It’s impossible to take any sort of public transportation lately without seeing at least one poster for a feel-good holiday movie coming out this Christmas. While we all might roll our eyes and groan at the predictable plot lines and tired tropes, it’s hard to deny that there’s still a market for these types of films that keeps them being made (and remade) year after year.

In a season when the sun sets somewhere around 3 pm, and it feels unreasonable to be without fluffy socks anywhere that isn’t a hot bath, sometimes a little bit of escapism is exactly what’s needed to ramp up that holiday spirit. For anyone else out that’s looking for some Holly and Jolly this season, but aren’t interested in watching The Grinch for the 1000th time (…guilty), here are five upcoming 2019 Christmas movies to curl up to this winter.

Noelle

Aren’t we all a little surprised that it took Anna Kendrick this long to star in a Disney Christmas film? With her quirky delivery and quick humour, she’s tailor-made for this family-focused film centered around Noelle Kringle, the daughter of Santa Claus. 

Much in the footsteps of familiar holiday favourites like Elf, the story follows Noelle as she ventures into the world outside the North Pole for the first time in order to search out her brother (who’s meant to be the next Santa) before Christmas Eve. So far only available on the Disney+ streaming service, Noelle already looks like it’s going to be an instant go-to for people for many Christmas’s to come.

The Knight Before Christmas

Time travel. Medieval knights. Small town hijinks. Destiny. Vanessa Hudgens dressed as your mom’s tax accountant. What else could we possibly want out of a holiday movie? 

The Knight Before Christmas tells us the story of Brooke (Hudgens) who meets a strange man that claims to be a 14th-century knight, somehow brought to the present day by what we can only assume is Christmas Magic.

The trailer is full of romantic meet-cutes and cheesy one-liners, so if you’re looking for a little bit of cliche romance to warm up to this season, this film will be paired perfectly with a cup of hot cocoa and a nice pine-scented candle that will take you back in time. The Knight Before Christmas airs on Netflix November 21st.

Sense, Sensibility, and Snowmen

Rather predictably, based on the title, this Hallmark Christmas film is a modern (and festive) twist on the classic Jane Austen novel, Sense, and Sensibility. We’re introduced to sisters Ella and Marianne Dashwood, party planners who find that their vision clashes with that of their uptight new client, a CEO of a toy company named Edward.

Does it count as writing spoilers if the original story is over 200 years old? The story seems to follow the basic outline of Austen’s classic, with a few modern twists that will engage an audience in 2019. In any case, you can catch this romance on the Hallmark channel, or on any of its affiliated networks.

A Cinderella Story Christmas Wish

If you’ve got any preteens in your life that are obsessed with movies like Disney’s Descendants, you might be able to keep them from spilling all your secrets at the dinner table by distracting them with this flick. If you’ve ever seen A Cinderella Story with Hillary Duff, just slap an elf hat and a few dance numbers onto it and you’ve got A Cinderella Story Christmas Wish. 

Kat is a lowly mall elf, singing Christmas shows for kids and dealing with her terrible step-family while dreaming big of a career in the music business. When she’s invited to the Winter Garden Gala, “the Christmas event of the year” by Dominic, the Prince Charming that moonlights as Santa Claus, her life starts to unfold into a pretty familiar fairy tale.

Packed with musical numbers that ring back to the early 2000’s nostalgia, this feel-good film is an easy one to sit down with your family with this Christmas.

Last Christmas

Last but not least, the biggest (or at least, most advertised) film this Christmas season. With a star-studded cast including Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding, with a screenplay by Emma Thompson of Love Actually Christmas fame, and featuring the music of George Michael, this is the Christmas film that we’ll all be rushing out to see this season.

Clarke plays Kate, a grumpy employee in a year-round Christmas shop, who meets Tom (Golding) during the holiday season, and when everything seemingly starts to go wrong, it seems like the meeting might be the only thing that’s going to go right.

Personally, I think that this role is a big moment for Clarke, who opened up to the press earlier this year about her own personal health journey, and how she struggled for her life even as she was filming her most famous role in Game of Thrones. To step into this role of a woman trying to pull her life together after a traumatic health scare is a bold act of bravery that’s certain to bring a rawness to this film that will stick with us long after we leave the cinema.

Last Christmas opens in cinemas across the UK on November 15.

Written by Meg Williams