Movies Like Christmas Comes But Once a Year (1936)

Christmas Comes But Once a Year is a 1936 animation, comedy, family, music film from Dave Fleischer with a MovieMagicScore of 7.2/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Despicable Me and Ballerina.

Animation Comedy Family Music

Despicable Me

2010

Determined to prove he's the world's greatest supervillain, Gru hatches an audacious plan to steal the Moon. To pull it off, he adopts three orphaned girls—Margo, Edith, and Agnes—intending to use them as pawns in his scheme. But the unexpected bond they form forces him to question the criminal life he's always known.

7.3

MagicScore

Ballerina

2016

In 1879 Paris, a young orphan dreams of becoming a ballerina and flees her rural Brittany for Paris, where she passes for someone else and accedes to the position of pupil at the Grand Opera house.

7.2

MagicScore

31 Minutes: One Hot Christmas

2025

Puppeton, the town of 31 Minutes, faces such an infernally hot Christmas that Santa Claus cancels his visit! Bodoque the rabbit heroically volunteers to rescue the presents from the North Pole, while his friends improvise a disastrous Christmas show. But what they don't expect is Bodoque giving in to some irresistible temptations along the way.

7.4

MagicScore

The Powerpuff Girls: 'Twas the Fight Before Christmas

2003

When Princess Morebucks finds out that she's been put on Santa's naughty list (in fact, she's the only one on it!), she does a quick re-write, resulting with Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup with nothing but coal for Christmas! On top of all that, Princess gets the one thing she wants for the holidays: super powers! Now, the girls have to stop Princess and make sure that Christmas is saved for children everywhere.

7.2

MagicScore

Chain Kulii Ki Main Kulii

2007

An orphan boy with dreams of finding a family and fame as a cricketer, finds a bat with magical powers and lands a spot in the Indian cricket team.

5.8

MagicScore

The Nightmare Before Christmas

1993

Tired of scaring humans every October 31 with the same old bag of tricks, Jack Skellington, the spindly king of Halloween Town, kidnaps Santa Claus and plans to deliver shrunken heads and other ghoulish gifts to children on Christmas morning. But as Christmas approaches, Jack's rag-doll girlfriend, Sally, tries to foil his misguided plans.

7.8

MagicScore

The Christmas Chronicles

2018

Siblings Kate and Teddy try to prove Santa Claus is real, but when they accidentally cause his sleigh to crash, they have to save Christmas.

7.2

MagicScore

Yes, Virginia

2009

New York City, 1897. A little girl named Virginia O'Hanlon loves Christmas more than anything else in the world. When a schoolyard bully challenges her belief in Santa Claus, Virginia embarks on a quest across the city to prove he is real. Based on the true story of the most famous newspaper editorial of all time.

7.0

MagicScore

A Christmas Mystery

2022

When her best friend's father is falsely accused of stealing the town's prized jingle bells, a young amateur sleuth and her friends must find the real thief before Christmas.

6.5

MagicScore

#10

The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two

2020

Kate Pierce is reluctantly spending Christmas with her mom’s new boyfriend and his son Jack. But when the North Pole and Christmas are threatened to be destroyed, Kate and Jack are unexpectedly pulled into a new adventure with Santa Claus.

6.5

MagicScore

#11

Get Santa

2014

A father and son must team up to save Christmas when they discover Santa Claus sleeping in their garage, having crashed his sleigh and found himself on the run from the police.

6.0

MagicScore

#12

The Santa Clause 2

2002

Better watch out! The big guy in red is coming to town once again. This time, Scott Calvin -- also known as Santa Claus -- finds out there's an obscure clause in his contract requiring him to take on a wife. He has to leave the North Pole to fulfill his obligations, or else he'll be forced to give up his Yuletide gig.

6.0

MagicScore

#13

Primavera

2025

In 18th-century Venice, 20-year-old violin virtuoso Cecilia lives at the Pièta orphanage, where, despite her talent, she remains confined, knowing that marriage is the only way out. Yet, her life takes a turn after she meets Antonio Vivaldi, a brilliant and ambitious composer who becomes the new violin teacher. Guided by Vivaldi and his music, Cecilia finds the strength to challenge the destiny that once seemed inevitable.

7.0

MagicScore

#14

Oliver!

1968

Musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, a classic tale of an orphan who runs away from the workhouse and joins up with a group of boys headed by the Artful Dodger and trained to be pickpockets by master thief Fagin.

7.0

MagicScore

#15

Second Best

1994

The difficult relationship between a british postal officer and his adoptive son.

6.7

MagicScore

#16

A Slight Case of Murder

1938

Former bootlegger Remy Marco has a slight problem with foreclosing bankers, a prospective son-in-law, and four hard-to-explain corpses.

6.3

MagicScore

#17

This Beautiful Fantastic

2016

Set against the backdrop of a beautiful garden in the heart of London, this contemporary fairy tale revolves around the unlikely friendship between a reclusive young woman and a cantankerous old widower. Bella Brown is a beautifully quirky young woman who dreams of writing and illustrating a successful children’s book. After she is forced by her landlord to deal with her neglected garden or face eviction, she meets her match, nemesis, and unlikely mentor in Alfie Stephenson, a grumpy, loveless, old man who lives next door who happens to be an amazing horticulturalist.

7.1

MagicScore

#18

The Games Maker

2014

Young Ivan Drago's newfound love of board games catapults him into the fantastical and competitive world of game invention, and pits him against the inventor Morodian, who has long desired to destroy the city of Zyl, founded by Ivan's grandfather. To save his family and defeat Morodian, Ivan must come to know what it is to be a true games maker.

5.3

MagicScore

#19

Violent Night

2022

When a team of mercenaries breaks into a wealthy family compound on Christmas Eve, taking everyone inside hostage, the team isn’t prepared for a surprise combatant: Santa Claus is on the grounds, and he’s about to show why this Nick is no saint.

7.2

MagicScore

#20

I Am Santa Claus

2021

Ettore has spent the last five years in jail for a robbery. Once out of prison, he has nowhere to go, his wife broke up with him and doesn’t want him to meet their little daughter who was born right before he was arrested. Alone and desperate, Ettore roams the streets of Rome and meets a strange old man, Nicola. He decides to take advantage of him and rob him. But after breaking into his house, Ettore realizes Nicola doesn’t have anything worth stealing and furthermore, the old man tells him a rather stranger thing: he affirms to be Santa Claus…

6.5

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Christmas Comes But Once a Year?

The top films similar to Christmas Comes But Once a Year by MovieMagicScore are Despicable Me (7.3), Ballerina (7.2), 31 Minutes: One Hot Christmas (7.4). Each shares animation/comedy/family/music themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Christmas Comes But Once a Year worth watching?

Christmas Comes But Once a Year holds a MovieMagicScore of 7.2/10 from 24 viewer ratings, putting it among the better-reviewed titles in its genre.

What kind of movie is Christmas Comes But Once a Year?

Christmas Comes But Once a Year (1936) is a animation, comedy, family, music film directed by Dave Fleischer, starring Jack Mercer, Mae Questel, Everett Clark.

Where can I find more recommendations like Christmas Comes But Once a Year?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more animation recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like Despicable Me Movies like Ballerina Movies like 31 Minutes: One Hot Christmas Movies like The Powerpuff Girls: 'Twas the Fight Before Christmas Movies like Chain Kulii Ki Main Kulii Movies like The Nightmare Before Christmas

About movies like Christmas Comes But Once a Year

This ranked list pairs Christmas Comes But Once a Year (1936), a animation and comedy and family and music film from Dave Fleischer, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Jack Mercer take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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