Watching Christmas movies is as much a tradition for many Americans as decorating trees, sharing gifts, and holiday cooking. According to Fielding Graduate University, more than half of the population says they watch at least five movies during the holiday season. Also, holiday movies are known to boost mood and relieve symptoms of depression by providing an escape from daily stressors and increasing perspective-taking.
Each year, classic Christmas movies such as Home Alone, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Elf, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas receive $65 – 200 million each year and great reviews across various review pages. For example, A Charlie Brown Christmas from 1965 received 86% on Rotten Tomatoes.
In contrast, new films such as Candy Cane Lane, created in 2023, received 46%. The question arises, will these “classic” movies be the classics forever, or will the modern movies we know now become the classics?
Mr. Bergman, the film study teacher, believes new films struggle because they focus too much on consumerism. He argues that he has no interest in movies that celebrate consumerism, explicitly or implicitly, and believes it turns viewers off.
“A holiday film should evoke a sense of joy, family, and love,” said Bergman. To him, the classics achieve this.
Movie theater attendance is one of many reasons why older movies are more nostalgic and better than modern movies. Between 2000 and 2019, ticket sales were on a slow decline, from 5 per person per year to 3.7 in 2019. This decrease demonstrates people’s loss of interest in movies. One of the reasons people rewatch movies, especially during the holidays, is to relive memories.
From numerous Morgan students, the reason people continue to watch classic movies, in general, is they get that sense of nostalgia and warmth that modern movies can’t provide.
Sophomore Nora Winsor rewatches National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation every year, saying “It is a tradition for me and my family because it is so funny and reminds me of the good Christmas times we sometimes forget about nowadays.”
One company in particular is trying to push against the nostalgia trend – creating successful holiday movies year after year: the Hallmark Company. According to the media firm Nielsen Holdings in 2021 estimated that more than 80 million people watch at least a few minutes of a Hallmark movie each Christmas season. There are currently 307 original Hallmark Christmas movies.
Sophomore Taylor Breen who is a big Christmas fan rewatches Disney’s Frozen every year because she receives that Nostalgia from the movie and it means a lot to her because of the memories made behind it. Taylor remembers watching this movie in theaters with her family and when she was young it was a core memory for her.
Breen states “My family and I have a tradition every Christmas to rewatch Frozen because we watched it in theaters years ago and watching it makes me remember the memories behind it.”