The Christmas Movie 3: Home for the Holidays

The Christmas Movie 3: Home for the Holidays is a 2036 animated Christmas musical fantasy film loosely based on the 1823 poem by . It is the sequel to The Christmas Movie 2 (2025), the third main installment, and the fourth installment overall in the The Christmas Movie franchise. Directed by Brandon Greene, written by Chris Columbus and produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, Bardel Entertainment, and Sergio Pablos Animation Studios, the film is narrated by Rachel McAdams and stars J.K. Simmons, Justin Bieber, Becky G, Jeremy Maguire, Eddie Izzard, Alessia Cara, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, Abbi Jacobson, Selena Gomez, Maya Rudolph, Jason Schwartzman, Chris Pratt, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele and Sterling K. Brown.
The Christmas Movie 3: Home for the Holidays was released on Netflix on November 14, 2036 and received positive reviews from critics. The film has received three Annie Award nominations, including an Oscar for Cara's song "Make It To Christmas".
== Plot ==
Six years after the last film, Ben Hopeful is now a troublemaking 18-year old and is looking after his little sister Shane. They are looking forward to spending Christmas with their older brother and sister, Patrick and Lisa. Ben hasn't seen Patrick since he went to college with Teddy whom he's going to propose to. Ben and Shane celebrate with their parents. One night, Shane hears a mysterious voice calling her. She follows it, unintentionally awakening the elemental spirits and she wakes up Ben and they are unexpectedly transported to the North Pole by , a nefarious folklore.
Ben and Shane are discovered and saved by Santa Claus who brings them back to his house and Mrs. Claus. Ben introduces Shane to his old friends and the Clauses and elves give the kids a grand tour of their village and all it has to offer. The four of them go back to the house for dinner. Ben and Shane go to bed as Belsnickel and his follower elf Matches begin an attempt to destroy the village. Mrs. Claus tells the kids the origin story of Santa in Turkey and how he saved the elves from extinction, and received the Star of Bethlehem, a magical artifact that stops time in and provides power to Santa's Village. Belsnickel used to be a former apprentice of Krampus as he tried to punish naughty kids by making scary toys that attack. Santa was distraught to learn about this, thus removing him from his job. Belsnickel vowed revenge on Santa and everyone.
Darwin, Mikey, and two coal mining elves names Donny and Josh discovered this was Belsnickel's doing and used a portal to New York City where they meet Patrick and Teddy at an airport. Patrick, Teddy, and the four elves have several misadventures throughout the film, eventually landing the elves in jail.
As Ben and Shane traveling to the village, they encounter a tribe of yetis and they take them to Yetisburg. The fire spirit appears and Ben attempts to stop its fire from spreading. Ben discovers that the spirit is in the form of an agitated magical mouse. He calms it down by creating a small snow flurry, ceasing its flames. Ben and Shane form a truce with the Yetis to stop Belsnickel before he causes anymore naughty deeds. Later, at the camp, the group encounters the yeti princess named Frostina. Ben and Shane talk to Frostina, learning that Santa's shawl is decorated with a traditional Yeti pattern. Teddy talks with King Blizzer and Shane is rearranged by a group of Yeti children. The kids seeing Darwin, Mikey, Donny, and Josh in jail on TV performing "Merry Christmas Baby" with Christina Aguilera. Ben later learns of Belsnickel's plan to steal the Star of Bethlehem and rid Christmas forever, so the four must head to Santa's village to stop him.
They made it to the village and tells Santa about what will happen. Belsnickel releases Jola, a yule cat, into the reindeer pen, injuring Dasher. Belsnickel releases a potion into the village that causes the elves and yetis to go insane. He steals the Star of Bethlehem on top of the village's Christmas tree. Santa and the others confront him. Santa attempts to take the star back and in the struggle between him and Belsnickel, it is accidentally destroyed, causing the power to go out in the village. The maddened elves and yetis start a snowball fight that gives Belsnickel time to escape. Patrick and Teddy break Darwin, Mikey, Donny, and Josh out of jail with the help of Mrs. Claus and they reunite with their old friends. Santa, Ben, Patrick and Teddy leave for Turkey in order to get the forest elves led by Clarence to build a new star. Mikey leaves to get a root to cure the crazed yetis and elves while Mrs. Claus stays behind to tend to Dasher. Ben, Patrick, Teddy, and Santa find the elves as Earl leads them into building a casing for a new star and Santa captures the power of the Star of Bethlehem inside it.
While flying back to the village, Belsnickel catches up to them on a sleigh pulled by his army of evil snowmen which he created, turns Ben into a mouse, and steals the star so he can stop himself from aging long enough to figure out how to replace Santa and transports them back to 1991 Boston via a time-travel device he planted on Santa's sleigh. Shane finds the root and brings it back to Mrs. Claus. Ben attempts to buy AAA batteries for Belsnickel's time travel device, which he and Santa now possess, at the Boston airport to transport the kids and Santa back to the future. Ben meets a rat and helps him escape the room. Ben and the rat are turned back to humans and before they leave, Teddy sees a kid named Robert and comforts him. After Teddy joins the rest, she realizes Robert Darby is her late father. With help from a worker named Angel, Santa gets Patrick and Shane singing a Christmas song as the weather clears up. With Christmas spirit high enough for the sleigh to fly, Santa puts the batteries in and they transport back and recover the star.
Mrs. Claus makes the root into a powder. Shane fights his way to the snow cannons, places the powder inside, and shoots it onto the elves, curing them. Santa, Ben, Patrick, and Teddy race back to the village evading Belsnickel as he chases them. Mrs. Claus throws an explosive gingerbread cookie in between both sleighs before they can collide in a game of chicken. Dasher recovers and assists Santa in defeating Jola, the latter hurling the yule cat out of the village. Ben places the star on top of the tree, restoring power to the village and Belsnickel decides to change his ways and make amends.
Ben, Patrick, Teddy, and Shane say goodbye to Mrs. Claus, the yetis and elves and Santa flies them back to New York where they inform an excited Clark about their adventure and Teddy accepts Patrick's marriage proposal. At the end the Hopefuls and Darbys come together for Christmas as Lisa plays on a piano with everyone singing.
In a mid-credits scene, an adult Shane tells the story to her children and they head to see Ben and Patrick for Christmas.
== Voice cast ==
* J.K. Simmons as Santa Claus, A magical figure who brings presents for people at Christmas night, when they are asleep.
* Jeremy Maguire as Benjamin "Ben" Hopeful, a teenage boy who is Santa's biggest fan.
** Kingston James PenaVega as Young Ben
** Maguire also voices Young Ben (Ahtohallan/archive recording)
* Justin Bieber as Patrick Hopeful, Ben's older brother.
* Becky G as Theodora "Teddy" Moore, Patrick's girlfriend, later fiancée.
* Alessia Cara as Shane Hopeful, Ben and Patrick's cheerful little sister with a passion for singing.
**Rachel McAdams as Adult Shane, the narrator.
* Eddie Izzard as , a crotchety, fur-clad Christmas figure and the main antagonist of the film. His goal is to cancel Christmas forever.
* Will Arnett as Clark Hopeful, the father of Ben, Patrick and Shane.
* Amy Poehler as Elizabeth "Liz" Hopeful, the mother of Ben, Patrick and Shane.
* Abbi Jacobson as Lisa Hopeful, the older sister of Ben, Patrick and Shane.
* Selena Gomez as Frostina, a yeti princess of Yetisburg.
* Maya Rudolph as Mrs. Claus, the wife of Santa Claus.
* Sterling K. Brown as King Blizzer, the father of Frostina and ruler of Yetisburg.
* Jason Schwartzman as Darwin, one of Santa's scout elves, and Mikey’s best friend.
* Chris Pratt as Mikey, one of Santa's scout elves and Darwin’s best friend.
* Keegan-Michael Key as Donny, one of Santa's coal mining elves and Josh's best friend.
* Jordan Peele as Josh, one of Santa's coal mining elves and Donny's best friend.
* David Cross as Clarence, a forest elf in Turkey.
* Kelly Clarkson as Roxy, one of Santa's elves and David's girlfriend.
* Patrick Stump as Stuart, one of Santa's elves.
* Jack McBrayer as Hermey, a dentist elf.
* Jason Sudeikis as Jingle Bells, a grumpy elf and Jangle's best friend.
* Kevin Hart as Jangle Bells, one of Santa's elves and Jingle's best friend.
* Janelle Monáe as Maddie, one of Santa's elves and Mikey's girlfriend.
* Elijah Eldrige as Bob, a young elf and Darwin and Mikey's student and friend.
* Tara Strong as Katherine Moore, the mother of Teddy.
* Melody Hurd as Nia Brooks, the father of Edward, Katherine's stepdaughter and Teddy's stepsister.
* Shemar Moore as Edward Brooks, Katherine's new husband, Nia's father and Teddy's stepfather.
* Blake Shelton as Earl, the head elf.
* James Corden as Carl, a a dim-witted elf.
* Pitbull as Roberto, one of Santa's elves and Roxy's closest/best friend.
* Ariel Winter as Nellie, one of Santa's prepper elves.
* Olivia Colman as Elfie, one of Santa's prepper elves.
* Gina Rodriguez as Trixie, one of Santa's prepper elves.
* Bebe Rexha as Tinsel, one of Santa's spy elves and Stuart's girlfriend.
* Charli XCX as Kat, one of Santa's spy elves and Carl's girlfriend.
* Lizzo as Lilia, one of Santa's spy elves and Jangle's girlfriend.
* Wanda Sykes as Sugarplum Mary, the chief assistant to Mrs. Claus in the Kitchen.
* Olivia Olson as Nova, Mikey's goth niece.
* Corey Burton as Shinny Upatree, Santa's oldest friend and Village co-founder.
* as Tundra, Frostina's older brother.
* Daniel MK Cohen as Cole, one of Frostina's brothers.
* Jake T. Austin as Guster, one of Frostina's brothers.
* Finn Wolfhard as Artie, one of Frostina's brothers.
* Malcolm McDowell as Azun, a wise old yeti.
* Quinn Copeland as Holly Coleman, Ben's girlfriend and classmate.
** Maisy Joanne Stocklin as Young Holly
* Gaten Matarazzo as Troy Burnes, the school bully in Ben's school.
* Christian Slater as Sam, a bartender elf.
* Patrick Warburton as a Rat
* Christina Aguilera as herself
* Eric Bauza as:
** Carlo, a prisoner who befriends Mikey and Darwin and helped them to escape from jail.
** Cop #2
* Rob Paulsen as Roger, one of Santa's scout elves.
* Kari Wahlgren as Marie, one of Santa's elves.
** Wahlgren also voices a female Yeti.
* Dee Bradley Baker as:
** Ethan, one of Santa's coal mining elves.
** Jorge, one of the elves in Turkey.
** A Yeti soldier
** The prisoners
* Jennifer Hale as Grace, one of Santa's scout elves.
* Yuri Lowenthal as Sparky, one of Santa's elves.
* Rita Moreno as Brrronica, Frostina's aunt.
* Pierce Gagnon as Dougie, Ben's friend and classmate.
* Pamela Adlon as Young Robert Darby, the younger version of Teddy's late father who she encounters in 1991.
* Brandon Greene as:
** Bonor, a Yeti soldier.
** Buster, one of the forest elves in Turkey.
** Cop #1
* Kimberly Brooks as Jill, a Boston airport worker in 1991.
* Sergio Pablos as Mass State Police Trooper in 1991.
* Kate Higgins as Shane's son
* Marieve Herington as Shane's daughter
== Music ==
=== Soundtrack ===
Music from and Inspired by The Christmas Movie, the soundtrack of the film, it will be released on December 1, 2036. Alessia Cara contributed the song "Make It To Christmas", which is playing at the film's credits.
No. Title.......................................................................Music
# "Make It To Christmas"....................................Alessia Cara
# ""....................................Cyndi Lauper & 
#""....................................Alessia Cara
#"/The Holiday Season"....................................
#"Beneath The Ice"....................................J.K. Simmons, Maya Rudolph
# ""....................................The Pussycat Dolls
# ""....................................Elvis Presley
# ""....................................
# ""....................................
# ""....................................Bing Crosby, 
# ""....................................
# ""....................................
#"Christmas is Too Sweet"....................................Eddie Izzard
# " (feat. Dr. John)....................................Christina Aguilera, 
# ""....................................
# ""....................................
# ""...................................., 
# ""....................................Bing Crosby & 
#"Can't be Better?"....................................Jeremy Maguire, Justin Bieber
# ""....................................Justin Bieber, Alessia Cara
#"".................................... featuring 
# ""...................................., 
#""....................................The Christmas Movie cast
# "Come Home for Christmas"...................................Matthew West
== Production ==
=== Development ===
Netflix and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer confirmed in September 2025 that a third film in The Christmas Movie series was in development. Brandon Greene, the director of the first two films, announced that he would return for the film, with Chris Columbus and Kris Pearn replacing Greene as the writer for the film.
=== Casting ===
In April 2027, J.K. Simmons was reported to reprise his role as Santa Claus, while Eddie Izzard was cast for the film as Belsnickel. In September 2030, Jeremy Maguire, Justin Bieber and Becky G were reported to reprise their roles as Ben, Patrick and Teddy, respectively with Alessia Cara as Shane, Selena Gomez as Frostina, Sterling K. Brown as King Blizzer, Keegan-Michael Key as Ken, Jordan Peele as Donny, and David Cross as Clarence joining the cast. Rachel McAdams would be narrating the film.
== Marketing ==
The digital campaign of The Christmas Movie 3: Home for the Holidays have been promoted before its release, which included activations, such as the star ratings being replaced with the Elves during the Amazon's "Elf Day", and BuzzFeed's "character takeover" badges. In New York City, 600 taxicabs had the sculpted Elves atop of them, of which had a Elvish greeting.
Additional marketing partners for the film included 23 & Me, Chiquita, Ferrero, M&M's, Procter & Gamble, Topps, and Yummy Spoonfuls.
== Release ==
The film was released on Netflix on November 14, 2036.
The film was released 2 years later on November 23, 2038 on Freeform during 25 Days of Christmas.
== Reception ==
=== Critical Response ===
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 83% based on 75 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "The Christmas Movie 3: Home for the Holidays celebrates the yuletide season with a holiday adventure whose exuberant spirit is matched by its uplifting message and humor." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 69 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
=== Accolades ===
The Christmas Movie 3 was nominated for Annie Awards, including an Oscar for Alessia Cara's song "Make It To Christmas".
== Sequel ==
The Christmas Movie 3: Home for the Holidays will be followed by The Christmas Movie 4, the sixth overall installment in The Christmas Movie franchise.
== Gallery ==
Main article: The Christmas Movie 3: Home for the Holidays/Gallery
== Trivia ==
* The 27th animated triquel after Pokémon 3: The Movie (2000), Rugrats Go Wild (2003), Shrek the Third (2007), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), Toy Story 3 (2010), Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012), Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016), Cars 3 (2017), Despicable Me 3 (2017), Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018), How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019), The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (2020), Trolls 3 (2023), Wreck-It Ralph 3 (2024), Finding Marlin (2025), Frozen III (2025), The LEGO Movie 3 (2026), Rio 3 (2026), Hoodwinked 3! (2026), Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs 3 (2027), The Croods 3 (2027), The Secret Life of Pets 3 (2028), The Angry Birds Movie 3 (2028), Monsters, Inc. 3 (2029), The Nut Job 3 (2029) and Happy Feet 3 (2029).
* The Yeti characters were borrowed from the comic series, NorthStars.
* The scene where Mikey, Darwin, Ken, and Donny sing in prison is a reference to the scene from (2018).
* It is the second Christmas film series to be a trilogy, the first being Father Christmas.
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