The methodology is simple: Christmas movies that were released in December, November, or the tail end of Fall (sorry, but The Nightmare Before Christmas' 10/29/93 release is counting toward Christmas) don't count. Everything else does.
Release Date (U.S.): 2/8/2008
This is one of those smaller movies that was lucky to get any kind of major release. The placement wasn't going to matter much. Besides, it's one of many cases in this list of Christmas time as a backdrop, not a focus.
Release Date (U.S.): 2/25/2000
This was supposed to be released for Christmas of 1999 but was pushed back a couple months in order to film a better ending. That title is far less clever in February.
Release Date (U.S.): 3/6/1987
It climaxes at Christmas time and Riggs spending Christmas Day with the Murtaughs is an easy way to milk some emotion out of the ending. This is more of an action movie than anything though so the release date is meaningless.
Release Date (U.S.): 4/21/1995
A significant amount of the movie takes place between Christmas and New Year's. That isn't the center of the movie though. It's understandable why there wasn't a need to get holiday real estate.
Release Date (U.S.): 4/26/2002
Christmas is all over this movie. Hell, Will live's his life off the royalties of his dad's famous Christmas song. I'm not entirely sure why they didn't look for a Christmas release for this. Perhaps they wanted to avoid confusion about the tone of the movie. It's more somber than your standard Christmas movie.
Release Date (U.S.): 5/2/1947
This Christmas classic was apparently held until the spring because the studio head at the time believed people were more likely to go to the movies in warmer weather. They ran with that idea and even kept quiet about the Christmas setting in the publicity leading up to it.
Release Date (U.S.): 6/8/1983
A good portion of the movie takes place between Christmas and New Year's, which is when it climaxes. Again, this is another case where the focus isn't on the fact that's it's Christmas time, so a release date near it wasn't vital.
Release Date (U.S.): 6/8/1984
Yet another case of a Christmas setting being used for flavor without really being about Christmas. This is as much a big summer movie as it could be called a Christmas one.
Release Date (U.S.): 6/19/1992
The cold climate appeals to a penguin, so it makes sense that the Christmas tree lighting ceremony sets the movie off. However, this is summer blockbuster through and through.
Release Date (U.S.): 7/15/1988
This is regularly considered one of the best Christmas movies ever. I'd phrase it a little differently, but for the purpose of this list, it'll do. The Christmas Eve setting is mostly out of necessity to help setup John McClane vs. the world, but they make sure to fill the sets and soundtrack with as much Christmas as they can.
Release Date (U.S.): 7/4/1990
It basically takes place on Christmas Eve because the original movie did. There was no point to that. Thankfully, by the third movie they dropped that.
Release Date (U.S.): 8/8/1942
The movie is about an inn open only on the holidays, I believe (I haven't seen it). Christmas is included in that, but there's more to it. Frankly, I think the reason this shows up on so many Christmas Classics lists is because it's the movie that gave us Bing Crosby's "White Christmas".
Release Date (U.S.): 10/11/1996
Look, it's not a Christmas movie. A big part of the movie takes place on Christmas, which is enough to give it consideration here. It's not about Christmas though, so the release date is pretty meaningless. I just really like the movie and wanted to mention it.
Release Date (U.S.): 10/14/1954
This is right on the cusp of my cut off point. I have to imagine this came out so early in the season because the release model was much different back then. This was certain to be a big hit, so it could stay viable in theaters for several months. Still, it's odd to see it released so far away from December 25th.
No comments:
Post a Comment