Need a new cinematic universe to binge-watch? Well, here’s the Netflix Christmas movie franchise
Are you a fan of cinematic universes? Do you like cheesy Christmas movies? If you answered yes to both, then hold on to your Christmas-themed sweaters, Netflix fans because the media giant has a gift for you!
With Netflix continuing to grow their original films and series on their platform, another section of the repertoire is growing as well, specifically, their holiday films. But, there’s a twist. Get this – apparently the platforms Christmas film are connected to one another.
Through TV cameos within the movies to mentions of the fictional “Aldovia,” these films have been confirmed to exist within the same universe. Crazy stuff.
Source: Netflix
Netflix announced this universe of connections at the beginning of December 2019 in a Twitter thread. So, the universe is not as secretive as you may think, but most Netflix fans may not have noticed this before.
Source: Netflix
This concept of an interconnected cinematic universe first began when holiday film concepts began to be created for the 2018 season. The idea of connecting the worlds together came from MPCA Executive Vice President, Amanda Phillips Atkins, according to the Twitter thread on the official Netflix account.
Now, a select number of Netflix Christmas movies are now forever connected to each other. Let’s see how exactly everything is interwoven.
To start, Netflix began fleshing out the idea of the universe by including subtle on-screen cameos from other movies.
In the 2018 film, “The Holiday Calendar,” the creative team needed to include a movie being played within the movie which resulted in the 2017 movie, “The Christmas Inheritance,” to have an on-screen cameo. “The Christmas Inheritance” also shows up on a TV in the 2018 film, “The Princess Switch” which also featured a cameo from 2017’s “A Christmas Prince.” The 2019 film, “Holiday in the Wild” also gets a cameo in the 2019 movie, “The Knight Before Christmas.”
As time went on, the production staff began to include more obvious references to other films in newer releases.
In “The Knight Before Christmas,” a character tells her daughter, “Your grandma and grandpa picked this up on their trip to Aldovia.” This line implies that the kingdom featured in “A Christmas Prince” is a real place in the movie’s world. Then, in 2019’s “A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby,” a map shows that Aldovia’s nearby neighboring countries include Belgravia, the country from “The Princess Switch.”
In the 2020 sequel, “The Princess Switch: Switched Again,” the world is once again connected by including the characters Amber, Prince Richard, and their daughter, Princess Elleri, from the Christmas Prince franchise.
While this is all probably really confusing for you, Netflix has a handy graphic that walks you through the connection and cameo details.
Whether you decide to watch one or all of the films that are in the Netflix Christmas universe, you are sure to enjoy the little easter eggs along the way.