Make some hot chocolate, bake some cookies, and pick out your favorite warm blanket because it’s time to talk Christmas movies! For decades, cheesy movies have been a staple of the holiday season—and I’m talking real Christmas movies (no, Die Hard isn’t one, and I’ll die on this hill). From the Indiana-set classic A Christmas Story (1983) to the Duluth hockey rom-com Merry Kiss Cam (2022) or the obscure Keanu Reeves and Drew Barrymore-fronted made-for-TV gem Babes in Toyland (1986), the Midwestern holiday film canon certainly has something for everyone.
A Minnesota Classic
Although arguably one of the more popular movies set in Minnesota, the city where Jingle All The Way (1996) takes place doesn’t really exist. Rather than being set in Minneapolis or St. Paul, the film finds its home in… Twin Cities, Minnesota. (Apparently, since filming locations ranged from both cities to their suburbs, it was easier for logistical purposes to treat the two as one city, but come on.)
The film takes Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad all over the metro—from the Mall of America to Mickey’s Diner (now newly reopened). Many Twin Cities landmarks make an appearance throughout the movie (as my dear friend and Minnesota movie expert Chaz Kangas broke down so nicely last year).
The Animated Midwest
It’s not just live-action films—two of the most beloved animated Christmas films are both set in the Midwest. The fan-favorite The Polar Express (2004) (which I’m refusing to believe is 20 years old already) is set in Michigan, the home state of the author of the book the film is based on: East Grand Rapids’s Chris Van Allsburg.
Minnesotans may already know that Peanuts creator Charles Schulz is from the Land of 10,000 Lakes, but may not be aware that Charlie Brown and friends are from the state (as referenced in not one, but two daily strips from almost 75 years ago). So, it stands to reason that the ’60s classic A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) is, in fact, set in Minnesota.
A Specific Chicago Connection…
If you’ve ever wondered why so many holiday movies are set in Chicago, you might be interested to know that ’80s director extraordinaire John Hughes—known for classics like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) and The Breakfast Club (1985)—was also the writer behind major holiday hits like Home Alone (1990) and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989).
Having moved to Chicago as a teenager, many of Hughes’s films are a love letter to the Windy City, and he frequently spoke incredibly fondly of the people of Chicago and how living there inspired the human stories he wrote and directed. (Hughes once explained why he preferred Chicago to California—living in Hollywood, “you get cut off from regular people,” he said.)
No Shortage of Hallmark Movies!
Hallmark Channel movies are a classic Christmastime guilty pleasure, and there are plenty of them set across the Midwest. The holiday romances Five Gold Rings (2024) and Rescuing Christmas (2023) are both set in Minnesota—and the latter even stars Minneapolis native and rom-com icon Rachael Leigh Cook (of She’s All That (1999) fame) herself!
One of the channel’s newest films, A ’90s Christmas (2024), is set in Milwaukee, a city the director chose to capture the charm of the aforementioned John Hughes Chicago stories without being too on the nose. While filmed in Cincinnati, the fictional town of Silver Falls, Ohio, is the setting for A Christmas Melody (2015), which features some serious star power as the directorial debut of the so-called “Queen of Christmas,” Mariah Carey. Playing former high-school-rivals-turned-PTA-mom-rivals, Carey stars alongside Lacey Chabert, who previously played Midwestern queen Gretchen Wieners in the original Mean Girls movie back in 2004.
For a watchlist of these films, and to learn more about films with Midwest connections, keep an eye on the Arts Midwest Letterboxd page!