How Schmaltzy Hallmark Christmas Movies Came to Rule the Holiday Season

When you picture the holiday season, you probably envision snowy streets, twinkling lights, and, of course, a cheesy rom-com. A grumpy CEO moves back to her small hometown and rediscovers the meaning of Christmas with the help of a rural hunk; someone miraculously finds themselves trapped inside a snow globe; a tourist goes to Europe in December and falls in love with a prince—we love to laugh at the plots, but the movies offered by Hallmark, Lifetime, and other TV channels and streaming services around the holiday season are a huge part of many people’s traditions. 

So how did these films carve out a niche in our collective holiday experience? Let’s look at their origins and explore how they became synonymous with the season. 

The First Holiday Rom-Com

Although the first movies date back to the late 1800s, the classic romantic comedy didn’t start to appear on television until 1924, when the silent film Girl Shy—often regarded as the first rom-com—was released. The story follows a shy tailor’s apprentice named Harold Meadows who has trouble talking to women. Despite this, he writes a book called The Secret of Making Love, in which he gives humorous advice on how to win over different types of women.

The movie was quite popular and the genre persisted with even more vigor when “talkies” (movies with audible dialogue) came around in the late 1920s. Over the next 10 years, some of the most memorable romantic comedy films were released, including It Happened One Night (1934) and His Girl Friday (1940). 

Also released in 1940 was The Shop Around the Corner. The movie, starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan, follows the story of two co-workers at a gift shop who can't stand each other in person but unknowingly fall in love through anonymous letters in the weeks leading up to Christmas. The movie was incredibly popular and has stood the test of time, currently holding a 99 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The Shop Around the Corner—which hit theaters on January 12, 1940—came out just one week before another romantic holiday film, Remember the Night. 

The Rise of the “Countdown to Christmas”

Most holiday rom-coms today aren’t winning Oscars, or even releasing in theaters. In many ways, that’s what makes them so fun to watch. But when—and how—did the transition from classic romantic comedies to schmaltzy week-night films begin? 

The simplest answer might just be a change in taste, which happens with virtually every art form to some degree. There’s also a lot to be said about movie accessibility: access to television sets, DVDs, and eventually streaming services over the past 75 years has certainly changed how we consume media. 

When it comes to made-for-TV holiday rom-coms, the year 2001 is an important date: That was when the Hallmark Channel officially launched on television (previously, the Hallmark company had sponsored radio programs and later movies that aired on other networks). And though the then-new channel aired holiday flicks each year, the 2006 movie The Christmas Card launched it to a new level of success. The film became a ratings hit and helped Hallmark see the potential of really leaning into Christmas content.

And lean into it they did. In 2009, Hallmark kicked off its “Countdown to Christmas” with a handful of new holiday movies. That first countdown has since snowballed into an annual event that airs a mix of new and classic festive specials all day, every day in the weeks (or rather, months) leading up to Christmas. 

The “Countdown to Christmas” usually begins in mid-October and runs through the end of the holiday season. In 2013, the program’s success led Hallmark to release 12 original movies; for 2024, the channel will release a whopping 47 new flicks to celebrate the countdown’s 15th anniversary. It’s estimated that around 80 million people tune into the channel at some point during the holiday season. 

What we think of as “Hallmark Christmas movies” aren’t just limited to one channel. The term Hallmark Christmas Movie became so popular it’s now used to describe any movie that fits the genre, even if it comes from another network. And the easily recognizable “Hallmark Christmas Movie formula” has become a staple of the season: Just combine a conventionally attractive—yet at first, seemingly poorly matched—couple, some drama, and a happy, romantic ending full of holiday charm. 

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