Stream these 15 new movies this holiday season, from 'Candy Cane Lane' to 'Rebel Moon'
There are plenty of reasons to get thee to a theater this holiday movie season, but film lovers need stuff to watch at home, too, for when folks are cooking the Thanksgiving turkey, trimming the tree, or just snuggling around the fire.
Streaming services like Netflix, Prime Video, Paramount+, Disney+ and more are putting on their Santa hats in November and December to offer a host of original viewing treats. Some of them are of the yuletide sort, while others are more family-friendly or even Oscar-ready.
Here's an exclusive peek at 15 peppermint-fresh films to stream from your couch for the holidays:
'Dashing Through the Snow' (Nov. 17)
Chris "Ludacris" Bridges plays a social worker who tolerates his daughter's love for Christmas – he's not a fan. But when a guy in a red suit named Nick (Lil Rel Howery) falls down his chimney, dad and kid get embroiled in a chase with bad guys out to nab Nick's "naughty-or-nice" list in the yuletide comedy.
Where to watch: Disney+
'Maxine's Baby: The Tyler Perry Story' (Nov. 17)
The documentary chronicles the rise of Perry as a successful entrepreneur and filmmaker, discussing how he was able to use the pain of abuse and childhood trauma to inspire his art, as well as the importance of his beloved mother, who died in 2009.
Where to watch: Prime Video
'Leo' (Nov. 21)
Leo (voiced by Adam Sandler) is the pet lizard of a fifth grade class who feels like he's wasted his life. When he learns he's only expected to live one another year, Leo plans an escape to see the world ? instead, he winds up being a wise presence for the kids who bring him home in the coming-of-age musical animated comedy.
Where to watch: Netflix
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'Genie' (Nov. 22)
In this holiday fairy-tale comedy, Bernard Bottle (Paapa Essiedu) is down in the dumps professionally and personally when he unleashes a genie (Melissa McCarthy) trapped in an antique jewelry box for 2,000 years. He's given unlimited wishes – and a chance to fix his family – while she gets to experience a whole new world.
Where to watch: Peacock
'American Symphony' (Nov. 29)
Oscar buzz abounds for this insightful and emotionally stirring portrait of late-night band leader/composer Jon Batiste. The documentary finds him winning a raft of Grammy Awards and working on a classical music piece that redefines the symphony at the same time he faces a personal crisis when his wife's dormant cancer returns.
Where to watch: Netflix
'Family Switch' (Nov. 30)
The holiday-themed comedy stars Jennifer Garner and Ed Helms as the mom and dad of a disconnected family. A run-in with an astrological reader leads to a body-swap situation for the family, and they have only 24 hours to figure out how to fix it – and help get each other through an important day – or else be switched forever.
Where to watch: Netflix
'Candy Cane Lane' (Dec. 1)
Eddie Murphy stars in the holiday comedy as a dad determined to win his neighborhood's decorating contest. To help his chances, he strikes a deal with a troublesome elf (Jillian Bell), who in turn casts a magical spell that makes the 12 days of Christmas come to sinister life and threatens to wreck everyone's season.
Where to watch: Prime Video
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'The Archies' (Dec. 7)
Suffering from "Riverdale" withdrawal? The iconic characters of Archie Comics – Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica and more – again navigate romances and friendships, this time imagined through the lens of a 1960s Anglo-Indian community, in the coming-of-age teen musical comedy.
Where to watch: Netflix
'Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever' (Dec. 8)
In the latest animated "Wimpy Kid" adventure based on the popular Jeff Kinney books, hard-luck middle schooler Greg Heffley frets that an accident involving a snowplow will ruin his dreams of getting a new video-game console for Christmas, though a bigger problem arises when he gets snowed in with his family.
Where to watch: Disney+
'Leave the World Behind' (Dec. 8)
The apocalyptic thriller stars Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke as married New Yorkers who rent a swank house on Long Island for a needed family getaway. Then things go awry, including the enigmatic owner (Mahershala Ali) weirdly showing up suddenly, the Internet going out everywhere and hints that there's a national emergency at hand.
Where to watch: Netflix
'The Sacrifice Game' (Dec. 8)
It's a horror take on "The Holdovers": The 1970s-set holiday-tinged chiller features "Aladdin" star Mena Massoud and Olivia Scott Welch as deadly cult killers who arrive on the doorstep of a boarding school and menace a group of students stuck there for winter break.
Where to watch: Shudder
'Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget' (Dec. 15)
The fine feathered characters who escaped the farm in the original 2000 stop-motion animated comedy are back. This time, they leave their idyllic bird sanctuary, pull a Tom Cruise and orchestrate a break-in to save chicken-kind.
Where to watch: Netflix
'The Family Plan' (Dec. 15)
The action comedy casts Mark Wahlberg as a former covert assassin now retired and setting aside that secret-agent life to be a loving dad. When old enemies track him down, he scrambles to keep his wife (Michelle Monaghan) and kids safe, taking them on a cross-country road trip to Las Vegas.
Where to watch: Apple TV+
'Finestkind' (Dec. 15)
There's plenty of family strife in Brian Helgeland's crime thriller, starring Ben Foster and Toby Wallace as half-brothers who strike a deal with a Boston gang to get their father's fishing boat out of impound. Tommy Lee Jones is the dad while Jenna Ortega plays a young woman caught in the middle of the bros' scheme.
Where to watch: Paramount+
'Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire' (Dec. 22)
Zack Snyder stages his own "Star Wars" with the beginning of his two-part sci-fi fantasy epic. (The second movie streams on April 19.) Kora (Sofia Boutella) crash-lands on a moon to live among farmers and escape her war-torn past, and she gathers a disparate crew of warriors to revolt against the army of the villainous Motherworld.
Where to watch: Netflix
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What to watch this Christmas: New movies perfect for holiday streaming
