Looking for that special bit of Christmas cheer at the movies this month? Look no further – we have your ultimate guide to all the Christmas films in cinemas right now.
Prefer staying at home? Check out all the new Christmas films available to stream now.
Christmas films showing now:
New Christmas Films
Red One
Dwayne Johnson reunites with the director of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle for this Christmas flick, co-starring Chris Evans, Lucy Liu and J.K. Simmons. After a villain kidnaps Santa from the North Pole, an E.L.F (Extremely Large and Formidable) operative (Johnson) must partner with the world’s most accomplished tracker (Evans) to find Santa and save Christmas.
Director: Jake Kasdan
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu.
Classification: CTC
Country: USA
Runtime: 123m
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
The absolute worst kids in the history of the world are taking over their local church Pageant – and they just might unwittingly teach a shocked community the true meaning of Christmas.
Director: Dallas Jenkins
Cast: Judy Greer, Lauren Graham, Pete Holmes
Classification: G
Country: Canada
Runtime: 100m
Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point
On Christmas Eve, a family gathers for what could be the last holiday in their ancestral home. As the night wears on and generational tensions arise, one of the teenagers sneaks out with her friends to claim the wintry suburb for her own.
Director: Tyler Taormina
Cast: Elsie Fisher, Michael Cera
Classification: PG
Country: USA
Runtime: 107m
ScreenHub: Australian cinemas celebrate biggest weekend since Barbenheimer
5 December
André Rieu’s 2024 Christmas Concert: Gold & Silver
Celebrate the holiday season with The King of Walz, André Rieu, his Johann Strauss Orchestra, and with special guest artists, including the talented Emma Kok.
Director: André Rieu, Michel Fizzano
Cast: André Rieu
Classification: E
Country: Netherlands
Runtime: 180 mins
7 December
The Australian Ballet: The Nutcracker
Tchaikovsky’s last ballet score, with its famous motifs and melodies, draws us into the story of Clara, a young ballet student celebrating with her family on Christmas Eve. When the clock strikes twelve, we enter the dream realm, where Clara’s Nutcracker doll comes to life, taking her on a thrilling adventure where she encounters the Rat King before being whisked away to the Land of Sweets and into the arms of her Nutcracker Prince.
Veteran designer John F Macfarlane exquisitely evokes the world of this picture-perfect ballet: whirling snowflakes, crackling fires, band-box soldiers, a Christmas tree that grows until it brushes the ceiling and a Sugar Plum Fairy in luscious candy-floss pink.
Director: Sir Peter Wright
Classification: CTC
Country: Australia
Runtime: 130m
21 December
Royal Ballet & Opera 2024-25: The Nutcracker
Discover the enchantment of ballet with this sparkling festive treat for the whole family. Julia Trevelyan Oman’s period designs bring festive charm to the production.
Director: Peter Wright
Cast: Marcelino Sambé, Anna Rose O’Sullivan
Classification: CTC
Country: UK
Runtime: 165m
Christmas retrospectives
A selection of old classics that are back in cinemas for a limited time only.
Die Hard + Die Hard 2: Die Harder (Cinema Nova or The Astor for both films; Lido; Ritz for first film only, and more)
NYPD officer John McClane (Willis) tries to save his wife and her colleagues when a group of German terrorists take a Christmas party hostage at Los Angeles’ Nakatomi Plaza. Making a movie star of Willis when Die Hard became a smash hit in 1988, it was also the feature debut of Alan Rickman as charismatic terrorist ringleader Hans Gruber.
Director: John McTiernan
Cast: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman
Classification: M
Country: USA
Runtime: 132m
History repeats when John McClane finds himself in the midst of another terrorist takeover, this time at Washington D.C.’s Dulles International Airport in the midst of the Christmas rush. And, wouldn’t you know it, his wife (Bonnie Bedilia) is on-board one of the planes caught up in the emergency. Are you ready to Die Harder this holiday season?
Director: Renny Harlin
Cast: Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia
Classification: CM
Country: USA
Runtime: 124m
Love Actually (Lido; Cameo; Classic Cinemas; Ritz and more)
Eightly loosely interrelated tales all collide during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England. Eight London couples try to deal with their relationships in different ways. Their tryst with love makes them discover how complicated relationships can be.
Director: Richard Curtis
Cast: Emma Thompson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Laura Linney, Hugh Grant, Rowan Atkinson, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson
Classification: M
Country: UK
Runtime: 135m
ScreenHub: New Christmas films to stream for 2024
Tokyo Godfathers (Lido; Classic Cinemas; Ritz and more)
Middle-aged alcoholic Gin, teenage runaway Miyuki and former drag queen Hana are a trio of homeless people surviving as a makeshift family on the streets of Tokyo. While rummaging in the trash for food on Christmas Eve, they stumble upon an abandoned newborn baby in a garbage bin. With only a handful of clues to the baby’s identity, the three misfits search the streets of Tokyo for help in returning the baby to its parents.
Director: Satoshi Kon
Cast: Tôru Emori, Yoshiaki Umegaki
Classification: M
Country: Japan
Runtime: 88m
It’s A Wonderful Life (Ritz; Lido; Cameo; The Astor and more)
Beset with personal and professional problems, George Bailey finds his previously happy life falling apart around him on Christmas Eve. Seeing no way out, George considers suicide from the edge of a bridge – but Clarence, his guardian angel, intervenes and shows George what his beloved hometown of Bedford Falls would be like without him. Shocked by what he sees and at the unforeseen circumstances of his absence, George reconsiders and begs Clarence to return him to the problems of the present and the loving community he has fostered throughout his life.
Director: Frank Capra
Cast: James Stewart, Donna Reed
Classification: PG
Country: USA
Runtime: 130m
Carol (Ritz; Lido and more)
Based on Patricia Highsmith’s novella The Price of Salt about the burgeoning relationship between two very different women in 1950s New York. One, a girl in her 20s working in a department store who dreams of a more fulfilling life, and the other, a wife trapped in a loveless, moneyed marriage desperate to break free.
Director: Todd Haynes
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara
Classification: M
Country: USA/UK
Runtime: 118m
The Muppet Christmas Carol (Moonlight Cinemas; The Astor Theatre and more)
The Muppet characters tell their version of the classic Dickens tale of an old and bitter miser’s redemption on Christmas Eve.
Director: Brian Henson
Cast: Michael Caine, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz
Classification: G
Country: USA
Runtime: 85m
The Grinch (Moonlight Cinemas and more)
On the outskirts of Whoville, there lives a green, revenge-seeking Grinch who plans on ruining the Christmas holiday for all of the citizens of the town.
Director: Ron Howard
Cast: Jim Carrey, Christine Baranski
Classification: PG
Country: USA/Germany
Runtime: 104m
Check your local cinema’s website for accurate dates and times of movie showings. Many of the films listed here are also playing at other cinemas all over Australia.
