If you spend Christmas at the movies, you’re not alone

(CNN) — Some American holidays are intrinsically tied to certain traditions. Fourth of July and fireworks shows. Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping. And then there’s Christmas and the movie theater.

Moviegoing may not be the first thing you think of when considering the Christmas season. There are the trees, sure, then the carols, even the cut-out cookies. But going to the movie theater either on Christmas or in the days surrounding it, has become a cherished holiday tradition for many families.

“On that day, it’s like the movie theater becomes a midnight mass,” said Matthew Germenis, 33, who’s been going to the movies on Christmas since he was a teen. “It’s just something really, really special.”

Germenis isn’t alone. The holiday season has become a massive time for movie theaters and studios. In years past, film franchises like “Harry Potter” and “The Lord of the Rings” became holiday classics thanks purely to holiday release dates — in 2001, the first Harry Potter film, released just before Thanksgiving, topped the holiday season box office, while “The Fellowship of the Ring” came in at No. 3. The former went on to become the highest grossing movie of the entire year.

In other words: The holiday season, especially the week between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day, pulls thousands of people to cinemas, many in the name of tradition. But exactly how the holiday and moviegoing became so intertwined is, well, a bit of a Christmas miracle.

Bing Crosby and too much free time: How the tradition got its start

Christmas Day, and really the week entirely, is especially suited for going to the movies, said Alicia Kozma, director of the cinema department at Indiana University. Kids aren’t in school and need a place to go; most people have free time, and maybe they’re tired of family; and there’s always a fresh crop of new movies that have been building buzz for months.

It helps that movie theaters are one of the only places reliably open on Christmas — creating appeal both for those celebrating the holiday and others just trying to find something to do.

“It’s this perfect storm of variables,” Kozma said.

This wasn’t always the case. Christmas used to be seen as a sacred day, reserved for family and staying at home, Kozma said. But in the late 1940s and 1950s, as TV sets became more commonplace, studios were searching for reasons to get people back into movie theaters.

So one studio, Paramount Pictures, took a gamble. In 1947, it released “Road to Rio,” starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope as two stowaways on a ship headed to Rio de Janeiro. What made the movie significant was its release date: Christmas Day.

In an unexpected twist, the movie became a huge hit, Kozma said. Despite the holiday, audiences flocked to the theaters, thus beginning the association between Christmas and the movies.

Today, the movies we see in theaters on Christmas aren’t necessarily holiday-themed. Those types of movies tend to be released earlier in the season or forego the theater altogether — this year, “Red One” came out in theaters in November, as did streaming offerings “Nutcrackers” (Hulu) and “Hot Frosty” (Netflix).

Instead, the period immediately around Christmas is used to launch films with broad appeal, Kozma said, or to start building excitement for certain movies ahead of the Academy Awards in March.

Take “A Complete Unknown,” the Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet. Having the film available at Christmas, when more people, in general, will be trying to see a movie, helps build audience buzz early. That buzz, studios hope, will last for the entire theatrical run, all the way into February or even March, Kozma said.

“Christmas releases tell you that a studio or distributor somewhere thinks that these films have awards potential,” Kozma said.

Will Chalamet get an Oscar nod for his turn as Dylan? We don’t know yet, but a Christmastime release date at least keeps him on top of his mind.

And the perks of that release window don’t just apply to awards fare. Even smaller, lesser-known films benefit from opening around Christmas, Kozma said, thanks to increased visibility in a busy moviegoing season.

On the other hand, launching big-budget film franchises during the holidays helps build a tradition that studios can bank on in the future. The films in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, for example, were all released in the week leading up to Christmas, meaning families could watch the adventures of Frodo, Gandalf, and the rest of the fellowship during the holiday for three years straight. That fourth year, even without Hobbits on the big screen, families might have still gone to the theater anyway.

“You just start to get into the habit of doing something,” Kozma said. “And then you just replace the film once the series is over with whatever else is coming out.”

On Christmas, movie theaters bring community

Germenis, who’s been going to the movies on Christmas since he was a teen, recognizes that most of the movies that come out on Christmas tend to be packed with A-list stars or are simply “things we really want to see.” Having a tradition of going to the movies around Christmas is kind of “thrust upon you,” he said.

Andrew Mohrman, 20, doesn’t exactly remember when his family’s Christmas tradition of heading to the movie theater began. But for as long as he can remember, his family would wake up bright and early, open presents, and then head to the local theater for the earliest showtime.

Now, he looks forward to it every year and will start planning what movie to see as soon as Christmas release dates are announced. This year, his family is planning on seeing “A Complete Unknown.”

On Christmas, the theater “definitely feels warmer,” Mohrman said. “Everyone’s a little more friendly and festive, even if they’re not celebrating Christmas.”

And the theater is always packed, Germenis said. While his yearly tradition tends to be a solo one, Germenis said going to the movies never truly feels lonely. Even the people on the screen become a part of his memories of the holidays.

“Over the past 15 or 16 years, at least, I’ve spent as many Christmases with (Leonard DiCaprio) as I have with my family,” he said.

Those holidays then become intrinsically tied to the year’s movie. He still recalls seeing “The Shape of Water” in 2017, one of the times his parents joined him; or “The Wolf of Wall Street” in 2013, seated next to two elderly women that stuck out the entire movie, despite the lascivious opening scenes that sent others in the theater home after just a few minutes. The Christmases don’t blend together, he said, they always feel distinct.

Even with the popularity of the theater on Christmas — the blockbuster movies, the big-name actors, even just the tradition — there are still some who may balk at the idea of spending the holiday away from home. But to Germenis, the entire experience is about community: You and a room full of strangers all decided to see the same movie at the same time, on this day of all days.

“That’s the Christmas spirit right there. This is the thing that brings us all together,” he said. “What better reason?”

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