Whether you’ve been counting down the days or you’re head-in-hands about how quickly it’s come round, the inescapable truth is that we’re officially into low-budget Netflix Christmas movie season.
Yes, the coming weeks will see the streaming giant premiering its festive roster for 2024, including the third and final instalment in the deal Lindsay Lohan signed with Netflix a good few years ago.
If you’re holding off watching Christmas films until at least December, there’s still plenty else to keep you entertained on the platform this November though, whether you’re in the mood for Oscar-tipped dramas, yet more gripping true crime or arguably the most bizarre sporting event of 2024.
These are our top picks…
Meet Me Next Christmas (6 November)
Tell me more: The first of Netflix’s new Christmas offerings centres around a romantic cross-country trek in pursuit of a Pentatonix concert ticket (and, naturally, some Yuletide true love).
If the idea of a low-stakes festive movie with a soundtrack chock full of Christmas tunes done in Pentatonix’s polarising acapella style is a turn-off, this movie is probably one to swerve. For the rest of us, though, let the most wonderful time of the year commence.
Oh, and yes that is Christina “Dip It Low, Bring It Up Slow, Roll It All Around, Poke It Out, Let Your Back Roll” Milian in the lead role…
Netflix says: “In pursuit of a fairytale romance, Layla must race through New York City with the help of a handsome and friendly ticket concierge to get her hands on the hottest ticket in town: the sold-out Pentatonix Christmas Eve Concert.”
Emilia Pérez (13 November)
Tell me more: One of the early contenders expected to get some love at awards season in 2025, Emilia Pérez is an epic new musical that boasts an all-star cast including Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, Édgar Ramírez, Adriana Paz and Karla Sofía Gascón in her breakthrough performance as the titular Emilia.
The huge film centres around four women in a cartel in Mexico whose lives become intertwined thanks to a plot from the title character to fake her own death, in order to start a new life living as her authentic self.
Netflix says: “From renegade auteur Jacques Audiard comes Emilia Pérez, an audacious fever dream that defies genres and expectations.
“Through liberating song and dance and bold visuals, this odyssey follows the journey of four remarkable women in Mexico, each pursuing their own happiness. The fearsome cartel leader Emilia enlists Rita, an unappreciated lawyer stuck in a dead-end job, to help fake her death so that Emilia can finally live authentically as her true self.”
Return Of The King: The Fall And Rise Of Elvis Presley (13 November)
Tell me more: Between the films Elvis and Priscilla, the recently-released memoir from Lisa-Marie Presley and the new Elvis “experience” coming to London next year, there’s seemingly still plenty of appetite for new content centred around the so-called King Of Rock ’N Roll.
This particular documentary centres around Elvis’ comeback special in the late 1960s, reminding more casual fans of the events leading up to it, its cultural significance and aftermath.
Netflix says: “June of 1968 was perhaps the most significant crossroads of Elvis Presley’s storied career. His meteoric rise to superstardom in the mid-50s preceded his two-year tenure in the US Army starting in March 1958. When he returned in 1960, the country was on the precipice of a seismic shift.
“The decade brought with it a sea change to politics, pop culture and music. But instead of being at the epicentre of public discourse, Elvis was sidelined. Under the dogged guidance of manager Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis was busy making a slew of increasingly-monotonous Hollywood films. By 1968, he hadn’t performed in front of an audience in seven years. Elvis’ perch atop the mountain of popular music had been usurped. The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Motown, Hendrix and scores of other chart-topping acts had rendered Elvis a largely forgotten figure on the music landscape.
“So it was in that summer of 1968, that instead of recording a family-friendly Christmas programme at Parker’s behest, Elvis insisted on a return to his rock and roll roots; a live show celebrating the greatest hits of his past, and paving the way to an ambitious future. The result, later nicknamed The Elvis Presley Comeback Special is considered one of the greatest moments of Elvis’ career.
“Through in-depth interviews, unprecedented access to Elvis and the Colonel’s personal files, and rarely seen footage of the ’68 Special and its rehearsals, we’ll relive this pivotal time in the career of The King, and we’ll examine the furore and chaos of the 1960s through the lens of one of America’s most indelible cultural icons.”
The Merry Gentlemen (20 November)
Tell me more: Fresh from his appearance in the critically-panned Netflix rom-com Mother Of The Bride, Chad Michael Murray is teaming up for another genre flick with the streaming giant. And this time, all the fun is taking place at Christmas.
In fact, The Merry Gentlemen is part-The Full Monty, part-Magic Mike, part-Dolly Parton’s Christmas On The Square, with a young woman trying to save her parents’ performance space by putting on a festive show with a difference thanks to her local troupe of male strippers.
Netflix says: “To save her parents’ small-town performing venue, a former big-city dancer decides to stage an all-male, Christmas-themed revue.”
Joy (22 November)
Tell me more: This British historical drama from the creatives behind His Dark Materials and Sex Education takes place in the 1960s, and charts the invention of IVF treatment and the arrival of the first “test tube baby”.
Bill Nighy, James Norton and Thomasin McKenzie take the lead in a cast that also includes Tanya Moodie, Joanna Scanlan, Rish Shah and Call The Midwife star Ella Bruccoleri.
Netflix says: “Joy tells the remarkable true story behind the ground-breaking birth of Louise Joy Brown in 1978, the world’s first ‘test-tube- baby’, and the tireless 10-year journey to make it possible.
“Told through the perspective of Jean Purdy, a young nurse and embryologist, who joined forces with scientist Robert Edwards and surgeon Patrick Steptoe to unlock the puzzle of infertility by pioneering in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
“The film celebrates the power of perseverance and the wonders of science as it follows this maverick trio of visionaries who overcame tremendous odds and opposition to realise their dream, and in doing so allowed millions of people to dream with them.”
The Piano Lesson (22 November)
Tell me more: In this drama (based on the play by August Wilson, whose past work includes Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), a family is divided when it comes to what to do with a cherished piano that a brother and sister can’t agree on the fate of.
Till star Danielle Deadwyler is already getting Oscar buzz for her performance alongside a cast that includes John David Washington, Samuel L Jackson and Erykah Badu.
Netflix says: “A battle is brewing in the Charles Household. At the centre stands a prized heirloom piano tearing two siblings apart. On one side, a brother plans to build the family fortune by selling it. On the other, a sister will go to any lengths to hold onto the sole vestige of the family’s heritage. Their uncle tries to mediate, but even he can’t hold back the ghosts of the past.
“Adapted from August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork, The Piano Lesson explores the intergenerational dynamics of identity, resilience and transcendence – revealing startling truths about how we perceive the past and who gets to define our legacy.”
Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey (25 November)
Tell me more: Considering some of the less seemly true crime offerings Netflix has provided over the years, we’re surprised it’s taken the platform this long to put together a true crime documentary about one of the most famous cold cases in history (although it was previously explored in a different way in 2017’s Casting JonBenét).
However, this three-part series will focus more on the mishandling of the case by the US media in the 1990s, as well as those in law enforcement who were supposed to be seeking out the murderer responsible for JonBenét Ramsey’s death aged just six.
Director Joe Berlinger says: “Our goal with this series was to examine law enforcement and the media’s mishandling of the case and show how this crime can still be solved, despite almost three decades of controversy. We re-investigated this case with unprecedented access to key people from the crime and original investigation, including JonBenét’s father, John Ramsey and JonBenét’s brother, John Andrew.
“Many people think they know this story and have played armchair detective for three decades, often callously pointing a finger at the very people who suffered such an unthinkable loss. We reveal the deep flaws in how the case was originally handled, resulting in a sea of conspiracy theories that nearly destroyed the Ramsey family for a second time.”
Our Little Secret (27 November)
Tell me more: If, for some reason, you decide to only watch one of Netflix’s new Christmas movies this year, make it this one.
Off the back of Falling For Christmas and Irish Wish, Lindsay Lohan returns to the platform as a woman who makes a startling discovery while spending the holidays with her boyfriend’s parents for the first time that she’s determined to keep secret. And if that isn’t enticing enough of a premise, we’ve got two words for you: Kristen Chenowith.
Netflix says: “Two resentful exes are forced to spend Christmas under the same roof after discovering that their current partners are siblings.”
The Madness (28 November)
Tell me more: Oscar nominee, Emmy and two-time Tony winner and Met Gala chairman Colman Domingo takes the lead in this gripping new drama about a social commentator who finds himself at the centre of a media storm when he’s falsely accused of murdering a white supremacist.
Over the course of eight episodes, The Madness explores themes of race, family and disinformation as more of Colman’s character’s story unfolds.
Netflix says: “Muncie Daniels is a political consultant-turned-TV pundit who may have lost his way in life. While on a work sabbatical in the Poconos to write the great American novel, Muncie finds himself the only witness to the murder of a well-known white supremacist, and now he’s being framed for the crime.
“Muncie is forced to go on the run in a desperate fight to clear his name and unravel a global conspiracy before time runs out. Along the way he’ll reconnect with his family, find unlikely allies, and fight against disinformation in a post-truth age.”
A Man On The Inside (Release date TBA)
Tell me more: Best known of his work in The Good Place and Cheers, Ted Danson plays a lonely widow still recovering from the loss of his wife a year earlier when his whole life is turned upside down by a certain ad from a private investigator.
Netflix says: “Retired professor Charles feels life has nothing new in store for him. A year after his wife’s passing, he’s become stuck in his routine and grown distant from his daughter.
“But when he spies a classified ad from a private investigator, he’s inspired to roll the dice on a new adventure, going undercover to solve the mystery of a stolen family heirloom.”