Movies like It Nearly Wasn't Christmas (1989)
The best movies like It Nearly Wasn't Christmas (1989) are A Veteran's Christmas (2018), The Bridge Part 2 (2016) and The Bridge (2015). If It Nearly Wasn't Christmas hooked you with its drama and tv movie, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLucy Shimmers and the Prince of Peace (2020)8.4/10 from 385 votes
- NewestSugar Plum Twist (2021)Released 2021
A Veteran's Christmas (2018)
Captain Grace Garland, a decorated U.S. veteran, returns home after two tours of Search and Rescue in Afghanistan. After being separated from her beloved K9 partner, Grace must rediscover the magic of Christmas. When she finds herself stranded in the town of River’s Crossing a couple weeks before Christmas, the local judge, Joe Peterson, offers her a place to stay on his property and takes it upon himself to show Grace everything she has been missing; Christmas, family, community, and love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bridge Part 2 (2016)
The second-half of the movie picks up in the present day, seven years later, with Ryan returning home from being on the road touring as a professional singer and Molly working at her father's corporation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bridge (2015)
The sweeping tale of Molly Callens and Ryan Kelly, two young students who share a profound friendship their first semester in college, a time that becomes the defining moment of their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChristmas in Angel Falls (2017)
Gabby Messinger, a Guardian Angel who has trouble following the rules and is known for meddling in the love live’s of others, is tasked by the Angel Michael to help the town of Angel Falls find its Christmas spirit again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTalhotBlond (2012)
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNormal (2003)
A Midwestern husband and father announces his plan to have a sex change operation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this12 Days of Giving (2017)
A photographer uses his cash prize to anonymously give gifts, sparking a change in the community.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSound of Christmas (2016)
Lizzie is a young piano teacher working at a music school while trying to save enough money for a Steinway piano. The school is gearing up for their major Christmas fundraiser and she has committed much of her time to plan the event. One afternoon, she meets Brad who takes an interest in her playing and asks if she will teach his uninterested teenage daughter. She begins to break through to the young girl, and sparks begin to fly with Brad, but she is shocked to find out that his interest is not solely in her playing, but in the property that houses the music school. She sets out to save the school and the event, but can she work things out with Brad?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCheaters (2000)
In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic competition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNovember Christmas (2010)
A young father asks for pumpkins at the local farm stand. "In August? No." the farmer replies. The farmer ruminates on the odd request and gets involved with strangers for the first time since his son's death long ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Year Without a Santa Claus (1974)
Feeling forgotten by the children of the world, old St. Nick decides to skip his gift-giving journey and take a vacation. Mrs. Claus and two spunky little elves, Jingle and Jangle, set out to see to where all the season's cheer has disappeared. Aided by a magical snowfall, they reawaken the spirit of Christmas in children's hearts and put Santa back in action.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMiracle on 34th Street (1994)
Six-year-old Susan Walker has doubts about childhood's most enduring miracle—Santa Claus. Her mother told her the secret about Santa a long time ago, but, after meeting a special department store Santa who's convinced he's the real thing, Susan is given the most precious gift of all—something to believe in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHelp for the Holidays (2012)
Although she loves Christmas, Santa’s elf Christine (Summer Glau) wonders if there could be more to life than making toys in the North Pole. When Santa receives an emergency wish from a little boy in Los Angeles, he puts Christine on a special assignment, sending her to L.A. to give the VanCamp family—mom Sara (Eva La Rue), dad Scott (Dan Gauthier), and their two kids Ally (Izabela Vidovic) and Will (Mason Cook)—a holiday wake-up call. Will Christine fail her assignment and be sent back to the North Pole for good, or will the VanCamps come to their senses about the meaning of Christmas?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHogfather (2007)
It's the night before Hogswatch, usually a time of joy on Discworld, but there are suspicious going-on and the criminal underworld is abuzz. The beloved Hogfather - the jolly bearer of glee and pork-related gifts for children everywhere - has vanished. Suddenly, Discworld's entire mythical system is under threat. The fate of this magical time rests in the hands of a very motley group: A band of wizards headed up by a mystical university president named Mustrum Ridcully (Joss Ackland), a loyal manservant called Albert (David Jason), a level-headed governess called Susan Sto Heilt (Michelle Dockery), and her grandfather, who happens to be - Death (Marnix van den Broeke).
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Christmas Carol (1997)
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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLucy Shimmers and the Prince of Peace (2020)
Second chances start when a hardened criminal crosses paths with a precocious little girl who is helped by an angel to change hearts during the holiday season.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSanta Claus Is Comin' to Town (1970)
A postman, S.D. Kluger, decides to answer some of the most common questions about Santa Claus, and tells us about a baby named Kris who is raised by a family of elf toymakers named Kringle. When Kris grows up, he wants to deliver toys to the children of Sombertown. But its Mayor is too mean to let that happen. And to make things worse, the Winter Warlock lives between the Kringles and Sombertown.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNorthpole (2014)
Northpole, the magical city where Santa and his elves live and work is in trouble. Families around the globe have gotten too busy to enjoy the season together, and Northpole depends on their holiday happiness to keep running. In the hopes of turning things around, a determined young elf befriends a little boy with a lot of spirit. His skeptical journalist mom doesn’t have room in her heart for anything but the facts, so it’s going to take a little nudge from his charming teacher to create an unbeatable Christmas team to turn around this town and share the importance of the season with the whole world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDoctor Who: Last Christmas (2014)
The Doctor and Clara face their Last Christmas. Trapped on an Arctic base, under attack from terrifying creatures, who are you going to call? Santa Claus!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPrancer (1989)
Jessica, the daughter of an impoverished apple farmer, still believes in Santa Claus. So when she comes across a reindeer with an injured leg, it makes perfect sense to her to assume that it is Prancer, who had fallen from a Christmas display in town. She hides the reindeer in her barn and feeds it cookies, until she can return it to Santa. Her father finds the reindeer and decides to sell it to the butcher, not for venison chops, but as an advertising display.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChristmas Time Is Here (2021)
Nia Moore ia a successful small-town real estate agent trying to sell a resort to her client, Julian. Much to Nia's dismay, the only resort that Julian wants to buy belongs to her widower father, Patrick. Patrick is ready to retire, but Nia wants to keep the property and the family memories it holds.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Debbie Macomber's A Mrs. Miracle Christmas (2021)
When a family faces loneliness and loss of faith, Mrs. Miracle swoops in to renew their Christmas Spirit, and they experience a holiday of heavenly proportions.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
You, Me and the Christmas Trees (2021)
An arborist helps a fourth generation Christmas tree farmer whose evergreens are dying just before the holiday. As she tries to get to the root of the problem before the town tree lighting, they begin to fall in love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Sugar Plum Twist (2021)
After failing to get the coveted role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in this year's production of The Nutcracker, Vivíana Serrano joins forces with Natalia, to create a surprise reprise of the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy...with a Latin twist.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Rocky Mountain Christmas (2017)
Sarah Davis heads to her uncle’s struggling ranch to escape New York and the spotlight from a recent breakup. Returning home for the first time since her aunt passed, complications arise when Graham, an entitled Hollywood star, arrives at the ranch to prepare for his next film. As Sarah and Graham start to bond, Sarah may get more for Christmas than she bargained for.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMuch Ado About Christmas (2021)
Haley is a wealthy heiress known for her acts of kindness. Haley meets hopeless romantic Claud, and she keeps her wealthy family a secret. When Claud pitches an ad campaign to Haley's mom and Haley's secrets are revealed, things get...complicated.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Royally Wrapped For Christmas (2021)
Lindsay Palmer, the NY director of an international charity organization, is called to the Kingdom of Veronia by the royal family who runs the foundation to interview for the job of overseeing the whole operation. As Lindsay is put through the interview process, she ends up finding true love with the prince.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
A Kindhearted Christmas (2021)
Jamie owns a sightseeing and tour company in the small town of Cooperville, New York. Navigating the holidays with enthusiasm is trickier for Jamie since her husband Matt passed. Matt loved Christmas and found unparalleled joy in giving to others. While reminiscing with family, Jamie realizes the town desperately needs someone with Matt’s genius for thinking of the small gestures that bring genuine happiness to the holidays.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Christmas Snowman (2017)
After wishing for the perfect man, a woman awakes to discover her new handsome neighbor is actually the snowman she built the day before, who has now come to life. But when she awakes on Christmas morning, he is gone and the snowman is back. Could it all have been a dream?
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Bing Crosby Show (1962)
Bing Crosby celebrates the holidays by starring in his first color special. This time the show concluded with an extended holiday-themed segment featuring Bing and his guests, Mary Martin, Andre Previn, and The United Nations Children’s Choir.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like It Nearly Wasn't Christmas?
The closest matches to It Nearly Wasn't Christmas are A Veteran's Christmas (2018), The Bridge Part 2 (2016) and The Bridge (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after It Nearly Wasn't Christmas?
Start with A Veteran's Christmas (2018), the closest match to It Nearly Wasn't Christmas.
What is the highest-rated movie like It Nearly Wasn't Christmas?
Lucy Shimmers and the Prince of Peace (2020), rated 8.4/10 by 385 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like It Nearly Wasn't Christmas?
Sugar Plum Twist (2021) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like It Nearly Wasn't Christmas?
Yes: A Veteran's Christmas (2018), The Bridge Part 2 (2016) and The Bridge (2015).
How are movies similar to It Nearly Wasn't Christmas chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside It Nearly Wasn't Christmas, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.