In this second of a three-part series of the Best Christmas films, we’re going to look at Christmas films that feature an alternate life or alternate reality. Many of these films are comedic or romantic in nature with fantasy or sci-fi themes of alternate histories, the multiverse, time travel and time loops. Typically, these films will focus on “What If?” scenarios and a person regretting the choices that they’ve made in life vs. what could have been if they made a different choice in their past.
This second article will cover the Best Alternate Life Christmas Films and you can check out the other articles from this Christmas film special edition below:
- Best Raunchy Christmas Films
- Best Alternate Life Christmas Films
- Best Recent Christmas Horror Films
What are the best Christmas films about alternate lives and realities? Read on as we look at holiday films where an alternative version of someone’s life might not be something they ultimately wish for. This is our thirtieth “Best Of” subgenre list where we will rank the Top 10 Alternate Life Christmas films from the Christmas movies subgenre.
For our rankings we’re going to use some criteria to help define and refine our list. First, we’re only going to consider films where someone has a chance to live an alternate life in the past, present or future set during Christmas.
Second, we’re going to mainly focus on Christmas-themed films in the Contemporary & Urban Fantasy, Alternate History, Multiverse, Time Loop and Time Travel subgenres. Alternate History and Multiverse films often have themes of a person living an alternate life whereas Time Loop and Time Travel films utilize themes of altering an event in the past to affect the outcome of your life or the life of others. We’ll also prioritize romantic, comedic and dramatic holiday films from these subgenres.
Third, we are going to also prioritize films based on It’s A Wonderful Life (1946). This film has themes of an alternate life and reality as George Bailey views a life where he never existed. Many themes from this film are the foundation of fantasy-based Christmas films (most of which will make up our list).
Fourth, we’re going to exclude films that are remakes or feature the themes of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Though this is arguably the most popular story set during Christmas, it doesn’t technically deal with an alternate life or reality and rather focuses on events in Ebenezer Scrooge’s life as he encounters the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come that affects how Scrooge will change his ways. However, we will list all the films based on a Christmas Carol below for your holiday viewing.
Fifth, we’re also going to exclude Body Swap and Body Switch films. Body Swap films are more fantasy-based with people switching bodies and experiencing the other person’s life. And Body Switch films tend to be non-fantasy based and involve situations where identical twins or people that look similar switch positions to experience a different life. These subgenres also don’t technically deal with an alternate life or reality, but we will also include a list of all Christmas films about Body Swaps or Body Switches below if you want to check these films out over the holidays.
And sixth, we had to follow our rule for all of KBZ’s film listings where we only list films that have a 4.0/10 or higher rating and were released after 1970.
Our complete list of Christmas Movies features over 512+ films from 1946 – 2023. This collection features almost every film from every genre set during Christmas and other end of the year holidays. Also, as we’re always updating our collections and will be releasing additional articles of great Christmas films, subscribe to our newsletter for our latest updates as we post them.
We have embedded a compilation video of the Best Alternate Life Christmas Films and more details on these films can be found in the list below. Note: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Christmas Films Based on a Christmas Carol: Scrooge (1970), An American Christmas Carol (1979), A Christmas Carol (1984), Scrooged (1988), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), A Christmas Carol (1999), A Carol Christmas (2003), Chasing Christmas (2005), Christmas Cupid (2010), All American Christmas Carol (2013), My Dad is Scrooge (2014), The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017), A Shoe Addict’s Christmas (2018), 2nd Chance for Christmas (2019), Ghost of Christmas Always (2022), A New Diva’s Christmas Carol (2022), and Spirited (2022).
Christmas Body Swap Films: The Christmas Switch (2014), A Christmas Switch (2018), The Christmas Swap (2016), A Family Matters Christmas (2022), Switch (2023) and Family Switch (2023).
Christmas Body Switch Films (non-fantasy based): Santa Switch (2014), Switched for Christmas (2017), The Princess Switch (2018), The Princess Switch: Switched Again (2020), The Great Christmas Switch (2021), The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star (2021), Sister Swap: A Hometown Holiday (2021), Merry Switchmas (2021) and Sister Swap: Christmas in the City (2021).
Best Alternate Life Christmas Films
Honorable Mentions: It Happened One Christmas (1977), Christmas Every Day (1996), Merry Christmas, George Bailey (1997), Eve’s Christmas (2004), Holiday Switch (2007), All About Christmas Eve (2012), The Christmas Spirit (2013), Family for Christmas (2015), Christmas All Over Again (2016), A Dream for Christmas (2016), Christmas Comes Twice (2020), Christmas… Again?! (2021), A Chance for Christmas (2021), Lacy’s Christmas Do-Over (2021), A Kiss Before Christmas (2021), Next Stop, Christmas (2021), The 12 Days of Christmas Eve (2022), A Tale of Two Christmases (2022), The Holiday Stocking (2022), A Not So Merry Christmas (2022) and It’s A Wonderful Knife (2023).
