In 2024, a film’s TV debut is hardly ever an event to remember. Not so this Christmas, when the cinema event of the year might just premiere on the small screen…
Remember network premieres? Christmastime, and Christmas Day in particular, used to be full of them. With much of the Northern hemisphere forced to take some time off and the sun setting before we’ve finished lunch, channels knew they had something of a captive audience – one that couldn’t always be satisfied by the same six episodes of Dad’s Army.
Instead, the festive period often turned into a lifeline for the cash-strapped cinephile. With some of recent years’ biggest blockbusters making their way to the likes of the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, there was always the slightest tingle of excitement that came with the knowledge we’d finally – finally – be able to watch Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End in a double bill with, say, Space Chimps on the big day. Make no mistake, these things were events, usually accompanied by weeks of trailers to celebrate TV’s ability to steal, Prometheus-style, a little piece of fire from the gods up in the Hollywood hills.
Now, of course, catching the latest blockbuster on your small screen is nothing new. For most people, it’s become their default way of watching films, often a matter of weeks after they finished screening in cinemas in the first place. Plenty don’t make their way onto the big screen at all. Sad for cinema-owners, yes, but it feels like some of the magic has gone out of TV, too. It’s hard to turn a terrestrial TV premiere into an ‘event’ when the film’s been on Disney+ for six months.
Still, leaving the house after 4pm on Christmas Day remains as impossible as ever, and so each year the new inheritors of TV’s cinematic crown have been content to fight amongst themselves for the best family blockbuster offerings to keep as many people from slipping into a turkey-induced coma as possible.
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In terms of new films, Netflix has really cornered the Christmas Day market over the last few years. If you can find a single family in the UK who didn’t watch one of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery or Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget in 2022 and 2023 respectively, you deserve an extra mince pie. Prime Video tried to compete last year with a 22nd December release of Saltburn, but we’re not sure that went down quite as well.
This year, however, the title of Christmas afternoon champion in the UK looks set to return to terrestrial TV roots. Perhaps the global streamers’ likeliest candidate between them is Richard Curtis’ Love Actually-for-kids, That Christmas – arriving on Netflix this weekend. A sweet, crowd-pleasing comedy from Ron’s Gone Wrong producers Locksmith Animation, as far as films for slightly younger family units go, you could do much worse, even if plenty will have already seen it long before the big day comes around.
But for the Brits, Christmas Day 2024 is a rare occasion we can feel smug about our entertainment options – we’ll be the only nation able to watch Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl as Santa wings his way back to the North Pole. With the Claymation crew premiering at a pitch-perfect time (6:10pm) on BBC One, Aardman look to have conjured up the go-to new family flick for anyone that doesn’t need a swift visit from three increasingly sinister spirits.
For the first time in years, then, streamers will be circling for scraps, rather than serving up the main meal, over the holiday. Prime Video has recently added a cluster of contenders to fill the non-festive classic slot – Once Upon A Time In The West, Thelma & Louise, Murder On The Orient Express and (from 11th December) Knives Out, to name just a few. Disney+, of course, has its usual monopoly on the Pixar and MCU fare which used to pull in viewers to whichever terrestrial channel was able to scoop them up first, but isn’t set to nab any big new releases until well into next year (Inside Out 2 has been streaming since September). Now has its usual supply of bigger blockbuster hits, from Baby Driver to Wonka, but little to distinguish it from its usual offerings.
Instead, the most exciting film release this Christmas season is set to debut on BBC One. There’s a cosy familiarity to that – maybe there is life in the network premiere after all.
