Best Hanukkah Movies (December 2025)

If you’re already a few latkes deep into Hanukkah, we hope you’re having a great time. Even if we’re already a few nights into the Festival of Lights, there are some gems worth lighting up your watchlist as we make our way through the rest of the holiday. Here are some of the best Hanukkah movies to enjoy.

What are the best Hanukkah movies?

Every year, we find ourselves asking the same question: why do we still have so few Hanukkah movies? And why do so many of the ones that do exist seem permanently parked on the Hallmark Channel?  Though we will say, there are a few fantastic ones on Hallmark.

Though not all the movies on our list are set during Hanukkah, these are our favorite movies that capture its spirit.

Full Court Miracle (2003)

We’re pulling this from the classic era of Disney Channel original movies. Ah, what a time. From this legendary period comes Full Court Miracle, a sports flick tailor-made for the season. Set in Philadelphia, Full Court Miracle tells the story of a struggling Jewish middle school basketball team that finds hope in the most unexpected place. After an absolutely bleak season, the team’s rabbi recruits an unlikely coach, former college star Lamont Carr (Alex D. Linz), to get these kids into shape just in time for the Hanukkah tournament.

Though Full Court Miracle is undeniably a movie geared at a younger audience, it still holds up over the years and is a fun one to turn on and enjoy. We all love an underdog sports story, but this one’s even better because it’s also got genuine holiday heart.

The Night Before (2015)

A holiday comedy that follows a group of friends on Christmas Eve, The Night Before features Seth Rogen who plays Isaac Greenberg, bringing the kind of Jewish humor to the role that makes the film such a blast. Along with Isaac, longtime friends Ethan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Anthony (Chris Roberts) have spent the last ten years going absolutely wild every Christmas Eve. But as they get older, they start to wonder if maybe some traditions should change. This year, they set out to find the best holiday party in town.

Though this is easily one of the most underrated Christmas movies, it’s hard not to feel the Hanukkah spirit running through it, especially with Isaac arguably being the film’s best character. As the lone minority celebrant in a mostly Christmas-oriented friend group, he fully understands what it’s like to feel both included and slightly on the outside during the holiday season. While the movie isn’t overtly billed as a Hanukkah film, it’s worth noting that the filmmakers are mostly Jewish, including director Jonathan Levine and producer Evan Goldberg, and that influence gives the movie the feel of Christmas seen through a Jewish lens.

An American Pickle (2020)

For Seth Rogen’s second appearance on our list, An American Pickle is a surprisingly heartwarming comedy (with an undeniable Wes Anderson influence) in which Rogen plays opposite himself. With a time-travel–adjacent premise that sounds completely far-fetched on paper, the film follows Herschel Greenbaum (Seth Rogan) and his wife Sarah (Sarah Snook), struggling Jewish immigrants who leave their shtetl in Eastern Europe after their village is attacked. Life in New York City is hard, but it’s still an improvement over digging ditches and Cossack threats back home.

That hope is abruptly put on pause when Herschel, working at a pickle factory, slips into a vat of brine. He emerges 100 years later, thrown into modern-day Brooklyn, where he meets his great-grandson, Ben (also played by Rogen), who isn’t having a great time either. Though this odd-couple comedy isn’t necessarily a Hanukkah movie, it’s a fantastic film about ancestral ties, making the most of it, and the Jewish experience.

Round and Round  (2023)

If you’ve been avoiding Hallmark for your Hanukkah movie fix, we’ll let you know the Hanukkah movies on Hallmark are far superior to the Christmas movies. They just are. What they lack in quantity, they make up for in quality. Hanukkah on Rye is another Hallmark favorite, as last year’s release was Hanukkah on the Rocks. Round and Round is one of the highest-rated Hallmark movies, which should give us the rom-com dose we can’t help but love during this time of year.

Round and Round follows Rachel (Vic Michaelis), who finds herself stuck reliving the same night of a Hanukkah celebration on repeat. As the nights loop endlessly, she forms an unexpected connection with a man who may be the key to breaking the cycle. Though the movie does certainly have its particular Hallmark flair, it’s actually a solid Hanukkah rom-com that’s great to watch every year.

Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

While Fiddler on the Roof isn’t a Hanukkah movie in any traditional sense, it may be one of the most deeply Jewish films ever made. Adapted from the Broadway musical and based on the stories of Sholem Aleichem, the film follows Tevye, a poor milkman, and his family in the small shtetl of Anatevka. Life there has followed the same rhythms for generations, but outside forces begin to encroach on the village, even as change from within Tevye’s own family threatens the way things have always been.

Beyond being an absolutely beautiful film with unforgettable music, Fiddler on the Roof feels especially fitting for Hanukkah. Primarily a family story set against a backdrop of rising antisemitism and political unrest, the film never loses sight of its humanity. It’s warm, heartbreaking, funny, and deeply rooted in Jewish family and ways of life. From ritual to prayer to song, Fiddler on the Roof is still an iconic piece of Jewish storytelling. This film is great to watch anytime of year, but it’s especially meaningful during Hanukkah. Plus, older relatives in the family always go for this one.

How we picked the best Hanukkah movies

We narrowed down our picks for the best Hanukkah movies to films that reflect the spirit of Hanukkah and tell stories rooted in the Jewish experience. Just as importantly, they’re simply great movies to watch.

If you’re looking for even more picks, some of our other favorite films to put on during Hanukkah include Crossing Delancey and Between the Temples. And while The Holiday is primarily focused on Christmas, it does feature a genuinely lovely Hanukkah moment and earns it a quiet spot on our honorable mentions.

Source: Comingsoon.net