1898 

The first Christmas movie was released. It was a one minute British silent movie about Santa delivering presents to two kids. This is the beginning of Christmas in the cinema. 

1900-1920 

This time is filled with early adaptations of A Christmas Carol and The Night Before Christmas.

1960-1985 

A timely tradition in many homes started this year. Rankin/Bass Productions released their stop motion classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer! Four years later, they released The Little Drummer Boy. In 1969, Rankin/Bass went more traditional with their Christmas special, an animated adaptation of Frosty the Snowman. A year later, they released Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town. Four years after that, in 1974, they released The Year Without Santa Claus. Five years later Jack Frost  was released. In 1985,the last Rankin/Bass Christmas special was released, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus.

1990 

John Hughes created 1990’s Home Alone and 1992’s Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. These movies focus on the importance of a family celebrating Christmas together. Next there is 1996’s Jingle All the Way. We end off the 90’s with 1999’s The Nuttiest Nutcracker.

2000

We start off the new millennium with Jim Carrey’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas. This next movie is about Hanukkah.  It is 2002’s Addams Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights. We go on with 2003’s Elf. We head into 2004 with The Polar Express.

2010

We arrive in the 2010’s with 2011’s Authors Christmas. We go on to 2018 with The Grinch. We end off the 2010’s with a Netflix movie from 2019, Klaus.

As we can see, Christmas movies have changed so much through the years. Who knew they were making Christmas movies in the 1890s. And who knows what the 2020s will bring for Christmas movies.