Is Harry Potter a Christmas Movie?

Odd topic, I know, but hear me out on this one- there’s a heated debate every year about whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie, and since we’re Universal lovers here, I want to take that debate to the Wizarding World.

It seems ABC Family deemed Harry Potter a Christmas movie, based on their Christmas movie marathons they had every year. I also noticed it was listed under Peacock’s “Season’s Streamings.”

While Christmas is celebrated in the middle of every Harry Potter book and movie, I didn’t at first think Harry Potter was a Christmas movie. However, I’ve given this maybe a little too much thought and changed my mind.

Here’s my thinking: to justify classifying a film as a “Christmas movie,” I don’t think Christmas should simply exist in the background. Christmas should advance the plot in a meaningful way. Christmas should be used as more than setting or to give viewers those feel-good holiday emotions. Those are important to any good Christmas flick, sure, but Christmas should play a more significant role to the story.

The biggest way Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone does this is through Harry receiving Christmas presents. One of Harry’s Christmas gifts is the Invisibility Cloak. Without the cloak, Harry, Ron, and Hermione couldn’t research Nicholas Flamel in the library. They couldn’t sneak around the castle. They also couldn’t sneak around the castle if other students weren’t away on Christmas break. Without the invisibility cloak, Harry wouldn’t have found the Mirror of Erised, which ends up being pivotal to Harry getting the stone instead of Voldemort.

I guess you could argue that Christmas isn’t really what advanced the plot here, the cloak is. But let’s be real- the Wizarding World at Christmastime is magical, both on screen and at the theme parks. So we’re gonna go ahead and let it be a Christmas movie if you want it to be. 😉

So what do you think- is Harry Potter a Christmas movie? Let me know in the comments!