The 33 Best Christmas Movies on Disney+ Right Now (Yes, in November)

There’s no shame in adding “Let It Go” to your Christmas playlist. The holidays are all about family, and some families are ALL about Disney. It’s been a few years since Disney+ officially launched, and there’s more content on the streaming service than ever before. Although we’ve all loved reliving our childhood and rewatching our favorite Disney princess movies, now that the holidays are right around the corner, only one thing matters: Christmas movies. Hallmark and Netflix both do really well in that department, but there are some holiday movies you can only find on Disney+, and if anyone’s trying to get into the spirit this year, here’s exactly where to start.

Watch them all here

1. The Ultimate Christmas Present

If you haven’t already seen this Disney Channel original movie, make it your priority to do so immediately. Starring Brenda Song and Hallee Hirsh, this movie is about two kids who wish they could have a snow day in California, and when they figure out how to make it happen, they have serious regrets.

2. Frozen

It’s not Christmas, but there’s…snow. Would you rather I recommend Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, the Christmas short? That’s available on Disney+ too, but giving the OG a rewatch is probably the better plan.

3. Frozen II

As much as the original Frozen is a Christmas movie, so is Frozen II. It totally counts! And in a lot of ways, it’s actually a lot better than the first movie, in my opinion. The “Show Yourself” scene alone, man.

4. One Magic Christmas

This 1985 movie stars Mary Steenburgen, a grocery store worker who doesn’t have the Christmas spirit because her husband is unemployed (a 2020 mood, TBH). Then her daughter meets an angel, and they team up to keep her from being such a scrooge.

5. ’Twas the Night

Add another Disney Channel original to the list! Bryan Cranston stars as a man who ends up taking Santa’s sleigh for a joyride with his nephew…which is something that Walter White would never ever do.

6. A Christmas Carol

This story has been done a million ways a million different times, but if you’re tired of watching the Muppets or Mickey and Minnie take these roles, why not watch Jim Carrey do his thing? In this computer-animated 2009 take on the classic tale, Jim plays Ebenezer Scrooge and all three ghosts.

7. I’ll Be Home for Christmas

Time to reignite the flame you carried for Jonathan Taylor Thomas as a teenager. I know you’re all on Disney+ wallowing in ’90s nostalgia anyway, so why not revisit the JTT Christmas adventure? This movie is about a college kid who is lured to his estranged family by the promise of a new car, which is about as logical as the average Hallmark Christmas movie.

8. The Muppet Christmas Carol

Probably the best, or most well-loved, Christmas movie on Disney+ is this classic take on Charles Dickens. Besides all your favorite muppets, the movie stars Michael Caine as Scrooge. It’s also the movie that gave us the song and expression “One More Sleep Till Christmas”—we stan an absolute legend!

Super important announcement: the cut song “When Love Is Gone” is now on Disney+ as a bonus feature accompanying the movie. Crank it up if you want a good Christmas cry.

9. The Sound of Music

This is a bit of a stretch, but “My Favorite Things” tends to end up on most Christmas music playlists anyway. Does anyone really know why that is? Is it just because there are snowflakes and presents mentioned in the lyrics? Let’s just go with it and revisit the classic musical this holiday season.

10. Noelle

The best way to describe the Disney+ original Christmas movie is “Elf meets Anna Kendrick,” but there’s a little more to it than that. Anna plays Santa’s daughter, who goes on a mission to save Christmas and learns that maybe she is the one destined to wear the big red hat. One of the big lessons in Noelle is to have empathy and be a good judge of character, which is sort of sweet in its simplicity and not nearly as corny as you might think.

11. Beauty and the Beast: Enchanted Christmas

Did you know there’s a Christmas-themed straight-to-video sequel to Beauty and the Beast that actually takes place in the middle of Beauty and the Beast? (Should we call it a midquel, then, instead of a sequel? Whatever.) You have no excuse to skip it now.

12. The Nightmare Before Christmas

For all you Hot Topic fans out there, Tim Burton’s holiday mashup is available to stream. Some people think it’s more of a Halloween movie than a Christmas movie, but it’s really both. The soundtrack’s killer too.

13. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

At first, I wasn’t sure why the first Narnia film shows up when you search for “Christmas” on Disney+, but then I remembered that the holiday is weirdly central to the fantasy epic’s plot. Father Christmas is a character and everything. Also, who doesn’t want to revisit James McAvoy’s breakout performance as Mr. Tumnus, right?

14. Home Alone

Need I say more? The sequels are also available on Disney+. Kevin McCallister manages to find the spirit of Christmas and fight off bad guys two years in a row. Watching Catherine O’Hara play Kevin’s mother in a post–Schitt’s Creek world is just a bonus.

15. The Santa Clause

Most modern Christmas films that try to bring the concept of Santa Claus into the real world, Noelle included, are inspired by The Santa Clause. It’s also, like, weirdly dark, considering Santa dies at the beginning of the movie—which forces Tim Allen’s character to take over the job thanks to some legalese. Come for a goofy story that still holds up, stay for David Krumholtz as Bernard the Elf. Like Home Alone, the two sequels are also available to stream in a marathon situation.

16. Miracle on 34th Street

Another classic that’s just sitting there on Disney+ ready to watch. The 1947 film is so easy to get swept up by and love. Even your teenage cousins can’t “okay, boomer” Kris Kringle.

17. Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups

I’d trust puppies to save the spirit of Christmas, wouldn’t you? There are a lot of Christmas dog movies on Disney+, like: The Search For Santa Paws, Santa Buddies, and this. You can’t watch all of them, right?

18. Snow Buddies

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OKAY… one more dog movie.

19. Richie Rich’s Christmas Wish

Here’s another bit of ’90s nostalgia. Also a direct-to-video follow-up, this film is a parody of It’s a Wonderful Life starring the titular richest kid in America. Macaulay Culkin is not in the sequel, but Michelle Trachtenberg is.

20. The Christmas Star

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This 1986 movie is about a con artist who escapes jail when people think he looks like Santa, and then has to keep pretending to be Santa in order to avoid getting thrown back in jail. Classic hijinks!

21. Snowball Express

This movie from 1972 is about a guy who inherits a ski resort and moves upstate, away from his 9-5 Manhattan lifestyle, to run it. Challenging, but kind of a dream… right?

22. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

Listen, this is a bonkers movie that got bad reviews and doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it’s a fun watch. Now that it’s streaming, you gotta check out the realms. It stars Renesmee from Twilight as Clara. Matthew Macfadyen, your second favorite Mr. Darcy, plays her sad dad. Speaking of Pride and Prejudice, Keira Knightley is actually incredible in this movie as the Sugar Plum Fairy. It takes a lot of turns that you wouldn’t expect, even if you think you know what The Nutcracker is all about.

23. Iron Man 3

Hear me out! You know those annoying guys who just love to tell you that Die Hard is a Christmas movie, nay, their favorite Christmas movie? Well, Iron Man 3 is also an action movie that happens to be set during the Christmas season. There are Christmas decorations everywhere, at least one Christmas party, and Tony Stark does a whole dance set to a “Jingle Bells” remix, so I’m starting a movement. Join me in “well, actually”-ing Iron Man 3 into the Christmas canon.

24. Christmas… Again?!

This adorable-looking movie is a Groundhog Day scenario set at Christmas—a peppermint twist, if you will—when a tween girl asks for a do-over at the end of a particularly bad family holiday. In theory “every day is Christmas” is a kid’s dream… but something tells me that this is going to be more of a curse.

25. The Ultimate Christmas Present

Kids in sunny California seldom get a white Christmas. If that was your struggle growing up, then this movie about two girls who find a magical weather machine might hit hard for you. It’s a DCOM so… things naturally get hilariously out of hand.

26. Godmothered

Jillian Bell plays a fairy godmother in training who tries to hustle out of a career rut by going to visit a young girl who wrote her a letter in a time of need. Turns out, the young girl is a now a grown-up (and maaaaybe depressed) woman played by Isla Fisher. This movie feels like Elf meets Enchanted. A perfect combo????

27. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

Not every entry in the Home Alone franchise is a winner, but there are a lot of people who actually prefer the second movie to the first… and sometimes, I’m one of them. Just ignore that one cameo…

28. Home Sweet Home Alone

There’s also the newest Home Alone movie, which stars Ellie Kemper, Aisling Bea, Ally Maki, Mikey Day, Timothy Simons, and Kenan Thompson. It flips the script on the original Home Alone and tells a new story from the POV of the adults trying to rob a child. You either die a Home Alone hero or live long enough to see yourself become a Home Alone villain, I guess.

29. Ernest Saves Christmas

The Ernest franchise was just before my time, so I don’t know much about this popular comedy character from the ’80s and ’90s. But maybe, since this one is set at Christmas, it will be easily accessible. At the very least, it will be a chaotic watch.

30. Full-Court Miracle

Disney Channel (and now Disney+) does not have nearly enough Hanukkah content—or themed to any Jewish holiday, really. It’s about the basketball team at a Hebrew academy that suffers a slump during the holiday season and hires a former NBA player as their new coach. So it’s not only an inspiring holiday movie, it’s an inspiring sports movie. Double the inspiration!

31. The Santa Clause 2

Before The Santa Clauses hits Disney+ you should probably refresh by watching the sequel as well as the original film. It establishes Elizabeth Mitchell’s character: a school principal and the future Mrs. Clause.

32. The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special

We don’t talk about the Star Wars Holiday Special, the bizarre television variety show that actually had Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford in it. But we can talk about the canon-bending lego holiday special with all of your favorites from the galaxy far, far away.

33. The Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special

The MCU is doubling down on the holiday game. There’s Iron Man 3, obviously, and now not only is the Hawkeye series Christmas-themed but director James Gunn made a short-ish Guardians movie. Ready to see how Mantis, Drax, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, and Star-Lord celebrate? I’m pretty ready to hear what bangers are on their holiday playlist.

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