The First Christmas Movie - 1898

The first Christmas film ever shown on a screen was called “Santa Claus”. It was shown in 1889. It was a 1 minute and 16 second film that came from the U.K. This movie is about a child that is in bed, and Santa brings a christmas tree and toys down the chimney. What we can see from the graney film is Santa is wearing a cape or robe like Santa outfit. He looks more like a wizard than Santa.

Worlds first Christmas Movie (Santa Clause 1898 Original film unedited and unchanged) 

This is the film itself if you want to watch it.

The Christmas movies continue - 1910’s and 20’s

The christmas movies in this era were like the first one. They were black and white and tended to be very short. Most are around 15 minutes long. Although there were a couple that ranged up to 40 minutes. In the 1920’s there weren’t many christmas movies made in the 1920’s. But the ones that were, were also very short. And they were black and white, and live action.

More Christmas movies in the - 1930’s and 40’s

There are lots of great classics from the 30’s and 40’s. Some from the 30’s are “A Christmas Carol” , “Christmas Comes but Once a Year”, “Scrooge”, and “The Night Before Christmas’.  It’s interesting because some are only 7 or 8 minutes long. But others are reaching an hour long. Most of these movies are still live action, but there are a couple animated ones. Although in the 40’s they are all ranging from 1 hour and 40 minutes long to two hours. But pretty much all of these movies are live action.

Change in Christmas movies - 1950’s and 60’s

Christmas movies in this era got longer to almost 2hr’s long. All live action ones are black and white but animated ones started to show up more. Some of the movies included “The Miracle on 34th Street”, “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, and “Santa Clause Conquers the Martins”.

Even More Christmas movies - 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s

In the 70’s there were a lot of remakes. But some new films were “Silent Night, Bloody Night” and “ Christmas Eve on Sesame Street”. In the 80’s there was another “Scrooged” remake. But there is also, “Ernest Saves Christmas”, “One Christmas Magic”, and “A Hobo’s Christmas”. Some movies in the 90’s included “Home Alone”, “A Nightmare Before Christmas”, “Jingle All the Way”, “Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas”, and “A Miracle on 34th Street”.

Christmas Movies Now - 2000’s to present day

There are countless christmas movies made since the 2000’s but some are “The Polar Express”, “Love Actually” and “Christmas with the Kranks”. Some from the 2010’s are the new “The Grinch”, “The Night Before” and “Noelle”. Most movies in this time period were live action but there were some that were animated. And they were all in color. They were also all 1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours long.