Hallmark Christmas Movies by the Numbers

Some people really look forward to all of the holiday trappings. Others greet the Yuletide with existential terror. A similar division applies to Hallmark Channel’s “Countdown to Christmas.” Some can’t wait for it, and others view it like Thanos’s speech in Avengers: Infinity War: “Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. And now, it’s here.” Whatever camp you’re in, you can’t deny that the rise of these made for-television-films is a pop culture phenomenon. Let’s break it down.

118 Years

The company that would be Hallmark first came into existence in 1907. Founded as the Norfolk Post Card Company by siblings Joyce Clyde Hall, Rollie Hall, and William Hall, the business operated out of Hall Book Store in Norfolk, Nebraska. In 1912 after a move to Kansas City, the business model shifted to greeting cards. The brothers invented what would be considered the modern version of wrapping paper in 1917 and began printing original designs by 1919. The company started using Hallmark as a brand name in 1928, and would finally adopt the name for the entire company in 1954.

81 Emmys

Hallmark got involved in TV in a big way for the first time in 1951. On December 24 of that year, NBC aired the first installment of Hallmark Television Playhouse. Two years later, the recurring series of special presentations changed to the now familiar name of Hallmark Hall of Fame. The program, which has featured everything from musicals to Shakespeare plays to novel adaptations, has collected many awards, including 81 Emmys, in its lengthy history. Glenn Close was a multi-nominee for her lead role and producing credits for the Sarah Plain and Tall films. During the same year that George C. Scott refused his Academy Award for Patton (1971), he accepted an Emmy for Hallmark’s production of Arthur Miller’s The Price.

4 Networks into 1 (Sort of)

The Hallmark Channel as we know it officially launched in 2001. However, that was only the latest permutation of a series of cable endeavors that were known by other names going back to 1984. American Christian Television System went live in 1984; in 1988, Vision Interfaith Satellite Network began operations. In 1992, they began to share satellite channel space as ACTS/VISN. The combined networks became the Faith and Values Channel in 1993; it became Odyssey in 1996. In 1998, The Jim Henson Company and Hallmark Entertainment both bought into Odyssey; the channel began to lean into more secular programming, including children’s material like Henson’s Fraggle Rock. In a final reorganization in 2001, the network would become the Hallmark Channel.

2009: The Countdown Is On

Hallmark’s “Countdown to Christmas 2025” trailer… from October 17 (Uploaded to YouTube by Hallmark Channel)

Throughout the early 2000s, Hallmark Channel starting picking up ratings by leaning into original romance films. In a cable landscape that thrived on anti-heroes like Don Draper and Walter White and was one year out from unleashing an audience-devouring zombie apocalypse in the form of The Walking Dead, Hallmark went in a decidedly different direction by declaring an annual “Countdown to Christmas.” The event would offer new, original holiday movies, with four dropping that first year.

How Many Movies?

While it’s hard to find an exact number of Hallmark Christmas movies (IMDB.com has an unconfirmed list of 503), we can safely say that they have produced and aired more than 330. In 2025, an additional 24 entered the rotation. Some of the confusion comes from the fact that other networks like Lifetime and Great American Family have gotten into the original Christmas TV-movie game. The general similarity in tone, plots, and occasional casting lends to a common perception that any romantically tinged holiday movie is done by Hallmark.

The Queens of (Hallmark) Christmas

The queen of Hallmark Movies may in fact be Lacey Chabert; Chabert first got noticed as Claudia in Party of Five, was immortalized trying to make “Fetch” happen in Mean Girls, and even found time to voice both DC and Marvel heroines in two exemplary animated series (Zatanna in Young Justice and Quake in Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes). She’s knocked out over 40 Hallmark films; about 15 are specifically Christmas, though she’s also a staple of the channel’s Crossword Mysteries and Wedding Veil films.

Candace Cameron Bure, who first broke on Full House, was a staple of Hallmark films for years; she made around 30 movies for the network, ten of which were specifically Christmas-themed. She switched to Great American Family in 2022, and has made at least five since the jump. Bure has also executive produced, starred, or voice-acted in at least four other Christmas projects for different studios.

Danica McKellar, who knows she will always be Winnie Cooper from The Wonder Years, also made numerous Hallmark films, including several mysteries and around seven Christmas productions. Like Bure, she shifted to Great American Family and continues to work in the Christmas genre there.