It’s that time of year again, when every household gathers in the living room and watches the latest Christmas movie that has been released. Whether it’s The Christmas Carol on Netflix or A Royal Christmas on Hallmark, the fire better be roasting with a cup of hot chocolate in hand. Audiences can’t wait to watch another predictable but heartwarming movie to get them through those snowy days. However, the greatest debate of the holiday season is who has better Christmas movies: Hallmark or Netflix?
Audiences can’t deny that Hallmark has been a staple to their Christmas movie watch list, but Netflix has seemed to have taken everybody by surprise. With movies like A Christmas Prince and The Princess Switch, Netflix has given Christmas movie-watchers the dilemma of where to watch the sappiest holiday films. Hallmark has been able to give us movies like A Christmas Waltz, and Debbie Macomber’s Mrs. Miracle, and countless other feel good flicks. It still leaves the audiences to wonder who is truly doing the Christmas movie tradition better. Netflix may be new to the game, but Hallmark isn’t giving up without a fight.
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Hallmark is Where the Heart is At
Hallmark
Hallmark has always been known as the channel that has the heart. However, when it comes to Christmas movies, it seems as if they have created a whole new genre. Indeed, Hallmark Christmas movies are very specific: set in a small town, have light-hearted romance, a strong community spirit, and a ton of Christmas traditions. In fact, the tradition to count down to Christmas started for Hallmark back in 2009. Now, every year, we receive multiple Christmas movies with this genre in mind.
Some viewers claim that the plots for Hallmark Christmas movies tend to be a little repetitive and at times unoriginal. The girl from the small town moves to the big city in hopes of following her dreams to become a writer. Through a series of unfortunate events, she is forced back home for the holidays, and her wealthy boyfriend ultimately chooses to go on a business trip instead of meeting her family. When she returns home, she runs into her high school sweetheart and a relationship seems to be rekindled. It’s a tale as old as time and told every Christmas by Hallmark. So, why do people keep coming back after seeing the same thing last year?
Real Conscious Living believes this is due to a simple fact: the brain likes things that are familiar to them. The plot of the main character and who they meet along the way and pair that with the tension that these characters have when they first get together — it’s the perfect Christmas movie recipe. It’s also simply just good storytelling. Hallmark was able to figure out what tugged at the audiences’ heart strings and is able to get them coming back year after year.
Netflix Can Join in on the Holiday Cheer Too
Netflix
Netflix has been great at always providing quality entertainment, and in recent years they have decided to also add Christmas movies to their resume. In 2015, the very first Netflix original movie was released A Very Murray Christmas, as stated by What’s on Netflix. Ever since then, Netflix has been trying to match the quantity and quality of movies compared to their competition. They have been able to produce films like A Christmas Prince, The Princess Switch, and The Christmas Chronicles.
Netflix is also trying to bring viewers back every holiday season, and they decided to go a different direction than that of Hallmark. Through the various Christmas movies Netflix has created over the years, there a few themes that seem to stay within these films. The first type of film that viewers can expect to see from Netflix is a plot line that has to deal with royalty in some shape or form. They have been able to pick up on the fact that people are fascinated by royal families, especially during the holiday seasons. Who doesn’t want to see how a prince gets ready for Christmas morning or picking out the perfect gift for his mother?
A royal Christmas is not the only thing that Netflix does well for holiday movies. Netflix has also mastered putting a twist on a classic Christmas tale. Whether that be The Christmas Chronicles or their latest Scrooge: A Christmas Carol. Audiences love to watch something familiar, but not too familiar that they can guess the ending. Watchers already know the tale of Scrooge, but what if they saw Christmas from his perspective? Netflix completely understood the assignment when they thought about the twists for classic Christmas tales.
Hallmark Holidays or Netflix Sings Noel?
So who does it better: Hallmark or Netflix? Hallmark was able to create a whole new genre with their holiday films and has been running with it since 2009. Netflix has just started their Christmas movie journey and doesn’t seem to be doing half bad themselves. They have been able to put a spin on a classic tale like Klaus and make the audience really look at their favorite stories in a new way. However, Hallmark always makes sure that you feel better after the movie then when it started. But Netflix gives their watchers something they’ve always wanted for themselves: a royal Christmas.
Hallmark and Netflix Christmas movie audiences could have this debate for the entire season. If someone prefers a more heartfelt tale, they are going to head to Hallmark right away. However, if they want to see something new, they are going to head to Netflix. Either way, Christmas cheer is had by all. So, go get that hot chocolate and snuggle under the blanket, another Christmas movie is definitely coming!
