The economics of seasonal cinema
If you’ve seen one Christmas movie, you’ve seen them all, right? So why do so many keep getting made? Let’s take a Deep Dive.
🎅 Home Alone, Elf, The Grinch, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Polar Express, Miracle on 34th Street—the list of classic holiday movies is a long and, mostly, predictable one.
🎥 Nonetheless, they continue to be joined by numerous new films each year, with US channels such as Hallmark and Lifetime churning them out on a production line.
🎟️ There are many reasons why. They’re relatively cheap to produce and an excellent vehicle for seasonal advertising. Plus, networks and streamers alike just need a lot of content.
QUOTABLE
“What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas ... perhaps ... means a little bit more!”
- The Grinch
BY THE NUMBERS
116 There are 116 new Christmas movies being made in the US this year.
7.7 Home Alone (1990) is the Christmas movie with the highest rating on Imdb at 7.7.
$2 million Everyone seems to agree that holiday movies cost about $2 million to produce.
$2,500 CableTV.com is planning to pay someone $2,500 to watch 25 holiday movies in 25 days. Some would argue that’s nowhere near enough.
QUIZ
How many people in the US tune into a Hallmark movie over the holiday season each year?
A. 20 million
B. 40 million
C. 80 million
Scroll to the bottom for the answer.
DID YOU KNOW?
The challenges of seasonal production schedules mean that a lot of holiday films are shot in summer, resulting in some innovative workarounds to deal with the heat.
THE EDIT
👎 This is how we do it. The success of holiday movies comes despite the fact that they’re often—whisper it—not all that good. This could partly be because they’re made to such an incredibly inflexible template.
🧑🏫 This is what to do. Holiday movies tend to be full of sometimes rather sententious life lessons. Many of these can also be applied in business.
🎁 Using their gifts. The films have become a reliable source of work for a lot of actors.
🎬 Good elf. This is what it’s like to work on one.
WATCH
If you don’t have time or inclination to watch any Christmas movies this year, here’s what most of them are like, distilled into just three-and-a-half minutes.
THE FULL PICTURE
The Grinch (2018) is the highest-grossing Christmas movie ever. Although adjusted for inflation, Home Alone (1990) romps home.
KEY PLAYER
William J Abbott
William J Abbott took over as the CEO of the Hallmark Channel in 2009 and executed its pivot towards original programming, particularly themed around seasonal events such as holidays—after all, it’s owned by a greeting card company. He’s now co-owner of Great American Media, which has been retooled into a similar wholesome content factory, with its own slate of original holiday movies.
HONOUREE TO KNOW
Tan Si En
Tan Si En’s credits as a film producer include Wet Season, which represented Singapore at the 2021 Oscars and won 12 international awards, including a Golden Horse Award; and The Year Of The Everlasting Storm, which premiered at Cannes in 2021. They also champion emerging talent with initiatives such as the Momo Distribution Grant and Objectifs Short Film Incubator.
ONE FINAL THING
However mellow and well-disposed towards the world the holidays might make people feel, there’s one seasonal movie controversy that won’t die. Or rather, won’t Die Hard (1988). Lots of people are adamant it’s a Christmas movie, while others, including its star, are equally convinced of the opposite.
