mobanmarketHalloween hasn’t come and gone, much less Thanksgiving, but the 2018 Christmas movie season begins this week. Networks and streaming services are about to launch their movies for the holidays, and one of the biggest juggernauts, Hallmark, switches two of its channels to a Countdown to Christmas format on Friday, Oct. 26. Freeform kicks off its Christmas blitz on Nov. 1, and the UPtv network has planned 55 days of holiday shows that includes a Thanksgiving week GilMORE the Merrier binge-a-thon. Netflix has also released its list of 15 holidays movies you can watch while swigging eggnog. (See lists from each, plus Amazon movies below.)
The annual lineup of holiday classics runs from “Elf,” “Christmas Vacation,” to “Meet Me In St. Louis,” “Love Actually” and the heartwarming oldie “It’s A Wonderful Life.” Let’s not forget “Die Hard,” which IS a Christmas movie — we’ll explain why in a minute.
Patch has pulled together highlights for holiday shows into the new year, and we’ll keep updating as more are announced. Traditional specials including “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” and “Frosty’s Winter Wonderland” run annually on the networks, which have not yet listed air dates for them. Movies lined up run the gamut from Bing Crosby, Cary Grant and Judy Garland crooning “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” on Turner Movie Classics to countless showings of Londoners in “Love Actually,” Will Ferrell as everyone’s favorite elf and Chevy Chase as he doggedly tries to give his family a merry Christmas and the best light display ever. And as always, you can watch Ralphie try to convince his parents, teacher and Santa that he needs a BB gun when the 24 hours of “A Christmas Story” airs on TBS.
And for many folks, the classic Bruce Willis action movie “Die Hard” is a Christmas must-watch. You disagree? Willis plays New York City cop John McClane single-handedly fighting terrorists in an L.A. high-rise. While it has explosions and shootouts galore, with a glorious Alan Rickman as the evil terrorist mastermind Hans Gruber, it all takes place at Christmas. And it reunites the estranged McClanes. How is that not a Christmas movie? The next TV airing of “Die Hard” is 9 p.m. on Nov. 6 on CMT.
»What are your must-see holiday movies? Let us know in the comments.
A lead-in to Thanksgiving treats “Gilmore Girls” fans to a marathon featuring all seven seasons of life in magical Stars Hollow from start to finish, 24 hours a day for 153 hours straight beginning at 3 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 19 and ending at midnight on Sunday, Nov. 25.
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Listings are subject to change; check each network’s website for updates. If you want to imbibe in some Christmas cheer at the expense of Hallmark’s formula of women dropping their clearly inappropriate boyfriends when they find true love at the holiday, there’s a drinking game for that; watch for small towns pulling together, kids who need a parent, women named Eve and Holly, and adorable dogs. This year’s Hallmark holiday lineup includes Candace Cameron Bure, Lacey Chabert, Tia Mowry-Hardrict and Danica McKellar, with network debuts by country artists LeAnn Rimes and Kellie Pickler.
Hallmark Channel’s 2018 “Countdown to Christmas” Schedule:
All premieres are at 8 p.m. ET
UPtv’s seven premiere Christmas movies include:
Freeform 25 Days Of Christmas
Freeform network launches its annual “25 Days of Christmas” event early, on Nov. 1 this year, and the full schedule is not yet out. But a few specials are already on the board.
Freeform network launches its kickoff to Christmas on Nov. 1, while its annual “25 Days of Christmas” event starts Dec. 1, and the schedule for its December programs is not yet out. But a few specials are already on the board. Here’s a sampling of what Freeform has planned for November:
Thursday, November 1
Friday, November 2
Saturday, November 3
Tuesday, November 6
Saturday, November 10
Sunday, November 11
Friday, November 16
Saturday, November 17
Sunday, November 18
Saturday, November 24
Sunday, November 25
Monday, November 26
Wednesday, November 28
Thursday, November 29
Friday, November 30
Netflix Holiday Movies 2018
There are oodles of Christmas movies and specials on Netflix, but here are a few that the streaming service has highlighted for 2018.
While “Elf” airs year-round, it’s not yet on the Christmas schedules; we’ll update again soon with its air dates.
Here’s the initial round of holiday movies the networks and cable channels have announced so far:
Thursday, November 1
Friday, November 2
Saturday, November 3
Sunday, November 4
Monday, November 5
Tuesday, November 6
Wednesday, November 7
Friday, November 9
Saturday, November 10
Sunday, November 11
Wednesday, November 14
Thursday, November 15
Friday, November 16
Saturday, November 17
Sunday, November 18
Monday, November 19
Tuesday, November 20
Wednesday, November 21
Thursday, November 22 Happy Thanksgiving!
Friday, November 23
Saturday, November 24
Sunday, November 25
Monday, November 26
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Tuesday, November 27
Wednesday, November 28
Thursday, November 29
Friday, November 30
Saturday, December 1
Sunday, December 2
Friday, December 7
Saturday, December 8
Sunday, December 9
Saturday, December 15
Sunday, December 16
Friday, December 21
Saturday, December 22
Sunday, December 23
Monday, December 24 Christmas Eve
Tuesday, December 25
16 Amazon Holiday Movies To Stream
Amazon has holiday films galore to stream, so Country Living has picked the 16 best that come included with your Amazon Prime membership. They range from “A Christmas Carol” and “Scrooged” to “Home Alone.”
This list is courtesy of the holiday TV website christmastvschedule.com and Pop Sugar, along with the Hallmark Channel, Freeform and UP TV.
Lead image credit in clockwise order: Snap Stills/REX/Shutterstock; Alan Markfield/New Line Prods./Kobal/REX/Shutterstock; Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock; 20th Century Fox/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock