Once the Christmas season rolls around, people like to gather around the television and watch their favorite Christmas films. Of course, there are classics like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or How The Grinch Stole Christmas. All around the world, different countries have their own beloved films that they consider part of the Christmas and New Year's Eve season.
Over the years, some people have noticed that many movies that have become holiday traditions have little, if anything, to do with Christmas. Sometimes, movies set in winter get treated as a de facto Christmas story. This is even, if not especially, the case in countries where Christmas is a summer holiday. Often, networks will air anything kid-friendly they have the rights to while kids are off from school.
10 The Holidays Are Bound To Come Up During The School Year, Even At Hogwarts
Harry Potter Films
The Harry Potter films revolve around a young boy, Harry Potter, who learns he's a wizard and subsequently attends Hogwarts, a school for magic. Christmas occasionally pops up in the Harry Potter films, with Hogwarts even hosting a few Christmas parties.
In the U.S., the Harry Potter films became a staple of ABC Family/Freeform's "25 Days of Christmas" promotion. Early promos made good use of the first film's scene where Harry receives Christmas presents from Molly Weasley. However, the Harry Potter films were dropped from the lineup after 2017.
9 One Of The Film's Songs Even Became A Christmas Classic
The Sound Of Music
The Sound of Music is a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical based around the lives of Maria von Trapp and the Trapp Family Singers. The Sound of Music especially became a Christmas staple in the U.K., where its BBC One premiere was during Christmas of 1978.
Over the years, one of the musical's songs, "My Favorite Things," became adopted as a Christmas carol. Julie Andrews even sang "My Favorite Things" during The Garry Moore Show's Christmas special a few years before appearing onscreen as Maria. The song doesn't directly reference Christmas, but does mention "snowflakes," “brown paper packages tied up with strings,” and “silver white winters," likely putting listeners into a Christmas state of mind.
8 This Hollywood Classic's Lead Actor Was Born On Christmas
Casablanca
Casablanca is a classic wartime film set in French Morocco. The action occurs at Rick's Café Americain, when an old flame re-enters owner Rick's life. Over the years, Casablanca has been considered one of the greatest Hollywood films ever made.
In the U.K., Casablanca often airs around the Christmas season. It likely helps that Casablanca's lead actor, Humphrey Bogart, was born on Christmas Day, 1899. Casablanca's 1975 airing was even advertised with a "Christmas with Bogart" tagline. For what it's worth, Casablanca's London premiere was also in January.
7 Germans Celebrate The Holidays With An Unexpected Rankin-Bass Film
The Last Unicorn
The Last Unicorn revolves around a young unicorn searching for and rescuing the rest of her kind. Along the way, the unicorn encounters a carnival-running witch, a novice magician, and a villainous king with a charming adopted son.
Airings of The Last Unicorn have become a Christmas and Advent tradition in Germany, where it's known as Das Letzte Einhorn.
Interestingly, The Last Unicorn does have an indirect connection to Christmas specials. Rankin/Bass Productions, the company behind Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, worked on the film.
6 In Eastern Europe, Cinderella Takes Place Inside A Winter Wonderland
Three Wishes For Cinderella
Tři oříšky pro Popelku, also known as Three Wishes For Cinderella, is a Czechoslovakian and East German fairy tale film. This Cinderella is a feisty tomboy who charms the prince with her hunting skills and rides her horse to the ball, all set against a snow-covered landscape. Ultimately, Cinderella's wishes come true with the help of her animal friends and three magic hazelnuts.
Three Wishes For Cinderella is a Christmas staple in some Eastern European countries, likely solidified by the film's wintry setting. The film even ends with Cinderella and her prince riding their horses over the snowy horizon, while her evil stepmother and stepsister fall into icy waters. Ironically, the original script set the story in the summer.
5 A New Years Toast Turned A 90th Birthday Into a Holiday Tradition
Dinner For One
Dinner for One is a filmed vaudeville sketch revolving around a birthday party for Miss Sophie, a long-lived socialite. Unfortunately, Miss Sophie is the last surviving member of her friend group. Luckily, Miss Sophie's devoted butler, James, pretends to be each guest in their place. Unfortunately, this also means James has to down a lot of toasts.
Dinner for One is a holiday staple in many European countries, as well as Australia and South Africa. Dinner for One can either be a Christmas or New Year's Eve special, if not both, depending on the country. The story has nothing to do with New Year's, but one of the "guests" toasts with "Happy New Year."
4 Hayao Miyazaki Is A Christmas Staple In Australia
Studio Ghibli Films
In Australia, Hayao Miyazaki's animated films often air around the Christmas and New Year's season, starting in December and going well into January. Such films as My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo, and Porco Rosso. This honor has even been extended to Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds, which technically came out before Studio Ghibli formed.
Generally, these films are believed to be something the whole family can enjoy together during the holiday season. That said, Studio Ghibli films usually air relatively late at night, assuring viewers that the films aren't just for children.
3 Princess Elsa Did Get A Christmas Featurette A Few Years Later
Frozen
Frozen is a Disney film inspired by "The Snow Queen." Princess Elsa has the power to command ice and snow. When her secret is released, Elsa's abilities threaten to trap her kingdom inside an eternal winter.
Frozen's various scenes of characters in the snow, including Elsa's ice palace, are probably why the film is treated as a Christmas film. Despite this, Frozen's story actually takes place during the summer. The franchise would eventually get a proper Christmas special of sorts in the Olaf's Frozen Adventure featurette.
2 A Trip To Oz Has Been Both A Christmas & Easter Event
The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz adapts L. Frank Baum's American fairy tale, in which a young Kansas farm girl, Dorothy Gale, is transported to the magical world of Oz. Dorothy and her friends seek out the titular wizard to grant their wishes, but have to contend with the villainous Wicked Witch of the West.
Television airings of The Wizard of Oz made it a holiday staple. Even as early as the 1950s, The Wizard of Oz aired around Christmas. Around the 1960s, The Wizard of Oz's television time expanded to airings around Easter and Passover. A common explanation is that networks want to air a popular children's film when kids have off from school.
1 Even In A Story Set On Christmas Eve, The Holiday's Really In The Background
It's A Wonderful Life
It's A Wonderful Life details the life of George Bailey. One Christmas Eve, George gets a visit from an angel and a vision of what his world would have been like without him. It's A Wonderful Life is famous for its ending scene, with George's daughter Zuzu saying angels get their wings when a bell, a Christmas tree decoration, rings.
It's A Wonderful Life became a Christmas staple after falling into the public domain, even getting all-day marathons at times. Granted, It's A Wonderful Life's plot is often seen as a reworking, if not an inverse, of A Christmas Carol, except with the hero learning of the good he's brought to the world. In practice, the story has little to do with Christmas, mostly being the main character, George's biography. Most of It's A Wonderful Life doesn't even occur on Christmas.