Why Isn't the 'Thanksgiving Movie' a Thing?

"Like cranberry sauce and tryptophan, sitting down to a movie on Thanksgiving is tradition. But unlike Christmas, the recipe for a "Thanksgiving movie" is loosely defined. Christmas movies, whether they're made by Hallmark or Frank Capra or John McTiernan, tick certain boxes: gift giving, some flavor of Santa Claus, miracles. Thanksgiving movies are harder to pin down, by definition domestic in both their setting and the holiday's origins."

"For one, it's not actually a holiday in most of the world. "As a British person, I have no strong opinion or skin in the game," said Edgar Wright. It's a common sentiment. "As a Mexican kid growing up on the Mexican-U.S. border, it never made much sense to me," said director Jorge Gutierrez ( The Book of Life, Maya and the Three). "Thanksgiving is just not as universal, especially now in the streaming world," he said."

"And if Thanksgiving movies were a tough sell before the era of globalized entertainment, it's an even harder one when the imperative is to "create a megahit that would be entertaining for everyone," said a manager at a major international streaming service. On top of all that, the holiday's "invented narratives of the Wampanoag and Plymouth Colonists celebrating the harvest together," McHale said, don't exactly help either."

Thanksgiving lacks a consistent cinematic formula like Christmas's gift-giving, Santa, and miracles. The holiday's domestic origins and limited global observance reduce potential worldwide audiences for Thanksgiving-centered blockbusters. Cultural unfamiliarity in other countries and associations—such as turkey being linked to Christmas in England—diminish universal resonance. Streaming platforms aiming for universal megahits find Thanksgiving themes harder to market. Invented narratives about Wampanoag and Plymouth Colonists complicate celebratory portrayals. Few memorable Thanksgiving films exist beyond Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Pieces of April, and Hannah and Her Sisters, and viewing timing and context can influence when films become associated with the holiday.

Read at Vulture