10 Best New Christmas Movies 2020

Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey star as Sloane and Jackson, two strangers who cook up a plan to be each other’s fake family holiday dates. They pledge to be each other’s “holidates” (yes, the word is bad, but the idea is good) for every upcoming holiday in the new year. Did you guess that they end up catching feelings for each other somewhere along the way? You’re such a plot genius.

Did someone say they really want to watch a Christmas musical featuring Forest Whitaker, Keegan-Michael Key, Ricky Martin, Phylicia Rashad, Hugh Bonneville, and more? Oh, you hadn’t ever thought of such a thing? Well, here you go anyway. This film follows the story of Jeronicus Jangle (Whitaker) whose apprentice (Key) steals his best inventions, and it’s up to Jangle’s granddaughter (Madalen Mills) to fix things. She’s joined by one of Jangle’s old inventions, a robot who appears to be some kind of cross between WALL-E and E.T.

The sequel to the 2018 Vanessa Hudgens Parent Trap-esque take on Christmas sees Duchess Margaret inherit the throne of Montenaro (fake town, somehow sounds real), and her lookalike, Stacy, has to step in to save the day before yet another lookalike, Fiona, ruins everything. Wait, so are we supposed to believe there are three people out there who look just like Vanessa Hudgens? I still want this movie to be about a pillow princess queer woman who learns to become a switch. *Shrug*.

When her cousin Francesca has to cancel the big opening of her Italian restaurant on Christmas Eve, Natalie (Anni Krueger) makes it her mission to make the event happen. But she’s up against Chef Stefano (Gilles Marini), who believes the Christmas Eve deadline is impossible. Despite their differences, they have to come together to try to make some Christmas magic happen—and maybe cook up a little love, too. How was that? Could I write cheesy Lifetime movie blurbs for a living?

Dolly Parton managed to put out both a holiday album and a movie this year. She’s serious about Christmas 2020, so we better pay attention. Christine Baranski plays a “wealthy and unpleasant woman” who comes home after her father’s death. She meets an angel (Parton, obviously), who kicks off a change of heart and even rekindles an old romance. Remember Christine Baranski aiming a Christmas-light gun at her roof in How the Grinch Stole Christmas? The woman belongs in charming holiday movies.

This is a documentary about the USPS’s Operation Santa project, which gathers kids’ letters to Santa to send replies and as many gifts as possible to kids in need. In a year when the USPS is under threat, this film will tug on your holiday heartstrings extra hard.

Rebecca Dalton plays an unemployed art teacher who takes a job with the Santa Squad. Her assignment? Lift the spirits of a wealthy widower named Gordon (Aaron Ashmore). As she plays a Maria von Trapp of sorts to this broken family, she also finds true love. Just like…Maria von Trapp.

Mandy Leeds (Jonna Walsh) is a successful hotelier who’s usually way too busy to come home for the holidays. (Trope? Where?) This year, she has a reason to go home: The local inn is for sale. But when she tries to buy it, she runs into Lucas, her high school rival, who also wants to buy it. Anyone else smell a rivals-to-lovers plot point here? Duh.