Movies like It Happened One Christmas (1977)
The best movies like It Happened One Christmas (1977) are Carry On Christmas (1969), It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (1984) and A Christmas Karen (2022). If It Happened One Christmas hooked you with its tv movie and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Bishop's Wife (1947)7.1/10 from 294 votes
- NewestA Make or Break Holiday (2025)Released 2025
Carry On Christmas (1969)
Ebenezer Scrooge is a misery on Christmas, not allowing people money or doing anything to share Christmas cheer around his employees or acquaintances. While Scrooge is visited by three ghosts we see how his penny pinching has affected those around him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (1984)
Retired cop Mike Halligan decides to show his grandson, who has never seen snow before, what a real white Christmas in New York is like. But a sudden fatal heart attack derails those plans, and Halligan makes a deal with the Archangel of Heaven to return to Earth for a week until Christmas in order to give his grandson the seasonal glories of New York City.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
A Christmas Karen (2022)
Karen is an entitled middle-aged woman whose demanding nature has alienated her neighbors and family. After a series of instances displaying her privilege and prejudice, Karen receives an 'intervention' by some unconventional spirits.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Christmas Above the Clouds (2025)
When a workaholic CEO tries to skip Christmas by flying to Australia, she’s in for the flight of her life. Haunted by her past, present, and future, she’s forced to confront the choices that led to her success yet left her flying solo. With the help of three quirky spirits and a surprise reunion with her ex, she might just rediscover the magic of Christmas—and the love she thought she’d lost.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
A Mom for Christmas (1990)
A department store mannequin comes to life during the holiday season for a motherless little girl who wishes she had a mom for Christmas, and proceeds to charm her hard-working dad, too.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Christmas Carole (2022)
Carole Mackay is an unashamedly outspoken and wealthy entrepreneur. Her online business selling all things festive has earned her a fortune, as well as the nickname 'Christmas Carole'. But her success hasn't made her a better human being. In fact, it's made her worse. The truth is that Carole is a monumentally mean person. Positively Scrooge-like. And, just like Ebeneezer, she doesn't love Christmas at all. But this Christmas Eve, Carole's past, present and future are about to collide. Will some rather familiar Christmas spirits help her discover the true spirit of Christmas?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
A Christmas Carol (1977)
Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Christmas on Every Page (2025)
A big-city ad exec visits her hometown to rescue her family's bookstore. Working with a talented local artist on a holiday mural project, she rediscovers both her creative spark and her roots in the community.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
The Christmas Gift (1986)
A widowed New York City architect and his young daughter take a Christmas vacation and end up in a small mystical town in Colorado where everyone believes in Santa Claus.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus (1991)
While newspaper writer Church struggles with the death of his wife, he receives a "special" assignment. He must answer a little girl's question about whether Santa Claus really exists.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
A Christmas Carol (2000)
Loan shark Eddie Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Dear Santa (2011)
Crystal, a rich party girl, finds a little girl's letter to Santa asking for a new mother, and she vows to win over the father and daughter before the holidays.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSecret Santa (2003)
Newspaper reporter Rebecca Chandler, who feels she got no fair chance to prove her worth in her thee years career, looks forward to a Hawaian holiday with her fiancé Ryan, but instead of a ring he brings her- walking orders, he found better. So she accepts again to be the bachelor on duty in the Christmas season, and write the annual romantic non-news feel good-story, once more about the elusive Secret Santa in small-town Hamden, where the Christmas spirit it said to last all year. Bad luck follows her from Indianapolis: her car breaks down, she can only get lodgings in a home for the elderly without Internet, and nobody wants to help her unmask the secret Santa. Soon she guesses it must be the only rich philanthropist, but the popular Mr. John Martin Carter doesn't grant her an interview and isn't tricked either, in fact meets her at the worst repeatedly without her knowing him...
Why it matches: Fans watch both
A Christmas Carol (1971)
Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Worth the HypeMovies like this'Twas the Text Before Christmas (2023)
Addie is a New York City chiropractor mistakenly receives a text from “Nana.” The accidental text turns into a loving friendship between the matronly Nana and Addie who now communicate regularly. Nana invites Addie to spend the holiday in Vermont. It is picture-postcard perfect and exactly as Nana described except for one surprise. Nana’s single son, James, a traveling doctor is also home for the holidays. Over three consecutive years, James and Addie are together during the holidays, though it isn’t until they are both single that they begin to see each other in a different light.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMom's Christmas Boyfriend (2023)
Single mom Emma always puts others first, particularly her ten-year-old daughter Lily, who she adopted on her own. But when the precocious Lily wins a contest to have her Christmas wish granted, Emma’s life gets turned upside down…because Lily’s Christmas wish is for Emma to finally find true love!
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Meet The Santas (2005)
Because she is marrying the man who assumed the mantle of Santa Claus last December 26, Beth's postponed wedding has to be rescheduled for Xmas eve. Overwhelmed by selling the house she and her son share and the prospect of the duties of Mrs. Claus, she has to call on her estranged socialite Grinch of a mother to arrange the wedding. Of course her mom has never met the fiancé nor his family and has no inkling of his secret. This is a sequel to 2004's Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Falling in Love (1984)
During shopping for Christmas, Frank and Molly run into each other. This fleeting short moment will start to change their lives, when they recognize each other months later in the train home and have a good time together. Although both are married and Frank has two little kids, they meet more and more often, their friendship becoming the most precious thing in their lives.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Christmas Star (1986)
A counterfeiter finds the true meaning of the holidays.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
A Make or Break Holiday (2025)
Despite recently going on a break, couple Liv and Daniel had planned to host their families together for Christmas. So, they decide to keep their original plans and pretend to still be together for the holidays.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
A Heavenly Christmas (2016)
Upon her untimely death, a workaholic finds herself in training to be a Christmas Angel in Heaven. Despite being the worst recruit in the history of Christmas, she’s assigned a hard luck case. As she’s forced to help solve his problems, she’ll start to discover the meaning of Christmas and maybe even fall in love along the way.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Smoky Mountain Christmas (1986)
A country-western singer on a trip through the Tennessee mountains runs into a reclusive backwoodsman — and a witch.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
The Gathering (1977)
When Adam Thornton learns that he only has a little time left, he decides that he wants to make peace with his family. Only problem is that most of his family are not exactly fond of him because he walked out on his wife and of his stubborn nature and he hasn't spoken to his youngest son after having an argument with him which he was in the wrong but only realize after his son left and has not been heard from since. But he goes to her to help him find him. But when his doctor says that it won't be good for him to travel, she suggests that they invite them all for Christmas. While most of them come, Adam's attempt at reconciliation won't be easy.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
A Christmas Carol (2004)
Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChristmas Magic (2011)
Carrie Bishop, a successful event planner in New York City, is left unconscious after a car accident. In order to "pass over" to Heaven, she must help Scott Walker and his daughter Abby save their restaurant and find their Christmas spirit.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMerry Christmas, Ted Cooper! (2025)
A Christmas-loving weatherman has had a tough year; upon returning to his hometown, he bumps into a former teacher who always cheered him on, and his former crush — and things start to look up.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
The Preacher's Wife (1996)
Good-natured Reverend Henry Biggs finds that his marriage to choir mistress Julia is flagging, due to his constant absence caring for the deprived neighborhood they live in. On top of all this, his church is coming under threat from property developer Joe Hamilton. In desperation, Biggs prays to God for help – which arrives in the form of an angel named Dudley.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisAn American Christmas Carol (1979)
In Depression-era New England, a miserly businessman named Benedict Slade receives a long-overdue attitude adjustment one Christmas Eve when he is visited by three ghostly figures who resemble three of the people whose possessions Slade had seized to collect on unpaid loans. Assuming the roles of the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future from Charles Dickens' classic story, the three apparitions force Slade to face the consequences of his skinflint ways, and he becomes a caring, generous, amiable man.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnlikely Angel (1996)
A country singer dies prematurely, but cannot enter heaven until she performs a good deed back on earth.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
The Bishop's Wife (1947)
An Episcopal Bishop, Henry Brougham, has been working for months on the plans for an elaborate new cathedral which he hopes will be paid for primarily by a wealthy, stubborn widow. He is losing sight of his family and of why he became a churchman in the first place. Enter Dudley, an angel sent to help him. Dudley does help everyone he meets, but not necessarily in the way they would have preferred. With the exception of Henry, everyone loves him, but Henry begins to believe that Dudley is there to replace him, both at work and in his family's affections, as Christmas approaches.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like It Happened One Christmas?
The closest matches to It Happened One Christmas are Carry On Christmas (1969), It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (1984) and A Christmas Karen (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after It Happened One Christmas?
People who watched It Happened One Christmas most often go on to Carry On Christmas (1969), It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (1984) and A Christmas Karen (2022).
What is the highest-rated movie like It Happened One Christmas?
The Bishop's Wife (1947), rated 7.1/10 by 294 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like It Happened One Christmas?
A Make or Break Holiday (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like It Happened One Christmas?
Yes: Carry On Christmas (1969), It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (1984) and A Christmas Karen (2022).
How are movies similar to It Happened One Christmas chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside It Happened One Christmas, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.