Santa in a Manhattan snowstorm, Scrooge on a Victorian dockyard in Kent, a basset hound on a lakeside skating rink in the Okanagan: this year’s Christmas movies travel a lot further than the usual snowy small town. Some of them fake their American settings in Canada (as holiday movies always have), but a surprising number went to the real place. This guide gathers every 2026 holiday release covered on LalaHappy in one spot, sorted by where it was actually filmed, so you can see at a glance which spots you can visit this December.

Christmas Movies 2026 at a Glance (TL;DR)

• Movies covered: 6 new holiday films plus 3 standout Hallmark titles
• First to arrive: Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story (Hallmark, October 17)
• Last to arrive: A Grand Biltmore Christmas (Hallmark, December 5), a day after Violent Night 2 hits theaters
• Most common stand-in: Canada, as usual (British Columbia twice, plus Alberta and Manitoba)
• Filmed in the real place it’s set: The Man with the Bag (New York City) and all 3 Hallmark picks (Asheville, Chicago, Orlando)
• Best for a trip: New York (a walkable Santa route), Asheville’s Biltmore Estate, and Penticton’s Gyro Park rink

Quick Guide: Set In vs. Filmed In

Movie	Release	Where to watch	Story set in	Actually filmed in
Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story	Oct 17	Hallmark Channel	Chicago	Chicago (real)
A Dog’s Perfect Christmas	Nov 4	Netflix	Traverse City, Michigan	Vancouver, Burnaby & Penticton, BC
Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol	Nov 13	Theaters	Victorian London	Dublin, London & Chatham, Kent
Guarding Stars	Nov 18	Netflix	A Montana ranch	Calgary & High River, Alberta
Holiday Ever After: A Disney World Wish Come True	Nov 28	Hallmark Channel	Walt Disney World	Walt Disney World (real)
In a Holidaze	Dec 2	Netflix	A family cabin in Utah	Vancouver & Whistler, BC
The Man with the Bag	Dec 2	Prime Video	New York City	New York City (real)
Violent Night 2	Dec 4	Theaters	A New Jersey mall	Winnipeg, Manitoba
A Grand Biltmore Christmas	Dec 5	Hallmark Channel	Biltmore Estate	Biltmore Estate, Asheville (real)

Release dates are for the US. Ebenezer opens a day earlier (November 12) in Australia and Brazil.

British Columbia: Hollywood North Does Christmas Again

BC remains the default Christmas-movie backlot, and two of the three Netflix holiday movies with confirmed dates this year shot there.

A Dog’s Perfect Christmas (Netflix, November 4)

Dennis Quaid, Milo Ventimiglia, and Mary Steenburgen lead this adaptation of W. Bruce Cameron’s novel, with Thomas Haden Church voicing Winstead the basset hound. The story is set in Traverse City, Michigan, Cameron’s old stomping ground, but the production filmed around Vancouver and Burnaby from October to December 2025, per Hollywood North Buzz.

The most specific spot is four hours inland: Gyro Park in Penticton, where the crew filmed a skating-rink and hockey scene on December 9 to 11, 2025, confirmed by an official City of Penticton closure notice and local press.

Can you visit? Yes. Gyro Park is a free public park in downtown Penticton, right beside Okanagan Lake. Its outdoor rink is free too, but it only opens when the weather allows (mid-December last season) and there are no skate rentals, so bring your own.

In a Holidaze (Netflix, December 2)

Maddie Ziegler relives the same Christmas at her family’s “Utah” cabin in this time-loop rom-com from director Tiffany Paulsen. It actually filmed in Vancouver and Whistler from late January to mid-March 2026, according to Hollywood North Buzz. No specific lodge or ski run has been named yet, so treat any exact-cabin claim you see online with caution.

Can you visit? Whistler Village is fully public and at its most Christmas-card-like from December to February.

Full guide: In a Holidaze filming locations

Alberta: Standing In for Montana

Guarding Stars (Netflix, November 18)

Leighton Meester plays a bodyguard posing as action star Jared Padalecki’s girlfriend on his family’s Montana ranch. The real shoot happened around Calgary, including the University of Calgary campus (confirmed by UCalgary’s own news release), and in the foothills town of High River, where the crew filmed during the town’s real Santa Claus Parade in December 2025.

Can you visit? Yes. High River’s parade is an annual public event, usually held in the first week of December (it fell on Friday, December 5 in 2025).

Full guide: Guarding Stars filming locations

Manitoba: Winnipeg Plays New Jersey

Violent Night 2 (Theaters, December 4)

David Harbour’s Santa is back, this time with Kristen Bell as Mrs. Claus, defending the fictional Silver Bell Mall in New Jersey. Like the 2022 original, the sequel filmed in Winnipeg (September to mid-October 2025). Two real malls are confirmed by CTV News Winnipeg: C.F. Polo Park and downtown’s Portage Place.

Photo: Winnipeg skyline in winter / Pexels

Can you visit? Yes, with one caveat. C.F. Polo Park is a regular working mall. Portage Place is still open daily, but it is in the middle of a major redevelopment due to finish in 2028, so parts of the building are closed off and the interiors seen on screen may already be gone.

Full guide: Violent Night 2 filming locations

New York City: The Real Thing

The Man with the Bag (Prime Video, December 2)

Arnold Schwarzenegger as Santa, Alan Ritchson as the thief he recruits, and no Canadian stand-in at all. This one filmed on the actual streets of Manhattan: Fifth Avenue at 50th Street by Saks (NBC New York), Central Park during a real February snowstorm, and the East Village around Veselka and Tompkins Square Park (EV Grieve).

Can you visit? Yes, and it makes a great half-day walk: start at Saks, cut through Central Park, then take the subway down to Veselka for pierogi.

Full guide: The Man with the Bag filming locations

England and Ireland: Dickens Territory

Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol (Theaters, November 13)

Johnny Depp is Scrooge, Ian McKellen is Marley’s ghost, and Ti West directs. Filming took place in Dublin and London (city-level only so far) plus The Historic Dockyard Chatham in Kent, per Filming in England. Fun detail: that is the same dockyard used in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, though which corner of the 80-acre site Ebenezer used hasn’t been confirmed.

Can you visit? Yes. The Historic Dockyard Chatham is a heritage attraction about an hour from London by train.

Full guide: Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol filming locations

Hallmark’s Real-Landmark Trio

Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas 2026 runs October 16 to December 20 with 34 new movies, and most follow the usual Canada-doubles-for-anywhere pattern. Three break it:

• Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story (October 17) filmed entirely in Chicago, including Soldier Field, per the Chicago Sun-Times. Its “Christkindlmarket” was a set dressed at Federal Plaza, not the real market at Daley Plaza.
• Holiday Ever After: A Disney World Wish Come True (November 28) shot on location at Magic Kingdom, Toy Story Land, EPCOT, and the Polynesian resort, per WDW News Today.
• A Grand Biltmore Christmas (December 5) filmed inside the real Biltmore House in Asheville, including the Library and Winter Garden, per Pinecrest B&B.

Can you visit? All three, yes. Biltmore is the rare case where you can walk through the exact rooms seen on screen.

Real Place or Stand-In? The 2026 Scorecard

Four of the nine titles in this guide filmed in the actual place their story is set. That number flatters the genre a little: the three Hallmark picks made this list precisely because they shot on location, while most of Hallmark’s other 31 movies stuck to the usual stand-ins.

• Real: The Man with the Bag (NYC), Holiday Touchdown (Chicago), Holiday Ever After (Walt Disney World), A Grand Biltmore Christmas (Asheville)
• Stand-in: A Dog’s Perfect Christmas (BC for Michigan), In a Holidaze (BC for Utah), Guarding Stars (Alberta for Montana), Violent Night 2 (Manitoba for New Jersey)
• Partly real: Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol (Dublin and Kent helping play Victorian London, alongside London itself)

Planning a Christmas-Movie Trip This December

If you want to see a set in person during the holidays, these are the easiest wins:

• New York City: The Man with the Bag route (Fifth Avenue, Central Park, East Village) doubles as a classic NYC Christmas itinerary.
• Asheville, North Carolina: Christmas at Biltmore runs November 3, 2026 to January 10, 2027. The after-dark Candlelight Christmas Evenings are worth booking well ahead.
• Penticton, BC: Gyro Park’s outdoor rink from A Dog’s Perfect Christmas, an easy add-on to an Okanagan trip. If you’re heading that way, our Kelowna vacation rentals guide covers where to stay about an hour north.
• Chatham, Kent: A day trip from London to the dockyard shared by Ebenezer and Spider-Man.

FAQ

What Christmas movies are coming out in 2026?

The big ones are A Dog’s Perfect Christmas (Netflix, November 4), Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol (theaters, November 13), Guarding Stars (Netflix, November 18), In a Holidaze (Netflix, December 2), The Man with the Bag (Prime Video, December 2), and Violent Night 2 (theaters, December 4), plus 34 new Hallmark movies from October 16 to December 20.

Where are most Christmas movies filmed?

Mostly in Canada, especially British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Manitoba, thanks to tax incentives and reliable winter snow. Of the six non-Hallmark releases in this guide, four filmed in Canada and one in Ireland and the UK. Only The Man with the Bag shot in the US.

Which 2026 Christmas movies were filmed in the real place they’re set?

The Man with the Bag (New York City) and three Hallmark titles: Holiday Touchdown (Chicago), Holiday Ever After (Walt Disney World), and A Grand Biltmore Christmas (Biltmore Estate, Asheville).

Which 2026 Christmas movie locations can you visit?

Nearly all of them at city level. The most specific, visitable spots are Gyro Park in Penticton, Fifth Avenue and Veselka in New York, The Historic Dockyard Chatham in Kent, Soldier Field in Chicago, and the Biltmore Estate rooms in Asheville.

Was Violent Night 2 filmed in the same place as the first movie?

Yes. Both were filmed in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Related Reading

Last year’s Christmas-movie guides:

• Where Was My Secret Santa Filmed? Sun Peaks Resort & Kamloops Guide
• Was A Royal Montana Christmas Actually Filmed in Montana?
• Jingle Bell Heist: Specific Filming Locations in London
• Why Oh What Fun Was Set in Houston but Filmed in Atlanta
• Inside the Filming Locations of Joy to the World (2025)
• Filming Locations 2025: Where Screen Worlds Turn Into Real-Life Adventures