Christmas Movies

Christmas movies are just an extraordinary extension of the great storytelling tradition of Christmas. In lands far and wide one of the key entertainment elements of the season has always been storytelling and nothing tells the stories of Christmas better than a mash-up of film, music and script that make up great Christmas movies. Did you know that one of the first movies ever made way back in 1898 was in fact a Christmas movie? We have on record well over a century of Christmas on film. We explore them all — from It’s a Wonderful Life to Elf — both old and new and Christmas movies yet to come. We feel that if Dickens were to have lived to the age of film in the 20th century he would have left us more great Christmas stories to enjoy on film today.

Remaking Scrooged

William Werner Christmas Movies, Christmas News June 9, 2019June 9, 2019Bill Murray, Kevin Hart, Scrooged 3 Comments

For the second time in less than a month a bad idea for a Christmas movie has been announced. Paramount has declared that Kevin Hart will produce and likely star in a remake of 1988’s dark comedic disaster called Scrooged, which originally starred Bill Murray. Scrooged is just one of many inexplicable takes on Dicken’s A Christmas Carol that ultimately underwhelmed both at the box office and with traditional Christmas audiences. Murray’s manic performance in what can only be called a joyless take on Christmas remains one of the most bizarre depictions ever of Ebenezer Scrooge. Unlike A Christmas Story,Read more

The Next Horrible Santa

B. Francis Morlan Christmas Movies, Christmas News May 13, 2019May 13, 2019Mel Gibson, Santa Claus 0 Comment

Hollywood just won’t quit. They just cannot wait to showcase Santa Claus again in a horrible way. Just announced is an all new Santa film to be called Fatman that will star Mel Gibson as Santa Claus. Fatman will showcase Gibson as a rowdy, unorthodox Santa who is fighting the decline of his business. If that’s not a weak enough premise they mix in a 12 year old character who is so displeased with Santa Mel that he hires a hitman to knock off The Jolly Old Elf. Yeah. Can you believe they think this is a good idea? I’llRead more

Kurt Russell and the Ultimate Santasy

Jeff Westover Christmas Movies, Christmas News November 25, 2018November 25, 2018 6 Comments

There’s a new Santa in town. Everyone is talking about him. Over Thanksgiving weekend Netflix debuted their new Santa-driven Christmas film they dub, probably because they will make this a regular holiday thing, The Christmas Chronicles. In others words, it’s a story – a Christmas tale. This one is a Santa story – a fantastical, magical story as most Santa stories are. It is a Santasy. Suiting up for Santa this time is Kurt Russell. The previews for weeks have raised the eyebrows of men and set a-tingle the hearts of women. The Christmas Chronicles with this casting suddenly madeRead more

The Next Really Bad Nutcracker Movie

Jeff Westover Christmas Movies August 8, 2018August 8, 2018Disney, The Nutcracker 4 Comments

Sad to say this but our tradition of bashing yet-to-be-released movies of a Christmas theme continues. You could say we are compelled to put the screws to the new Nutcracker coming out this fall. Hollywood just gives us no choice. This time, as other times in the past, the maker of a holiday stinker is none other than Disney. Out now are some truly bizarre trailers of a butchered Nutcracker story that Disney calls The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. As discussed in a recently released edition of the Merry Podcast, the Nutcracker is a 200 year old tale writtenRead more

Bruce, how could you?

Jeff Westover Christmas Movies, Christmas News July 16, 2018July 16, 2018Die Hard 0 Comment

Bruce Willis is all over the news this week after he declared that Die Hard, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, is not a Christmas movie. This has roiled the ranks of movie fans everywhere because it is one of the classic debates of both Christmas and movies. Let me share with you a true story, a story that takes us back more than 30 years ago before Die Hard was made. Even though I have been writing about Christmas since we began here in 1991 I’ve only shared this story once, last year during an episode of Tim Babb’sRead more

Tis the Season for Christmas Movies

William Werner Christmas Movies, Christmas News May 22, 2018May 19, 2018Christmas movies 0 Comment

A new survey commissioned by MyMerryChristmas.com has determined that 46 percent of annual Christmas movie watching happens between Memorial Day and Labor Day. The survey, conducted over a three day period offline in 7 American cities, reveals some surprising facts about summer Christmas movie watching in America. More than 1 in 3 Americans will see something Christmas-related at home during the dog days of summer and of those a whopping 82 percent watch a Christmas-themed show on purpose. The primary reason people watch so much Christmas during the off-season? Simple. There just isn’t time to see it all when itRead more

Dickens Preview Surprises Little

Jeff Westover Christmas Movies, Christmas News September 5, 2017September 5, 2017the man who invented Christmas 1 Comment

Dickens might be sick. The long awaited first preview of the Charles Dickens biopic awkwardly titled The Man Who Invented Christmas is here and it is as horrid as we feared. The movie hits theaters on November 22nd and it is billed as the big Christmas movie release of 2017. The movie casts Christopher Plummer as Scrooge and features every computer animated/generated special effect to give you the feel of Victorian-era England. Dan Stevens stars as the great Charles Dickens, author of A Christmas Carol and a long time legend of Christmas. This movie purports to tell the story ofRead more

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