Movies Like It Nearly Wasn't Christmas

If you liked It Nearly Wasn't Christmas (1989), a drama and tv movie movie directed by Burt Brinckerhoff, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
Six-year-old Susan Walker has doubts about childhood's most enduring miracle—Santa Claus. Her mother told her the secret about Santa a long time ago, but, after meeting a special department store Santa who's convinced…
2
The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974)
★ 7.2/10Also tv movie
Feeling forgotten by the children of the world, old St. Nick decides to skip his gift-giving journey and take a vacation. Mrs. Claus and two spunky little elves, Jingle and Jangle, set out to see to where all the…
3
TalhotBlond (2012)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and tv movie
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
4
Hogfather (2007)
★ 6.8/10Also tv movie
It's the night before Hogswatch, usually a time of joy on Discworld, but there are suspicious going-on and the criminal underworld is abuzz. The beloved Hogfather - the jolly bearer of glee and pork-related gifts for…
5
Lucy Shimmers and the Prince of Peace (2020)
★ 8.4/10Also drama
Second chances start when a hardened criminal crosses paths with a precocious little girl who is helped by an angel to change hearts during the holiday season.
6
Doctor Who: Last Christmas (2014)
★ 7.7/10Also drama
The Doctor and Clara face their Last Christmas. Trapped on an Arctic base, under attack from terrifying creatures, who are you going to call? Santa Claus!
7
Normal (2003)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and tv movie
A Midwestern husband and father announces his plan to have a sex change operation.
8
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (1970)
★ 7.2/10Also tv movie
A postman, S.D. Kluger, decides to answer some of the most common questions about Santa Claus, and tells us about a baby named Kris who is raised by a family of elf toymakers named Kringle. When Kris grows up, he wants…
9
Help for the Holidays (2012)
★ 6.1/10Also tv movie
Although she loves Christmas, Santa’s elf Christine (Summer Glau) wonders if there could be more to life than making toys in the North Pole. When Santa receives an emergency wish from a little boy in Los Angeles, he…
10
A Veteran's Christmas (2018)
★ 6.5/10Also tv movie and drama
Captain Grace Garland, a decorated U.S. veteran, returns home after two tours of Search and Rescue in Afghanistan. After being separated from her beloved K9 partner, Grace must rediscover the magic of Christmas. When…
11
Prancer (1989)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
Jessica, the daughter of an impoverished apple farmer, still believes in Santa Claus. So when she comes across a reindeer with an injured leg, it makes perfect sense to her to assume that it is Prancer, who had fallen…
12
The Bridge Part 2 (2016)
★ 6.2/10Also tv movie and drama
The second-half of the movie picks up in the present day, seven years later, with Ryan returning home from being on the road touring as a professional singer and Molly working at her father's corporation.
13
Northpole (2014)
★ 6/10Also tv movie
Northpole, the magical city where Santa and his elves live and work is in trouble. Families around the globe have gotten too busy to enjoy the season together, and Northpole depends on their holiday happiness to keep…
14
A Christmas Carol (1984)
★ 7.5/10Also drama and tv movie
Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he…
15
12 Days of Giving (2017)
★ 6.1/10Also drama and tv movie
A photographer uses his cash prize to anonymously give gifts, sparking a change in the community.
16
I'll Be Home for Christmas (2016)
★ 6.1/10Also tv movie and drama
Jackie Foster, a dynamic Assistant District Attorney and single mom, is looking forward to wrapping up her latest case and spending Christmas with Gracie, her adorable and precocious, eight-year old daughter. But when…
17
Mary (2024)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
A miraculous conception. A merciless king. A murderous pursuit. Mary's journey to give birth to Jesus unfolds in this biblical coming-of-age epic.
18
My Dinner with Hervé (2018)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and tv movie
An unlikely friendship evolves over one wild night in LA between a struggling journalist and actor Hervé Villechaize, the world's most famous gun-toting dwarf, resulting in life-changing consequences for both.
19
The Bridge (2015)
★ 6.3/10Also tv movie and drama
The sweeping tale of Molly Callens and Ryan Kelly, two young students who share a profound friendship their first semester in college, a time that becomes the defining moment of their lives.
20
Faith Like Potatoes (2006)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
Frank Rautenbach leads a strong cast as Angus Buchan, a Zambian farmer of Scottish heritage, who leaves his farm in the midst of political unrest and racially charged land reclaims and travels south with his family to…