Discover an eclectic selection of Thanksgiving movies perfect for a streaming marathon, from dysfunctional family gatherings to surprising plot twists.
Thanksgiving is more than just a feast. It's a special time when people gather to share stories that warm the heart, tickle the funny bone, and sometimes give them goosebumps. If you're looking for some Thanksgiving-themed movies to watch after the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and football, then you're in luck! I've compiled a list of ten handpicked films available for streaming. These movies offer a variety of genres and themes, ensuring that there's something for everyone in your Thanksgiving movie marathon.
From the timeless Peanuts gang to unexpected family reunions, these films are the perfect accompaniment to your holiday feasting. Get ready to laugh, cry, and savor the spirit of Thanksgiving with these recommendations.
To all those who celebrate, I hope you have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)
Director: Bill Melendez & Phil Roman
Screenwriter: Charles M. Schulz
Starring: Bill Melendez, Todd Barbee, Stephen Shea, Hilary Momberger, Robin Kohn, Christopher DeFaria, Jimmy Ahrens & Robin Reed
Where to Watch: Apple TV
Turkey, cranberries, pumpkin pie...and the Peanuts gang to share them with. This is going to be the greatest Thanksgiving ever! The fun begins when Peppermint Patty invites herself and her pals to Charlie Brown's house for a REALLY big turkey party. Good grief! All our hero can cook is cold cereal and maybe toast. Is Charlie Brown doomed? Not when Linus, Snoopy, and Woodstock chip in to save the (Thanksgiving) Day. With such good friends, Charlie Brown—and all of us—have so many reasons to be thankful.
Did You Know? In 2023, the original source tapes of the soundtrack recordings for A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving were finally located and released as a full album for the first time.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
Director & Screenwriter: John Hughes
Starring: Steve Martin, John Candy & Laila Robins
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video | Hulu | Paramount +
Easily excitable Neal Page (Martin) is somewhat of a control freak. Trying to get home to Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with his wife (Robins) and kids, his flight is rerouted to a distant city in Kansas because of a freak snowstorm, and his sanity begins to fray. Worse yet, he is forced to bunk up with talkative Del Griffith (Candy), whom he finds extremely annoying. Together, they must overcome the insanity of holiday travel to reach their intended destination.
Did You Know? The Marathon Car Rental scene is exactly one minute long, from the time Steve Martin starts his tirade to the time the attendant ends the scene. In that sixty seconds, the "F" word is used nineteen times. The film would've easily been rated PG or PG-13 by the MPAA if it weren't for this one scene, but director John Hughes refused to cut it.
Addams Family Values (1993)
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Screenwriter: Paul Rudnick
Starring: Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston, Christopher Lloyd, Joan Cusack, Christina Ricci, Carel Struycken, Jimmy Workman, Carol Kane, David Krumholtz, Peter MacNicol, Christine Baranski, Mercedes McNab & Christopher Hart
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video | Paramount +
The members of the odd Addams Family are up to more macabre antics in this sequel. This time around, Gomez Addams (Julia) and his wife, Morticia (Huston), are celebrating the arrival of a baby boy. But siblings Wednesday (Ricci) and Pugsley (Workman) are none too happy about the new addition and try their best to eliminate the infant. When nanny Debbie Jelinsky (Cusack) appears to keep the kids in line, her presence leads to an unexpected treacherous twist.
Did You Know? Not only is Gary's play "puerile and under-dramatized," as Wednesday puts it, but it's also historically inaccurate. The Chippewa are from the Midwest. Pocahontas was a Powhatan, a tribe indigenous to Virginia. Neither she nor the Chippewa would've been present at the first Thanksgiving. Also, by 1621 (the first Thanksgiving), Pocahontas had been dead for four years. The Thanksgiving play scenes took two weeks to film.
Home for the Holidays (1995)
Director: Jodie Foster
Screenwriter: W. D. Richter & Chris Radant
Starring: Holly Hunter, Robert Downey Jr., Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning, Dylan McDermott, Geraldine Chaplin, Steve Guttenberg, Cynthia Stevenson, Claire Danes, Austin Pendleton & David Strathairn
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video | Hulu | Paramount +
When her teenage daughter opts out of Thanksgiving, single mother Claudia Larson (Hunter) travels alone to her childhood home for an explosive holiday dinner with her dysfunctional family. Claudia quickly tires of her parents, her long-suffering sister (Stevenson), her snobby brother-in-law (Guttenberg), and her nutty aunt (Chaplin). But the evening gets interesting when sparks fly between Claudia and her brother's handsome friend, Leo Fish (McDermott).
Did You Know? Robert Downey Jr., who played Charles Chaplin in Chaplin (1992), plays alongside the real-life daughter of Charlie Chaplin, Geraldine Chaplin (as Aunt Glady). Geraldine Chaplin also played her real-life paternal grandmother, Hannah Chaplin, in Chaplin.
The Ice Storm (1997)
Director: Ang Lee
Screenwriter: James Schamus
Starring: Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Henry Czerny, Adam Hann-Byrd, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Jamey Sheridan, Elijah Wood & Sigourney Weaver
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video | HBO Max | Hulu
In the 1970s, an outwardly wholesome family begins cracking at the seams over the course of a tumultuous Thanksgiving break. Frustrated with his job, the father, Ben (Kline), seeks fulfillment by cheating on his wife, Elena (Allen), with neighborhood seductress Janey (Weaver). Their teenage daughter, Wendy (Ricci), dabbles in sexual affairs too—with Janey's son Mikey (Wood). The family's strained relations continue to tauten until an ice storm strikes.
Did You Know? In the novel The Ice Storm, author Rick Moody writes, "And sometimes Paul himself was Ben Grimm, and sometimes he was Peter Parker, a.k.a. the Spider-Man." Coincidentally, actor Tobey Maguire plays both Paul and Peter Parker in the film versions.
What’s Cooking (2000)
Director: Gurinder Chadha
Screenwriter: Gurinder Chadha & Paul Mayeda Berges
Starring: Joan Chen, Julianna Margulies, Mercedes Ruehl, Kyra Sedgwick, Alfre Woodard, Maury Chaykin, Estelle Harris, Dennis Haysbert, Lainie Kazan, Victor Rivers & Douglas Spain
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video | Tubi
You are invited to a tasty Thanksgiving dinner that will all at once transport you to four different worlds and take you home again. On the menu this November are turkey, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie—but also tamales, spring rolls, kugel, mac & cheese, love, betrayal, sibling rivalry, prejudice, politics, uninvited guests, unexpected accidents, outrageous conversations—and all the other succulent and spicy surprises that arise when modern families come together for an annual meal.
Did You Know? What’s Cooking was voted a joint audience award winner at the 2000 New York Film Critics Circle Awards (tied with Billy Elliot), and filmmaker Gurinder Chadha won the award for Best British Director at the London Film Critics Circle Awards.
Pieces of April (2003)
Director & Screenwriter: Peter Hedges
Starring: Katie Holmes, Derek Luke, Oliver Platt, Patricia Clarkson, Alison Pill, John Gallagher Jr., Alice Drummond, Sean Hayes, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Lillias White, Leila Danette, Sisqó, Adrian Martinez & Armando Riesco
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video | Hulu | Tubi
Quirky and rebellious April Burns (Holmes) lives with her boyfriend (Luke) in a low-rent New York City apartment miles away from her estranged, emotionally distant family. But when she discovers that her mother (Clarkson) has a fatal form of breast cancer, she invites the clan to her place for Thanksgiving. While her father (Platt) struggles to drive her family into the city, April—an inexperienced cook—runs into kitchen trouble and must ask a neighbor (Hayes) for help.
Did You Know? Pieces of April was shot in just 16 days with a budget of $100,000. Costs were kept this low by the film company InDigEnt cutting a deal with the unions. This meant that filmmaker Peter Hedges was paid $10 to direct the film and another $10 to write it. All the actors worked for $248 a day.
Thanksgiving (2007)
Director: Eli Roth
Screenwriter: Jeff Rendell & Eli Roth
Starring: Mark Bakunas, Vendula Bednarova, Chris Briggs, Jay Hernandez, Jordan Ladd & Liliyan Malkina
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video | Tubi
Included in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's double-feature Grindhouse (2007), Eli Roth's "Thanksgiving" is the fourth fake trailer out of five. Inspired by slasher films like Halloween (1978), April Fool's Day (1986), and My Bloody Valentine (1981), Roth's segment recounts the killing spree of the insane serial murderer known as "The Pilgrim," on the fourth Thursday in November. Who will live, and who will die this Thanksgiving?
Did You Know? In 2023, filmmaker Eli Roth took the concept from the 2007 mock trailer and wrote, produced, and directed a full-length feature film starring Patrick Dempsey, Ty Olsson, and Gina Gershon.
An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving (2008)
Director: Graeme Campbell
Screenwriter: Shelley Evans
Starring: Jacqueline Bisset, Ted Atherton, Tatiana Maslany, Helene Joy, Paula Boudreau & Michael Barbuto
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video | Tubi
A recently widowed woman struggles to feed her three children. The eldest daughter, an aspiring writer, contacts her wealthy and estranged grandmother in a bid to reunite the family. However, conflict ensues when the stern grandmother arrives to meet them for the first time. Based on a short story by Louisa May Alcott.
Did You Know? Louisa May Alcott wrote the short story the film is based on in 1881, but she set the story in 1821 in rural New Hampshire. It is a simple story of illness in the family at Thanksgiving time and the children stepping up to try to prepare the Thanksgiving meal in their parents' absence.
A Waltons Thanksgiving (2022)
Director: Joe Lazarov
Screenwriter: Jim Strain
Starring: Richard Thomas, Bellamy Young, Mary Donnelly Haskell, Teddy Sears & Logan Shroyer
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video
The holiday spirit is in the air on Walton Mountain in 1934 as the Walton family eagerly prepares for the annual Harvest Festival Fair in town. Carnival rides, talent shows, and pie contests come around every year, but at this year's Harvest Festival Fair, a young boy arrives that will dramatically change the Waltons' lives in ways that they could have never imagined.
Did You Know? Executive producer Sam Haskell had hoped the TV movies The Waltons: Homecoming and A Waltons Thanksgiving would lead to a new Waltons series reboot on the CW.
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