Top 10 Christmas Movies on Netflix in the US (2026)

Isaac, a struggling pastor played by Durrell "Tank" Babbs, inherits his family's church in a troubled New York neighbourhood and moves there with his wife Rebecca (Fantasia Barrino) at the start of the holidays, battling doubt, temptation and a sinister adversary to save the congregation. Tyler Perry writes and directs — his third holiday film — and the real headline is the music: Kirk Franklin produces, and the choir Perry assembled is an Avengers-level line-up of gospel legends. It is the only 2026 Netflix Christmas original built around faith, which is exactly why it ranks this high.

Best for: Gospel fans, church groups, and anyone who wants Christmas music with real voices.

Watch out for: It is a music-first movie — long performance sequences are the point, not padding. Schedule it when you can actually listen.

Vote: Should a faith-and-music Christmas film rank above the big romances? Vote.

Legendary toymaker Jeronicus Jangle is betrayed by his apprentice, loses his book of inventions, his shop and eventually his spark — until his granddaughter Journey arrives one Christmas determined to make his final invention, the Buddy 3000, work. Written and directed by David E. Talbert and built as a full original musical, with songs by John Legend and Philip Lawrence, it stars Forest Whitaker as Jeronicus, Madalen Mills as Journey and Keegan-Michael Key as the thieving apprentice Gustafson. Big, bright and sincere, it is the most rewatchable film here for younger children.

Best for: Musical lovers and families with children aged roughly six and up.

Watch out for: Start it early in the evening — two hours plus a small child's attention span is a negotiation.

Vote: Best Christmas musical on Netflix, or does The Gospel of Christmas take that title now? Vote.

In Wellington-on-Sea, a snowy Suffolk seaside town, three storylines intertwine over one blizzard-hit Christmas: a shy new boy adjusting to his parents' divorce, twin sisters — one anxious, one mischievous — and a town preparing its school play while parents are stranded by the storm. Brian Cox voices a warm, no-nonsense Santa. Directed by Simon Otto in his feature debut, written by Richard Curtis and Peter Souter from Curtis's own children's books, and scored by John Powell, it is the quiet film on this list — the one parents reach for when the house needs calm, not chaos.

Best for: Younger children, tired parents, and anyone who wants Curtis without the rom-com machinery.

Watch out for: The divorce storyline is tender but real — sensitive households may want to know it is there.

Vote: The calmest film on the list — does calm deserve the top five? Vote.

Los Angeles dating columnist Natalie Bauer flies to Lake Placid, New York, to surprise Josh, the man she has fallen for on a dating app — and discovers Josh catfished her using his friend Tag's photos. The deal she strikes, posing as Josh's girlfriend for the holidays while he sets her up with Tag, drives a comedy that is smarter about online dating than its premise suggests. Nina Dobrev plays Natalie, Jimmy O. Yang is Josh, Darren Barnet is Tag, and director Hernán Jiménez keeps the joke count high. The title, by the way, is a mash-up of *Love Actually* and *Die Hard* — the leads' favourite Christmas films.

Best for: Rom-com fans and anyone whose group chat has a dating-app horror story.

Watch out for: The fake-engagement spiral is cringe comedy — if second-hand embarrassment hurts, pick Jingle Jangle instead.

Vote: Funny, but is it a *Christmas* film or a rom-com that happens at Christmas? Vote.

Maelyn "Mae" Jones is stuck — living with her parents, hating her dead-end job, fresh off a romantic mistake — and facing the last Christmas at the Utah cabin her family has shared since she was born. Driving away, she begs the universe to show her what would make her happy, crashes, and wakes up on the plane back to the start of the holiday. Again. And again. Maddie Ziegler plays Mae in Tiffany Paulsen's adaptation of Christina Lauren's 2020 novel — a Groundhog Day structure at Christmas, the most modern premise among the 2026 originals.

Best for: Younger viewers, book-club readers of the novel, and loop-story fans.

Watch out for: Last of the five to land (2 December) — do not let November's titles crowd it out.

Vote: Time-loop Christmas: clever twist or gimmick? Vote.

Winstead, a basset hound voiced by Thomas Haden Church, narrates: grandfather Sander Goss (Dennis Quaid), widowed two Christmases ago and grumpier by the day, clashes with his teenage granddaughter Ello — until Ello's mother falls ill and is placed in an induced coma, and a corgi puppy named Ruby arrives to pull the family together. Mary Steenburgen plays Claire. Cathryn Michon directs the adaptation of W. Bruce Cameron's 2020 novel, reuniting the team behind *A Dog's Purpose* — and she has confirmed what dog owners need to hear: no dogs die in this one.

Best for: Dog owners, multigenerational viewing, anyone starting the season early.

Watch out for: A cry-at-the-end film about grief as much as Christmas — brief the room.

Vote: Does a dog automatically earn a top-five spot at Christmas? Vote.

Mathilda and Freddie Stjärne are sisters with wildly different personalities, forced to swap lives in the weeks before Christmas — and, out of their comfort zones, both rethink their choices and find love where they least expected it. The casting is the hook: the sisters are played by real-life twins Felice and Happy Jankell. Directed by Adam Pålsson and adapted from Eleonor Sager's audiobook *Christmas in St. Anna*, it is a Swedish production and the only non-English-language original in Netflix's 2026 Christmas line-up — the wildcard likely to be discovered by accident and loved by whoever finds it.

Best for: Princess Switch fans wanting the European original-article feel; subtitle-comfortable households.

Watch out for: Choose subtitles over the dub if you can — the performances are the selling point.

Vote: The only international film on the list — does it deserve higher? Vote.