10 Classic Christmas Films That Actually Came Out In The Summer
In Australia every Christmas film comes out in summer. Well, except for these ones.
Making a classic Christmas movie is a bit of a double-edged sword in terms of its future audience. While a true festive great is likely to brought out for another rewatch at this time of year every year, stories of winter wonderlands and frosted window panes don't exactly have a lot of place during a mid-July heatwave.
Even more than frightfests in October and love stories in February, there is a set place in the year for tales of gift giving, sparkly decorations and seasonal good will toward men. And that time is now. Or so you would think.
In fact, though, many of the festive favourites you love to watch at Christmas originally aired to an audience in a wholly different season. While people on screen were cosying up with chestnuts roasting on an open fire, the audience were just happy to be in an air conditioned theatre away from their own roasting from the mid-year sun.
Here are ten beloved Christmas classics that actually came out during the summer. Ironically, the Hallmark TV movie Christmas In Summer is not one of them.
10. Iron Man 3
If the ongoing interlocking serial of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is essentially a TV series writ large, with Endgame as its season finale, then Iron Man 3 is assuredly the Christmas episode.
Playing out in front of Christmas lights and exploding baubles, Marvel's only December-set movie even involves that classic festive storyline of a pampered, rich big city character stuck in a wintery small town to find himself with the help of a local kid.
While its studio today may happily play up the movie's seasonal qualities (its release on streaming with Disney+ last month saw it tagged as a "Christmas" movie alongside the mouse house's other festive faves like A Nightmare Before Christmas and Mickey's Christmas Carol), they were much less keen to embrace those yuletide trappings on its release.
Coming out in May 2013, the sounds of Jingle Bells on the soundtrack made Iron Man 3 seem oddly out of time.