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Holiday movies are all about warmth, love, togetherness, and joy. Then again, they’re also about family drama, revenge on exes, and even cheesy memories from the 1980s. In short, holiday movies are a mixed bag of whatever you want them to be. Hulu has a pretty solid collection of holiday movies, and the list expands even more if you have the streamer’s premium subscriptions to Live TV, HBO Max, Showtime, or Starz. For our picks of the best holiday movies on Hulu, though, you don’t need anything more than the base subscription.
Though holiday movies can span all genres, the selection on Hulu is largely the cheesy romance films that are perfect for watching when you want a good happy cry or just need a pick-me-up. The formulaic movies may be predictable in their happy endings, but during the holidays, that’s more than OK. Below, find our picks for the best holiday movies on Hulu and pick which one you’ll watch first once you’re snuggled up in your holiday PJs with a mug of hot cocoa in your hand.
You can also look at our massive collection of recommendations, or our list of suggestions of what to watch next based on shows you already like.
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Happiest Season
Hulu’s new original holiday movie for 2020, Happiest Season, has an extremely stacked cast. Kristen Stewart stars as the girlfriend being brought home for Christmas for the first time, only to find out that her girlfriend hasn’t exactly been truthful about her home life. Mackenzie Davis plays the girlfriend, Schitt’s Creek‘s Dan Levy plays the hilarious best friend who comes to the rescue, Aubrey Plaza plays the distraction from it all, and Mary Steenburgen and Victor Garber costar as the quirky parents. (Watch on Hulu)
Abominable
Abominable may be an animated movie, but it’s one designed for everyone in the family. The winter-themed flick sees three friends who discover a yeti — named Everest, of course — and set out on the journey of a lifetime to bring him home to his family. This sweet and uplifting film will bring you all that same comfort and joy that the holidays do without being about any of the holidays at all. (Watch on Hulu)
The Christmas Calendar
Now this is a Christmas movie that’s so sweet it’ll rot your teeth! Laura Bell Bundy stars as Emily, a bakery owner who’s struggling to keep her business afloat. She meets a hunky French baker who has his own bakery nearby. Amid their hot-and-cold relationship, Emily gets a mysterious Christmas calendar delivered to her that brings her all the feels — and a slew of new customers. The question is, what’s going to happen with the hot French guy?! (Watch on Hulu)
A Very Brady Christmas
No holiday season is complete without A Very Brady Christmas. Listen, the 94-minute, made-for-TV movie is about as cheesy as the Brady Bunch TV show always was, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less awesome. Made in 1988, the holiday movie brings all the Brady kids back home for Christmas, plus their families. It’s actually quite a comforting look at how their lives turned out for them years later and is a must-watch during the holidays. (Watch on Hulu)
Girlfriends of Christmas Past
Pretty Little Liars’ Tammin Sursok gets dumped right before Christmas. Talk about a bummer. Instead of wallowing in her self-pity, she decides to get revenge on her ex. After linking up with two of his other ex-girlfriends, the three set out to give him the worst Christmas ever. Naturally, other hijinks ensue, as well as a bit of a Christmas crush. (Watch on Hulu)
The Spirit of Christmas
All Kate wanted to do was sell the inn — she had no idea there’d be a ghost living in it. During her snow-capped Christmas stay at the idyllic inn, she gets to know the trapped, handsome ghost and tries to help him figure out how he died. This movie is sweet if not a little absurd, but will give you the ghostly warm fuzzies! (Watch on Hulu)
Merry Liddle Christmas Wedding
The sequel to Lifetime’s Merry Liddle Christmas is the winter wedding Jacquie and Tyler have dreamed of… sort of. The couple, played by Kelly Rowland and Thomas Cadrot, have grand plans for a destination wedding, but the planning doesn’t go smoothly — in fact, the wedding planner full-on quits, thanks to the stress of the bride’s family. So does the wedding actually happen? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out. (Watch on Hulu)
This Christmas
Like the movie’s tagline says, “There’s nothing like the holidays to make you want to come home, and nothing like your relatives to make you wish you hadn’t.” This all-too-real holiday movie shows exactly what it’s like to come back home for the holidays, where everything’s a little different than how you left it… and so are the people. The cast on this movie is huge, from top to bottom, with names like Idris Elba, Regina King, Columbus Short, Mekhi Phifer, and more. (Watch on Hulu)
A Nasty Piece of Work
As part of Hulu’s Into the Dark collection, A Nasty Piece of Work brings the horror genre to Christmas. When two men (and their significant others) are invited over for a holiday dinner party, they had no idea the evening’s entertainment was going to be a game of survival … literally. The offbeat horror even allows Christmas music to play as background noise as blood flies around and screaming tries to drown it out. Merry Christmas, indeed. (Watch on Hulu)
Feliz NaviDAD
You have to love a play on words! Mario Lopez stars as a single dad in this Lifetime movie. Not only is he the school principal, but he’s an all-around decent dude, so of course his kid wants to set him up this holiday season. While Dad’s road to love is enjoyable, if not a bit saccharine, his relationship with his daughter steals the show. (Watch on Hulu)
The Man Who Invented Christmas
Do you know the story behind the most iconic Christmas story? The Man Who Invented Christmas is just that. Dan Stevens stars as Charles Dickens, during the time he was writing A Christmas Carol. Drawing inspiration from everywhere around him, including envisioning Christopher Plummer‘s character as the memorably grouchy Ebenezer Scrooge, a young Dickens dreams up what would someday become the most famous Christmas story, told each year through a variety of mediums. Though totally fictionalized, we like to think this film could be true, at least to an extent. The rest… well, that’s just the magic of Christmas. (Watch on Hulu)
These are just some of the Christmas and holiday movies on Hulu you’ll find if you browse around. If you’re looking for even more streaming holiday and Christmas movies, check out our suggestions for Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video.
Stop searching, start watching! TV Guide’s Watch This Now! page has even more TV recommendations.