What to Watch on Netflix this Christmas

From festive movies to documentaries, film festival favourites and a final return to Hawkins, there is a smorgasbord of festive entertainment on Netflix this holiday season. So join us as we pick our Christmas what to watch highlights.

Never one to shy away from sugar-coated festive films, Netflix once again brings us a stocking full of sparkling movies to enjoy this Christmas. A Merry Little Ex-Mas finds recently divorced Kate (Alicia Silverstone) hoping for one last perfect family Christmas before selling her house. But her holiday plans are hilariously derailed when her ex-husband Everett (Oliver Hudson) unexpectedly introduces his younger and successful new girlfriend. A Merry Little Ex-Mas also stars Jameela Jamil, Pierson Fodé, and Melissa Joan Hart and is directed by Steve Carr.

In Champagne Problems, Sydney Price (Minka Kelly) is a determined on-the-rise executive who finally gets her chance to lead a significant acquisition for Chateau Cassell, a beloved champagne house nestled in the heart of the Champagne region. When she hears she has been summoned to France around Christmas as part of the negotiations, she arrives in the city of lights with a hopeful heart and ready to close the deal.

Goodbye June brings together a fantastic British cast, including Kate Winslett, Helen Mirren, Johnny Flynn and Timothy Spall. The film takes place just before Christmas, when an unexpected turn in their mother’s health thrusts four adult siblings and their exasperating father into chaos as they navigate messy family dynamics in the face of potential loss. But their quick-witted mother, June, orchestrates her decline on her own terms — with biting humour, blunt honesty, and a lot of love. Goodbye June arrives in select cinemas on December 12 and on Netflix on December 24.

Or how about a Jingle Bell Heist where Sophia (Olivia Holt), a sharp-witted retail worker, and Nick (Connor Swindells) are small-time thieves with their eyes on the same Christmas Eve score: robbing London’s most notorious department store. Forced into an uneasy alliance, as secrets surface and feelings for each other deepen, Sophia and Nick put their relationship and the heist in jeopardy. Meanwhile, in My Secret Santa, a vivacious single mom in need of a job decides to disguise herself as a man to get hired as the seasonal Santa at a luxury ski resort. But when she starts falling for the hotel manager, complications arise that could ruin everything.

Fancy a festive series instead? Then join Rowan Atkinson for Man vs Baby this Christmas. After a job looking after a high-tech mansion ended in disaster thanks to an irritating insect in Man vs Bee, Trevor Bingley (Atkinson) has left the stressful world of housesitting for the quieter life of a school caretaker. That is, until a lucrative offer to look after a luxury London penthouse over Christmas proves too tempting to resist. But on the last day of term, when no one comes to collect the Baby Jesus from the school nativity, Trevor finds himself with another undersized and very unexpected companion. With a penthouse to protect and a baby to burp, will Trevor be able to have the calm Christmas he hopes for, or will festivities descend into chaos?

In the mood for something darker? A final trip to Hawkins beckons this Christmas with Stranger Things. It’s the fall of 1987. Hawkins is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and a single goal unites our heroes: find and kill Vecna. But he has vanished — his whereabouts and plans unknown. Complicating their mission, the government has placed the town under military quarantine and intensified its hunt for Eleven, forcing her back into hiding.

As the anniversary of Will’s disappearance approaches, so does a heavy, familiar dread. The final battle is looming — and with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they’ve faced before. To end this nightmare, they’ll need everyone — the full party — standing together, one last time. The highly anticipated fifth and final season will release on Netflix across three premiere dates, with Volume 1 on November 26 (four episodes), Volume 2 this Christmas (three episodes), and The Finale on New Year’s Eve.

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a disaster movie, right? The Great Flood is a sci-fi disaster blockbuster that follows those holding onto the last shred of hope for humanity as they struggle to survive in a flooded apartment building on the last day of an Earth submerged in water. Or how about some classic horror with Frankenstein? Del Toro sticks religiously to Mary Shelley’s book, from the ice-battle prologue to the perspective shift from Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) to The Creature (Jacob Elordi). His respect for the story is evident in his meticulous, vibrant design; every structure could be a medieval oil painting, yet it is grounded in a visceral, biting chill.

Netflix also brings us crime, murder and mystery this Christmas with The Price of Confession, a mystery thriller that follows Yun-su, a woman accused of murdering her husband, and Mo Eun, a mysterious woman called a witch, and their many secrets. Plus, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) returns for his most dangerous case yet in the third and darkest chapter of Rian Johnson’s murder mystery opus in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.

When young priest Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor) is sent to assist charismatic firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), it’s clear that all is not well in the pews. Wicks’s modest-but-devoted flock includes devout church lady Martha Delacroix (Glenn Close), circumspect groundskeeper Samson Holt (Thomas Haden Church), tightly-wound lawyer Vera Draven, Esq. (Kerry Washington), aspiring politician Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), town doctor Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner), best-selling author Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), and concert cellist Simone Vivane (Cailee Spaeny).

After a sudden and seemingly impossible murder rocks the town, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott (Mila Kunis) to join forces with renowned detective Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery that defies all logic. Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Rian Johnson writes and directs Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, and assembles another all-star, award-winning cast.

If reality and documentaries are more your thing, Netflix doesn’t disappoint this Christmas with some hard-hitting and powerful journeys. All the Empty Rooms sees reporter Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp embark on a cross-country journey across the United States to memorialise the bedrooms of children lost to school shootings, highlighting the urgent need for action against the rising epidemic of gun violence. In The New Yorker at 100, The New Yorker opens its offices to Academy Award-winning director Marshall Curry, granting unprecedented access to its newsroom at a pivotal moment for all media and offering a rare look at what it took to publish a century of intrepid journalism, generation-defining fiction, and unforgettable cartoons.

Meanwhile, Ed Sheeran brings us a musical experience in One Shot with Ed Sheeran. From impromptu performances on bustling sidewalks and subway cars to intimate interactions with fans and passersby, Ed Sheeran’s journey through New York will be captured in a series of unforgettable moments that highlight the pandemonium and excitement that follow.

Danny Clinch/Netflix 2025

Thousands of miles from New York, in the heart of Uganda’s Masaka region, where the shadows of the HIV/AIDS crisis linger, a small orphanage becomes a beacon of hope in Masaka Kids, A Rhythm Within. Masaka Kids Africana takes viewers beyond the viral videos to reveal a vibrant, one-of-a-kind community where orphaned children transform hardship into joy, dancing their way toward healing, belonging, and the promise of a brighter future.

Also dancing onto Netflix this holiday is the passionate movie 10 Dance from Japan. Shinya Suzuki (Ryoma Takeuchi) is the Japanese champion of Latin Dance, while Shinya Sugiki (Keita Machida) is the Japanese champion and second-ranked dancer in Standard Ballroom in the world. They are often compared to each other because of their similar names, despite dancing in different categories, which frustrates the competitive Suzuki. One day, Suzuki receives a surprise when Sugiki asks him to team up and win the 10-Dance Competition.

The 10-Dance is a competition in which top dancers perform five varieties of Latin Dance and five varieties of Standard Ballroom. Knowing how difficult it would be, Suzuki initially rejects Sugiki’s proposal to teach each other their respective styles and compete on the world stage, but Sugiki’s provocative attitude stirs Suzuki’s competitive spirit, prompting him to begrudgingly accept. The two men’s opposite personalities clash as they devote themselves to daily lessons, but they grow steadily closer over time. Before long, Suzuki realises he has begun to develop a romantic attraction to Sugiki.

Film Festival favourites on Netflix this Christmas don’t just come in the form of Benoit Blanc and Victor Frankenstein. Academy Award nominee Noah Baumbach returns with Jay Kelly. Here, we follow famous movie actor, Jay Kelly (George Clooney), as he embarks on a journey of self-discovery, confronting both his past and present, accompanied by his devoted manager Ron (Adam Sandler). Baumbach’s movie is a poignant exploration of life’s regrets and notable glories.

Meanwhile, Cover-Up is a political thriller that traces the explosive career of Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Seymour Hersh. Urgent and deeply reported, Cover-Up is both a portrait of a relentless journalist and an indictment of institutional violence — revealing a cycle of impunity in the U.S. military and intelligence agencies. Drawing on exclusive access to Hersh’s notes and interweaving primary documents and archival footage, Cover-Up captures the power and process of investigative journalism.