Absolutely fantastic: these 8 Christmas films appeared in cinemas this summer!

It’s an endless debate: at what point is it okay to have Christmas fever? The answers are as individual as snowflakes: while some complain year after year that dominoes, gingerbread and speculoos will be sold from August, for others the delicacies cannot be on the shelves quickly enough.

Also The question of when it is appropriate to watch Christmas movies is very individual. For anyone who can only tolerate it on Christmas Eve and perhaps Christmas Day, you can find someone who was already looking for “Love Actually”, “Home Alone” and Co. in November.

However, some Christmas movies celebrated their big moment even earlier in the calendar year: During the summer season, some Christmas films were shown in cinemas for the first time! We have selected a number of these cases for you. Either to shake your head, or to have an excuse to escape to the cinematic winter wonderland in the shade at 30°C in the future!

“Die Hard”

Yippee-yes-yes, pork cheek! No Christmas movie list is complete without it these days Bruce Willis‘ Like John McClane at Nakatomi Plaza. After years of people calling “Die Hard” their favorite Christmas movie in a snappy, tongue-in-cheek way, the jokey answer has become socially accepted: Yes, John McTiernan’s action classic set at a Christmas party is a Christmas movie!

The fact that “Winter Wonderland,” “Let It Snow!” Let it Snow! Let It Snow!” and “Christmas In Hollis” during the movie probably helped. Despite: The world premiere of “Die Hard” took place on July 12, 1988, its limited US theatrical release took place three days later and its wide US theatrical release finally followed on July 22. Admittedly, in Germany the action milestone came much closer to Advent to the cinema – namely on November 10, 1988.

“We Are Not Angels”

The villainous comedy from old master Michael Curtiz, who also gave us “Casablanca,” isn’t the most common holiday classic. But a reliable one! Barely a year goes by without the posse being involved Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov And Aldo Ray will be repeated on television during the Christmas period. As a film about a con man and two murderers who hide out at a shopkeeper just before Christmas Eve, ‘We Are No Angels’ is a model for the ‘Die Hard’ model:

Once teasingly thrown in as an ‘atypical’ Christmas film favorite, it is now, without any ifs or buts, part of the cinematic Christmas canon. However, the darkly humorous and sincere comedy saw the light of day on July 7, 1955. However, in Germany, distribution of “We Are No Angels” was canceled until November 25 of the same year.

“Music music”

The classic ‘Music, Music’, originally titled ‘Holiday Inn’, is probably only known to die-hard music fans these days. Nevertheless, even those who don’t like musicals are familiar with its cultural heritage. It’s not just that a hotel chain has named itself after him: the evergreen ‘White Christmas’, which has been covered many times, comes from the musical is the best-selling single in music history.

The song was composed by music legend Irving Berlin and the original version was sung by Bing Crosby. In ‘Music, Music’ he plays nightclub singer Jim Hardy alongside Fred Astaire and Virginia Dale. On Christmas Eve, he decides to leave show business and run a farm in Connecticut.

Shortly afterwards, Jim changes his plans and turns his farm into a holiday-only entertainment venue – you can guess which holiday the emotional final act begins! That didn’t stop Paramount Pictures from releasing Music, Music in the United States on August 4, 1942. In this case too, people in Germany were less daring: the cinema release started on December 16, 1947, in the middle of Advent.

“Don’t panic – good hostages are rare”

Christmas: time for presents, brightly colored decorations, celebration and – unfortunately, unfortunately – excessive family fights. It is this last aspect that is central to the gangster comedy ‘No Panic’: Denis Leary plays the thief Gus, who takes the quarreling couple Caroline & Lloyd Chasseur (Judy Davis & Kevin Spacey) hostage. But instead of being intimidated by Gus, the couple continues to bicker non-stop.

When family arrives to celebrate Christmas Eve, Gus is suddenly forced to pose as Caroline and Lloyd’s relationship therapist while the couple continues to expose themselves to the entire family. The script comes from the in-laws Richard LaGravenese And Marie Weisswho, according to their own statements, modeled the Chasseur clan after their own families – well, happy holidays!

“No Panic” was released in the US on March 11, 1994, at best as a mental prelude to arguments at the Easter table. In Germany by Ted Demme staged comedy programmed as a summer movie: it started on July 7, 1994.

“The Wonder of Manhattan”

“The wonder of Manhattan“ is one of the most magical, consumer-critical Christmas classics in Hollywood history. So it’s fitting that George Seaton’s drama about a department store Santa Claus, who claims to be the real, magical Santa Claus, was released in a counter-cyclical fashion, so to speak: American movie audiences first saw the story on June 11, 1947.

In this case, the German distributor acted in the same way: the premiere took place in the Federal Republic on August 26, 1949. The studio took a much more conventional approach to the popular 1994 remake: the blockbuster starring Richard Attenborough and Mara Wilson was released in released in November in the US and in December in Germany.

“The Soldiers of Fortune”

A wealthy businessman (Dan Aykroyd) and a homeless man (Eddie Murphy) switch places to each get a better grip on life – what follows is not just another hit comedy from ‘Blues Brothers’ director John Landis. But also a long-running Christmas TV hit and a big favorite of FILMSTARTS editor Daniel Fabian.

But although “The soldiers of fortune“ shows wintry towns and a long series of highlights taking place during a Christmas party, the comedy hit was released in US cinemas on June 8, 1983.. In Germany, the distributor was more influenced by the setting and brought it to the big screen on December 16 of the same year.

“The Christmas vacation”

The title may sound idyllic, but don’t let that fool you, nor be fooled by the casting of charismatic musical star Gene Kelly in the male lead role: “The Christmas vacation“ is widely considered one of the darkest, most devastating film noirs in Hollywood history! This may be why the public wouldn’t see it during Advent:

The film about a singer (Deanna Durbin) who married into a controlling, emotionally unstable and violent family. was released in US cinemas on July 31, 1944. The dramatic thriller also celebrated its German premiere in sunnier times: the crime story, shrouded in cutting, almost expressionistic shadows, skipped the cinema and was only shown on TV here, namely on May 26, 1976.

“Gremlins – Little Monsters”

We started our journey with the 1980s and we end it with the 1980s: For film fans with a penchant for pitch-black humor and cartoon violence, it is difficult to ignore.”Gremlins – Little monsters“. Produced by Steven Spielberg, written by Chris Columbus and directed by Joe Dante, the horror-comedy revolves around a fluffy Christmas present with monstrous consequences. And it features perhaps the most macabre Santa Claus monologue ever seen in a PG-rated Hollywood movie.

American audiences could see it all in theaters starting June 8, 1984. In Germany, however, the bloody, chaotic rush (with lots of snow and Christmas carols) began on October 26, 1984, making possible a Christmas-like Halloween, several years before the animated gem “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”