Thanksgiving 2023: 10 Movies to Watch This Holiday Season

Thanksgiving 2023 is here, and Americans everywhere are preparing to spend time celebrating with friends and family. Many will flip on the TV and stream a handful of fun, heartwarming holiday flicks as they enjoy time with loved ones, and we have some great movie selections that will brighten the mood. Maybe queuing up some holiday laughs and cheerful cinema will even be just the thing to turn the holiday around.

For example, the Thanksgiving classic Planes, Trains and Automobiles, which is easily one of the greatest holiday films of all time, is available to stream for free on Pluto. Additionally, Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers can also watch the hit movie right now. Those interested in trying out a free trial of Paramount+ can do so by clicking here.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles follows Neal Page (Steve Martin), who is just trying to get home to his family for Thanksgiving. Along the way, his life is disrupted by the bubbly and bumbling Del Griffith (John Candy). He unintentionally pushes Neal to his breaking point, as the men traverse the icy conditions of America’s travel-ways on their way from New York City. Scroll down to read about more great films to check out this Thanksgiving!

‘Addams Family Values’ – Paramount+

Raúl Juliá, Anjelica Huston, Christopher Lloyd, Christina Ricci, and Jimmy Workman return in the hit sequel, which finds the macabre Addams family once again facing familial distress after Uncle Fester’s new wife drives a wedge between him and his loved ones. There is also an iconic Thanksgiving sequence wherein the Addams family children partake in a holiday stage show that ends in chaos. Addams Family Values is a can’t-miss watch this Thanksgiving.

‘Free Birds’ – Starz

If animated films are more to your liking, then you’ll want to check out Free Birds, a fun family movie about two turkeys who go back in time to try and prevent the first Thanksgiving, therefore saving all turkeys from being holiday meals. If you have kids around over the holiday weekend you’ll definitely want to have this one on your watchlist. The voice cast features Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson, Amy Poehler, George Takei, Colm Meaney, Keith David, and Dan Fogler.

‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving’ – Apple TV+

There is no denying that the Charlie Brown Christmas and Halloween specials are the most popular of the many animated specials featuring the Peanuts gang, but A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is certainly worth a watch. Currently, the movie is available to stream on Apple TV+, for subscribers.

‘Into the Dark: Flesh & Blood’ – Hulu

Hulu is certainly the best place to check out for Thanksgiving scares, especially if you are still just not ready to let go of Halloween. In the streaming service’s Into the Dark film series — a collaboration with Blumhouse Productions — filmmakers have a chance to make a horror film based on a holiday. In the show’s first season, writer/director Patrick Lussier (Drive Angry, Dracula 2000) served up the Thanksgiving episode Flesh & Blood, a story about an agoraphobic girl who starts to feel like a sinister prescience might be active in her home. The film stars Dermot Mulroney, Diana Silvers, Tembi Locke, and Meredith Salenger.

‘Into the Dark: Pilgrim’ – Hulu

If Flesh & Blood suits your palate, then you might want to try Pilgrim as well, the Thanksgiving entry of Into the Dark’s second season. In this terrifying tale based on a real-life story, a woman hopes to invigorate her family’s Thanksgiving spirit by inviting some Pilgrim reenactors to join them for the holiday, but things soon take a terrifying turn. The film is co-written and directed by Marcus Dunstan (Saw IV–Saw 3D), and stars Kerr Smith, Reign Edwards, Peter Giles, Courtney Henggeler, Taj Speights, and Antonio Raul Corbo.

‘Grumpy Old Men’ – Paramount+

Okay, so if terror is just not what you’re feeling this holiday season, there are some great Thanksgiving comedies to check out. Paramount+ subscribers can stream Grumpy Old Men, which stars late actors Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau as a pair of odd-couple frienemies who end up warring over the same woman, played by Ann-Margret. It is a true Thanksgiving classic.

‘Home for the Holidays’ – Paramount+ with Showtime

Home for the Holidays is quite possibly the most underrated Thanksgiving film of all time. Directed by Jodie Foster, and starring A-list actors like Robert Downey Jr. and Holly Hunter, the film follows a divorced woman as she goes to visit with her extremely dysfunctional family for Thanksgiving. Mayhem ensues, leaving them all at the point of breaking just before being pulled back from the edge by the binding powers of family love. Additional cast members include Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning, Dylan McDermott, Geraldine Chaplin, Steve Guttenberg, Cynthia Stevenson, Claire Danes, Austin Pendleton, and David Strathairn.

‘Dutch’ – Max

Another underrated Thanksgiving flick is Dutch, starring Ed O’Neill and Ethan Embry. The follows blue-collar Dutch (O’Neill) who makes a kind gesture for his girlfriend Natalie (JoBeth Williams) by offering to drive her stuck-up 13-year-old son, Doyle (Randall), home to Chicago from his private school in Atlanta for Thanksgiving. Along the way, the pair butt heads pretty intensely, but encounter hijinks that ultimately bonds them over the grueling trip.

‘Fireplace For Your Home’ – Netflix

OK, not technically a movie, but Netflix’s Fireplace videos are great to have on your TV while your busy getting things ready for visitors. Pull this one up and just let it stream, and you are guaranteed to feel at least 35 percent more in the holiday spirit.