmas spirit more easily this year.
No matter which streaming service you use, you’ll find lots of Christmas movies to choose from, with these new releases joined by classics. It’s clear that streaming companies realise that this is an important time of year to attract new viewers.
