It goes like this: a powerful career woman returns to a small town where she unexpectedly reconnects with a man with a heart of gold. Together they embark on a quest – perhaps to save a family farm, a struggling business or even each other. As love blossoms and difficult choices are made, all against a magical holiday backdrop, the story ends with a happy ending and a renewed sense of purpose.
Sound familiar? It’s the formula for almost every holiday movie on the Hallmark Channel or Lifetime network — and it’s almost always guaranteed to deliver.
“People like holiday movies because they are predictable, positive and because they make us feel good,” Makana Chock, a media psychology researcher and professor at Syracuse University, told Yahoo Entertainment, noting that they even promote the release of can stimulate feelings. -good chemicals like dopamine and oxytocin.
Beyond the superficial joy, however, these films also tap into a “fundamental need to belong,” media psychologist Pamela Rutledge told Yahoo Entertainment. Such predictability “creates expectations of a safe emotional space” during the holidays.
But how did these made-for-TV movies become synonymous with the holidays? Let’s take a closer look.
The roots of a genre
Before Hallmark was known for its holiday movies, it was (and remains) a modest greeting card company founded in 1910 by Joyce C. Hall.
Building on its legacy of nostalgia and togetherness, the company ventured into television in 1951 Amahl and the Night Visitorsan opera sponsored by Hallmark for a Christmas Eve broadcast. It became the first of many specials under the Hallmark Hall of Fame banner, cementing the company’s place in holiday entertainment.
By the 1990s, Hallmark had built a reputation for its original holiday content, which focused primarily on characters rediscovering community and purpose through the magic of the Christmas season — a formula that became a staple of many of its holiday films.
From top left: Actors Judd Nelson, Lauren Holly, Nick Stabile, George Wallace and Ed Gale on the set of Santa Claus Jr. in 2002. The film was the first original holiday movie for the Hallmark Channel. (Hallmark media)
The launch of Hallmark Channel in 2001, followed by the “Countdown to Christmas” marathon in 2009, marked a turning point for the company as it began to dominate the holiday movie scene, starting with the channel’s first original holiday movie, Santa Claus Jr., in 2002. Lifetime joined the trend in 2012 with the network’s “It’s a Wonderful Lifetime” lineup, making the channels a popular destination for holiday entertainment.
“Audiences deeply resonate with the way Hallmark captures the essence of the holiday spirit,” Samantha DiPippo, senior vice president of programming at Hallmark Media, told Yahoo Entertainment about its holiday films. “It’s a tradition that brings people together in so many meaningful ways.”
And yes, demand is still high. Last year alone, Hallmark Channel released 31 original holiday movies — plus another nine for the “Miracles of Christmas” lineup on sister channel Hallmark Movies & Mysteries — two of which debuted to about 3 million viewers in the network release, according to Forbes.
What makes a traditional holiday movie?
According to Chock, the plot of a classic holiday movie revolves around a main character (often an outsider, either by choice or circumstance) who “initially rejects or is rejected by a group, whether that be family or a community.” As a result, “they may reject Christmas itself. Or maybe they love it, but they celebrate it all alone.”
During the filming process, the main character is “welcomed back into the fold,” usually with the help of a charming love interest and a picturesque setting. By the end, love blossoms, justice is restored, and the main character feels at home.
Anuja Joshi and Benjamin Hollingsworth star in Hallmark’s Christmas with the Singhs. (Syd Wong/Hallmark Media)
Of course, not every story is the same. A New York Times analysis found that while the storylines differed, most of the holiday movies released by Hallmark and Lifetime between 2017 and 2023 shared familiar tropes, designed to create a world that feels both safe and ambitious: small towns, Christmas Eve festivities, struggling businesses and even the occasional baking competition.
Casting also plays a key role. Well-known faces like Lacey Chabert, Tatyana Ali and Candace Cameron Bure, known for their relatability, have appeared in dozens of Christmas movies for the Hallmark Channel and are synonymous with the genre.
Male actors like Andrew W. Walker, Corey Sevier and others also appeared in numerous films for the Hallmark Channel and Lifetime, giving viewers a reassuring sense of continuity.
‘Quality mark is for everyone’
While these films have won hearts, they have also been criticized for their lack of diversity.
According to the New York Times, 18% of Hallmark movies released between 2017 and 2023 featured non-white stars in their posters, compared to 44% of movies released by Lifetime. In recent years, however, the networks have made strides by introducing LGBTQ couples, interracial relationships, and stories about underrepresented communities.
In 2020, Hallmark released its first movie featuring a same-sex couple, The Christmas House. It premiered two years later The Holiday Sitterthe first with an LGBTQ couple as the protagonist. Both films starred LGBTQ actor Jonathan Bailey. Lifetime followed in 2020 with the premiere of The Christmas setupthe first LGBTQ-themed holiday movie in the network’s history.
Chock attributes the shift to “a desire to appeal to a younger demographic that is not only more accepting, but even has greater expectations” when it comes to representation.
DiPippo emphasized that when it comes to holiday love stories, “Hallmark is for everyone.”
“We want all of our viewers to see themselves and their love stories reflected in our programming,” she told Yahoo, noting that Hallmark strives to produce content that “reflects a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, perspectives and lifestyles in the form of stories narrate.”
Jonathan Bennett and Brad Harder in the Hallmark Channel’s The Christmas House. (Luba Popovic/Crown Media)
However, not everyone has embraced these changes. Great American Family, a newer competitor led by former Hallmark executive Bill Abbott, positioned itself as a reliable alternative.
In 2022, actress Bure, who left the Hallmark umbrella to become chief creative officer of Great American Family, said the network would “put traditional marriage at the center” of its holiday offerings — a view that Abbott later rejected.
“Vacation is for everyone,” acknowledged Rutledge, who emphasized that changes reflecting greater inclusivity were necessary to meet “audiences’ “growing demand for stories that reflect the real world.”
Evolution continues
Now that streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu have entered the holiday movie space with hits like Happiest season (2020) and this year’s Hot icy And The cheerful gentlemenChock said the genre has evolved to include edgier humor but still retains the core themes of love, redemption and “being part of a family.”
From left to right: Hector David Jr., Marc Anthony Samuel, Chad Michael Murray and Colt Prattes in a scene from Netflix’s The cheerful gentlemen. (Katrina Marcinowski/Netflix)
Not to mention that streaming services have an “incredible amount of personalized data” that are used to better understand what appeals to certain demographics, she said. This allows streamers to develop a more targeted strategy when creating new stories for the holidays.
Hallmark has evolved with the first limited scripted series for the holidays Held And Mistloetoe murders as well as the first ever reality competition series, Finding Mr. Christmas, all of which debut this season on Hallmark+.
“You’re seeing changes in the way holiday movies are approached,” Chock says. “We’re even seeing more holiday movies where Santa gets a little sexy. I mean, when did Santa Claus become a sex symbol?”
