’12 Films of Christmas’ Unwraps Sydney’s Holiday Season At The Ritz
Image: Poster for 'It's A Wonderful Life,' dir. by Frank Capra, showing at Ritz Cinemas' '12 Films of Christmas' series. Source: TMDB.
Ritz Cinemas is kicking off the most wonderful time of the year with 12 Films of Christmas, a Christmas countdown series packed with nostalgia, novelty and Christmas spirit.
Running from 12 to 22 December, the program offers Sydney audiences an alternative to the usual Harry Potter rewatch, presenting a curated celebration of holiday cinema.
Across its run, the Randwick cinema will screen films from cult favourites to studio-era crowd pleasers, spanning decades and genres.
The line-up blends childhood favourites with titles you never knew belonged in the holiday canon in a chance to see them on the big screen.
Ritz’s ’12 Films of Christmas’ rings in the season with holiday magic for every taste
Die Hard opens the program with high-stakes cheer, pitting Bruce Willis’ John McClane against Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber in an explosive cat-and-mouse showdown—a now-traditional Christmas-adjacent action classic and favourite for dads everywhere.
Joe Dante’s Gremlins follows, mixing creature chaos with small-town holiday sweetness.
Home Alone returns for big-screen slapstick for a great communal experience watching Kevin McCallister outwit hilariously hapless ‘Sticky Bandits’ —essentially a child-friendly Saw—in a packed cinema.
Up next is saccharine favourite Elf, arguable the most joyful holiday comedy, carried by Will Ferrell‘s reliable ridiculousness.
Romance arrives with the original ensemble juggernaut Love Actually, a seasonal staple intersecting stories that swing from pure fluff to bittersweet heartbreak.
The Holiday follows, pairing Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black in a heart-warming transatlantic winter escape.
For the yearners, Carol offers a tender, visually rich counterpoint of festive melancholy, led by Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett.
Classic Hollywood devotees are covered with Meet Me in St. Louis, the charming musical anchored by Judy Garland in one of her defining roles.
The mood shifts to picture-book chaos with the 25th anniversary of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, showcasing Jim Carrey’s delightfully over-the-top and strangely relatable turn.
After that levity, the program pivots sharply with a rare 35mm print of Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, a divisively moody, Christmas-lit detour through New York.
The Christmas films countdown closes in a double bill with the enduring warmth of It’s a Wonderful Life and the animated poignancy of Tokyo Godfathers.
Bring friends, family or a date for a line-up built to surprise, delight and tug a few heartstrings—because, as the Ritz puts it, “You’d be rude(olph) not to.
For tickets and more information, visit Ritz Cinemas.
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