Australian Christmas films – quick links
Bump: A Christmas Film – premiering on 30 November – begins with Claudia Karvan playing the grinch and griping about the festive season. Christmas is a time of terrible music, crushing expectations, forced cheer and exhausting families, complains her character Angie Davis – it’s laden with too much plastic, waste, junk, work and stress.
Not mentioned on her list, unsurprisingly: Australian Christmas movies, a genre that’s been growing in recent years courtesy of local streaming services.
Almost eight decades have passed since the original Bush Christmas surveyed merriment Down Under. For most of that time it lacked much in the way of company, until its 1983 remake starring Nicole Kidman, 1987’s Bushfire Moon and then 1998 comedy Crackers.
There days we have plenty more options. Here’s our guide to the Aussie Christmas films that are available with streaming subscriptions.
Bush Christmas (1983), stream on Prime Video
Long before she had an Oscar, plus four other Best Actress nominations, Nicole Kidman graced the screen in this rural Queensland-set remake. (Bush Christmas beat BMX Bandits into cinemas by a mere week.)
Her debut part: as Helen, one of the Thompson family’s children, who sets off after the horse thieves that steal the brood’s beloved steed and put their hopes of saving their farm in jeopardy. Witnessing Kidman’s acting origins and digging into Australian cinema history are the film’s main drawcard more than 40 years later.
A Sunburnt Christmas, stream on Stan
The Home Alone franchise has spent decades trying to recapture the magic of its first two films, which have been Christmas viewing staples since the early 90s. A Sunburnt Christmas isn’t quite Australia’s answer to series; however, it does borrow the idea of kids and criminals crossing paths while sporting plenty of its own charm.
A family struggling with their farm is also familiar from closer afield (see: Bush Christmas), as is a child mistaking a stranger for Santa (see: Bushfire Moon). But thanks to Daniel Henshall as hapless crook Daryl, a playful sense of humour, and the keen eye of cinematographer Dylan River, A Sunburnt Christmas is entertainingly more than the sum of its recognisable parts.
Christmas on the Farm, stream on Stan
What happens when a New York-dwelling Australian expat attempts to land a book deal by passing off her mother’s picture-perfect farm life as her own to a publisher that’s desperate for a big hit? And, when the executive chasing her work won’t sign off on the deal without spending Christmas with his potential new author Down Under? The Hallmark-esque Christmas on the Farm is the answer.
Starring Poppy Montgomery and Darren McMullen, this saccharine-toned, sunnily shot picture happily and eagerly plays out exactly as viewers expect from its first moments – complete with mistaken identities, culture clashes and playing up Australian stereotypes for the benefit of visiting Americans, all wrapped up in rom-com escapism.
Christmas Ransom, stream on Stan
Another Australian festive flick filled with children and criminals, and another taking its cues from Home Alone, Christmas Ransom counts A Sunburnt Christmas co-scribes Elliot Vella and Gretel Vella among its screenwriters. As the likeable-enough movie unfurls its seasonal antics in a family-owned toy store that’s seen more profitable days, it also adds a Die Hard angle.
Here, villains (Geneviève Lemon and Bridie McKim) hold the shop’s proprietor (Matt Okine) and his top employee (Ed Oxenbould) hostage, while the resident security guard (Miranda Tapsell) endeavours to foil their caper with help from two kids (Tahlia Sturzaker and Evan Stanhope).
Jones Family Christmas, stream on Stan
A chaotic family coming together to navigate seasonal ups and downs? That setup, a tried-and-tested Christmas movie foundation, anchors Jones Family Christmas.
A bushfire threat adds an extra complication among the usual interpersonal dramas – awkward reunions, rocky relationships, broken hearts, big secrets and the like – alongside a firm reminder that this is an Aussie film beyond its festive cuisine.
Jones Family Christmas has set itself a tricky task, then: finding the right tonal balance between clashing relatives learning to cherish their loved ones and the looming natural disaster. Accordingly, there’s a sense of both sentimentality and weight to this Heather Mitchell-led dramedy.
How to Make Gravy, stream on Binge
Turning one of Australia’s most famous songs into a movie could’ve been an impossible job. Luckily for How to Make Gravy’s director Nick Waterman and co-writer Meg Washington, Paul Kelly outlined an ample blueprint in his lyrics. As a film and as a tune alike, this tale is about the incarcerated Joe, his condiment recipe, and his nearest and dearest Dan, Stella, Rita, Angus, Frank, Dolly, Mary and Roger.
As Joe, Daniel Henshall is again excellent. Playing a newly created character, Hugo Weaving is similarly outstanding. There’s not a bad performance among the cast – which also spans French actor Agathe Rousselle, plus Australians Damon Herriman, Kate Mulvany, Jonah Wren Phillips, Brenton Thwaites and more – as Waterman and Washington thoughtfully flesh out Kelly’s track.
ScreenHub: How to Make Gravy soars on screen
Nugget Is Dead: A Christmas Story, stream on Stan
Optics, one of 2025’s best new Australian TV comedies, sprang from and stars Jenna Owen and Vic Zerbst. Nugget Is Dead: A Christmas Story boasts the same pedigree. Before the pair were satirising the PR industry astutely and amusingly, they tackled dysfunctional families come the merriest time on the calendar, with the same winning results.
In this festive highlight, the two portray cousins with very different aims for their end-of-year Wollongong shindig – and contrasting coping mechanisms when the eponymous pet pooch falls ill. Until Nugget’s unwell turn, Zerbst’s Steph was set to skip out of the whole event in favour of her boyfriend’s posh Sydney family, while Owen’s Shayla can’t wait to immerse her cousin in her wedding plans.
ScreenHub: Nugget Is Dead brings queer love and Aussie flair to the Christmas movie formula
Bump: A Christmas Film, stream on Stan
Premieres on 30 November 2025.
When Bump came to an end after five seasons across four years, it wrapped up the extended Chalmers-Davis family’s exploits – from unexpected teen pregnancies, plus the growing pains of parenthood and grandparenthood, to facing mortality and losing loved ones – with both hope and heartbreak. If a return was ever to be on the cards, only stepping back in time would bring the whole crew back together.
A year later for audiences, Bump: A Christmas Film smartly takes that approach to properly cap off the series, via a cruise around Colombia. Oly (Nathalie Morris), Santi (Carlos Sanson Jr), Jacinda (Ava Cannon), Angie (Claudia Karvan), Dom (Angus Sampson), Bowie (Christian Byers), Rosa (Paula Garcia) and more hop on a plane, then set sail – and Bump serves up a reminder of why viewers have loved spending time in their company.
ScreenHub: Bump: A Christmas Film review
