61 Must-See Black Christmas Movies for 2023's Festive Season
Updated in Gil Santos
Embrace the holiday season's joy and warmth with our top picks of Black Christmas movies for 2023. These films go beyond traditional holiday sparkle, showcasing the rich diversity of Black culture with stories full of heart and cultural resonance.
Our Black Christmas movies recommendations spans a range of genres from heartwarming family comedies to romantic dramas. It includes everything from Hallmark favorites to BET+ and Disney Plus exclusives, with star-studded films featuring the likes of Eddie Murphy with Tracee Ellis Ross (Candy Cane Lane), and Lil Rel Howery with Teyonah Parris and Ludacris (Dashing Through The Snow). These movies delve into themes of love, family, and community, all set against a backdrop of festive cheer.
Get ready for a holiday season filled with laughter, love, and unforgettable moments. These Black Christmas movies are perfect for cozy nights in or festive gatherings, offering a unique and joyful cinematic experience for 2023. Don't miss these holiday must-sees!
Quick Jump
Black Christmas Movies releasing in 2023
12 Games of Christmas
Favorite Son Christmas
Yes! Chef Christmas
Black Christmas Movies already released in 2023
The Drone that Saved Christmas
Never Alone for Christmas
Sworn Justice: Taken Before Christmas
Christmas Ringer
A Royal Christmas Surprise
Christmas Angel
So Fly Christmas
Our favorites from 2022
Ella returns to her hometown to mend fences with her fractured family. With the help of Griffin, her ex-boyfriend, she encourages her family to celebrate Christmas and Kwanzaa and to heal their past wounds before it’s too late.
A Family Matters Christmas
Aiden, a far more intelligent kid than any ten-year-old boy should be, wishes that his newly formed family of his sister, dad, step-mother and step-brother could all get along. With the siblings constantly bickering, it's been anything but merry in the Kingsley household. With the annual Christmas science fair approaching, Aiden attempts to create an experiment in order to help his family feel like the tight knit one he yearns for. After many failed attempts, Aiden calls upon a forgotten Christmas spirit to help. With a little bit of this newfound Christmas magic, the siblings unknowingly switch bodies. Now stuck in the body of someone they couldn't seem to get along with, the siblings must work together in order to break the spell and switch back before Christmas morning.
A New Orleans Noel
Follows Grace and Anthony, who despite having gone to college to study architecture together, are too different, but things between them change after both are hired to work on the same place and end up celebrating Christmas together.
Shelby is about to quit her job when her daughter becomes convinced that her boss Evan is the Christmas prince from a story Shelby made up a few years ago.
Lisette is a popular R&B singer who’s getting ready to travel home to New Orleans for Christmas. When the media mistake a photo of her with her music producer ex as an engagement announcement, her family insists that he join her on the trip.
Our favorites from 2021
Business executive Jazmin Carter is known for two things: turning fledgling businesses into profit producers and avoiding Christmas in Harlem, the neighborhood where she grew up.
After opening a 100-year-old time capsule and finding her grandfather’s old journal, Lou questions whether she should move to New York after Christmas to further her writing career or stay in Pine Grove to carry on her family’s local newspaper. Charming chef, Kyle, is also at a crossroads, visiting Pine Grove for the holidays.
Harmony is tricked into auditioning for the Holiday Chorus — directed by an ex-boyfriend. By Christmas Eve, they could be harmonizing in the key of love.
A mother's Christmas wish - and the grand prize that comes with it - sets off a fierce competition between her sons.
A Sisterly Christmas
Sisters Kristina (Deborah Joy Winans) and Vicky (Lisa Michelle Cornelius) receive an early Christmas gift—a luxurious vacation at an exclusive resort—from their Aunt Debbie (Marium Carvell), who hopes to bring them together after they've grown apart since their mother’s death. The sisters are less than thrilled by the idea of spending time together: Vicky loves Christmas, whereas Kristina no longer enjoys the holiday without their mom. With strong convincing from Aunt Debbie, the sisters reluctantly accept her gift. Once they arrive at the resort, Kristina and Vicky run into Reginé (Kyana Teresa), a famous singer and one-time best friend who left them behind when fame came calling.
Once a promising singer-songwriter, Abby now finds herself writing uninspired jingles for commercials. As she heads home for the holidays, she's enlisted by the local high school music teacher to help save the school arts program. In the process, Abby rediscovers her voice and regains the confidence to go after her dreams and lets the possibility of love in too.
When Olivia, a young assistant pastor, gets assigned to be a lead pastor at a new church a month before Christmas, she's fearful she can't manage the transition, including getting the choir ready to open the town's annual Winter Jamboree. Banding together with her new congregation, Olivia discovers a new home for herself, and even finds a little Christmas romance along the way!
As a single mom and her teenaged son with autism come to a crossroad during Christmas, she must learn to let go so he can flourish as she finds her own heart healing in unexpected ways.
A talented pastry chef, accidentally commits to hosting her family for the holidays, she poses as the wealthy homeowner in order to impress them. Everything is fine, until everyone's secrets are exposed and relationships begin to unravel.
A magical Christmas wish makes a career-obsessed June say yes to every invitation while she's home for the holidays. But when an old flame, Blake, joins her hectic schedule of Christmas activities, past feelings are reignited. June must choose between saying yes to her career and life in the city or to her heart in her hometown.
A Christmas angel grants a wish to a Christmas hater, to have her life as a singer.
The family of the founder of a multi-million-dollar film company experiences some tragic events during the holidays and two sisters must set aside a life-long rivalry and come together to turn the company around and keep the family intact.
This holiday, the Liddles have much to be merry about! Jacquie Liddle and her husband, Tyler, are preparing for the arrival of their first baby. With their family expanding in ways they could never have expected, the Liddles are headed for a crazy Christmas filled with merry mayhem and lots of love and laughter.
While gathering evidence to support closing a tropical U.S. Air Force base, a congressional aide warms to its generous captain.
Career-driven investment banker Elle has given up on love until she meets Wesley, who invites her to his hometown in South Carolina, where she rediscovers the spirit of Christmas.
Bakery owner Molly meets Josh, a widower who recently moved to town with his young son, but she is also charmed by a mysterious client whom she’s never met in person and she doesn’t realize that they’re the same man.
As Michelle’s wedding approaches, Hannah steps up to help finish the launch of the new Evergreen museum while questioning her relationship and future with Elliot.
Erin is planning the town’s Christmas celebration and must win over firefighter Kevin in order to obtain the beautiful spruce tree from his property for the celebration.
A tech entrepreneur's Christmas shopping app is a smashing success, but he starts to realize his invention might be ruining the holiday spirit.
A week before Christmas, Dr. Alicia Wright is offered an assignment away from home. A mysterious man from her past journeys to find her before Christmas and brings with him a revelation that could change Alicia’s life forever.
An imaginary world comes to life in a holiday tale of an eccentric toymaker, his adventurous granddaughter, and a magical invention that has the power to change their lives forever.
Single mom Emma Sanderson is looking for a Christmas miracle to write about for the lifestyle magazine where she's landed a temporary job. Along the way Emma discovers unexpected romance with a supportive colleague and brings about a Christmas miracle for a lonely street musician.
Our favorites from 2010's
Christmas Hotel
A big city hotelier's boss informs her that she will receive a promotion if she can pull off a major project.
A marketing executive is invited by her charming and handsome boss to pitch a major project to prospective clients at a posh resort and the two get snowed in together before any of the other guests can arrive. Now, with the hotel to themselves, a fairytale snowscape outside and sparks flying inside, they find that being alone together is all the Christmas magic they need.
Despite being successful in their careers, two 30-something BFFs never stop hearing that they both need a man before it's too late. When a handsome pastor arrives just in time to kick off the Christmas season, both ladies try to make a move-but as their hilarious attempts to one up each other keep growing, it will be up to their family to remind them what the holiday season is truly about.
An overworked businesswoman learns the meaning of "be careful what you wish for" after she off-handedly wishes she had taken another path in life.
The families on Christmas Street have been so busy with their day-to-day lives that they lose sight of the importance of family during the holiday season.
Christmas is fast approaching and years of long workdays employed at New York’s top corporate law firm are about to pay off now that Lucy Toomey will be made partner after the New Year. However, when Alice, her older sister with special needs, unexpectedly passes away, Lucy returns back to Nilson’s Bay, Wis., to attend the funeral and handle her estate. While Lucy dreads returning to her childhood home, she also feels real sorrow that she was too busy to take her sister’s last call. Once back in Nilson’s Bay, Lucy meets Peter, her old high school sweetheart and Alice’s former attorney, who informs her of the terms of Alice’s eccentric will that states in order for Lucy to inherit the family home, she must live there for 30 days through the holidays.
A talented photographer stuck in a dead-end job inherits an antique Advent calendar that may be predicting the future -- and pointing her toward love.
Single mom Madison finds herself scraping pennies together two weeks before Christmas after the IRS freezes her bank account, her ex fails to come through with any help and her boss fires her. Desperate to pay bills and buy gifts for her teenage children, Madison jumps into the ever-popular "gig economy." That's when she meets and eventually gets hired by obnoxious, sidelined former pro football player Alec Darby, also secretly on the verge of going broke. This odd couple butts heads time and time again, but they eventually forge a friendship. And, to their surprise, they learn a lot about themselves and teach one another how to be better people.
Throwback Holiday
Jacqueline is living an unfulfilled life in a doomed marriage. After a chance encounter with a former classmate, she rethinks her life's choices and wishes she could go back to high school for a do-over. Like a Christmas miracle, Jacqueline awakens to find herself as a high school senior again with the ability to change everything.
A dysfunctional family gathers together for their first Christmas since their mom died.
Before finalizing their divorce on Christmas Day, Regina returns to the Chesterton Hotel where Franklin and she were originally married, only to meet an eccentric millionaire whose affection towards her forces Regina to come to grips with the choice she's facing.
Madea dispenses her unique form of holiday spirit on rural town when she's coaxed into helping a friend pay her daughter a surprise visit in the country for Christmas.
Beverly Hills banker/workaholic Jennifer comes home to her small Northern California town just before Christmas when her dad, Ted, takes a bad fall while putting up decorations. While home, Jenny begins getting romantic Christmas cards from an unknown admirer, who turns out to be her old neighbor and the unrealized love of her life, Jack. There's just one problem - Jack died in a car accident three years ago.
A street-wise teen from Baltimore who has been raised by a single mother travels to New York City to spend the Christmas holiday with his estranged relatives, where he embarks on a surprising and inspirational journey.
The Best Man Holiday
When college friends reunite after 15 years over the Christmas holidays, they discover just how easy it is for long-forgotten rivalries and romances to be reignited.
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About the Author
Gil Santos
With over 20 years of experience in various narrative mediums, Gil Santos is the singular mind behind Culture Bay. His journey began as a lyricist and web developer, later expanding into crafting dynamic conference presentations and engaging YouTube sketches. This diverse background has allowed him to hone his storytelling skills across different fields. Santos' lifelong passion for sci-fi and fantasy, combined with his knack for interactive storytelling, culminate in Culture Bay - a fusion of innovative ideas and engaging narratives intended for all to enjoy.