Arnold Schwarzenegger has a new Christmas movie on the horizon, so here’s how to spend your festive season with Arnold movies…
Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn’t always been on the good side of critics, but he really does have a CV to be envied. The Terminator was a B-movie so elevated that many consider it a masterpiece. It even once earned praise from arthouse icon Andrei Tarkovsky, of all people, who conversely shredded 2001: A Space Odyssey to pieces. Add to that the first sequel, Predator, Commando, Total Recall, True Lies, and Conan the Barbarian (which is way deeper than critics gave it credit for), to name a few.
Over the years, even some of Arnie’s duds like Batman and Robin have been reappraised somewhat. In terms of his part in Joel Schumacher’s excessive and colourful comic book movie, of course it’s to be enjoyed almost ironically, but still, it’s now something of a popular “so bad it’s good” classic. Then there are Arnold’s attempts at festive movies, with the Austrian Oak having entered the Christmas movie market back in 1996 and a Y2K, end-of-days thriller set on New Year’s Eve 1999, but we’ll get to those. However, for now, I’ll merely state that both films were savaged by critics and audiences alike upon release.
Step forward to 2026, and Arnold isn’t merely coming back to the Xmas/New Year festive season; he’s stepping into the role to end all roles: Santa Claus. Fellow action hero Kurt Russell did it pretty successfully a few years back with The Christmas Chronicles (and its sequel). The Man with the Bag sees Alan Ritchson – a potential heir apparent to Ahnuld – starring opposite the action icon and tasked with having to use his skills (which have put him on the naughty list) to help Santa save crimbo. It’s almost like an action hero passing of the torch from the big dawg to the new successor. It also sees Arnie revisit familiar territory in the comedy genre, but also Christmas. Whether it becomes a new Christmas staple, remains to be seen, or it may well disappear into the ether like so many streaming originals. We shall see.
So come this 2026 Christmas and New Year period, indulging in a new Arnold movie that’s seasonally appropriate will hopefully be rewarding. It also allows one to revisit his two other festive films, which have both since become cult favourites. Starting with…
Jingle All the Way
Despite the critical revulsion on its release and lukewarm box office, the slight mean spirit coursing through the cynical veins of Jingle All the Way, along with its cartoonish humour, has seen it become a 21st-century Christmas staple. The turnaround has been amazing for a film once considered a nadir in Arnold’s filmography and the signifier of his career taboganning at 90 m.p.h into the doldrums.
Once a running gag, it’s now become an odd point of pride, thanks to it being essential viewing for so many families. It’s not even that it’s a particularly good movie, or there’s a heartwarming message that comes through by the end; it’s just that it’s so unabashed and silly, and Arnold is almost comically miscast. Then throw in a great turn from the late Phil Hartman, and it proves to be a winner, especially now that we’re in an era where the dial leans way more into pessimism compared to the comparatively hopeful 90s. It’s been memed, endlessly clipped and quoted in the internet age too, which has really helped this one rise in relevance. It’s not Home Alone by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s still a Christmas favourite.
Ironically, too, just as we close in on a new Arnie Christmas movie, there’s a sequence where Schwarzy brawls with a warehouse full of duplicitous Santa performers (and their elves) which sees James Belushi, The Big Show and Verne Troyer pop up. All because Howard (Arnold) is desperate to find a (highly sought-after) Turbo Man doll on Christmas Eve. It will certainly be the perfect film to double bill with The Man With The Bag at some point during the Christmas period.
End of Days
Christmas movies tend to vastly outweigh New Year’s movies, but that didn’t stop Arnold from jumping into the late 20th-century fascination with the millennium. That centennial flip carried a fascination with the end of the world, or at least the end of your computer. In the end, the Y2K bug was a nothingburger and even paled in comparison to the recent Microsoft Outage. Still, we got a whole bunch of apocalyptically themed movies, and End of Days was actually one of the most enjoyable, despite what critics and fans initially said.
Here’s the thing: it was part of a shift for Arnie into newer territory. He followed it with an existential sci-fi movie, The 6th Day, which conjured a topical plot about cloning (who remembers Dolly the sheep?). He then made a more grounded thriller, Collateral Damage too. Now those two weren’t very good and haven’t had much of a positive reappraisal. They lack memorable Arnold-isms and standout moments, unlike End of Days.
For one thing, End of Days is utterly bloody ludicrous. There are clandestine clergy who have underground data labs with Priests keeping ever-watchful eyes on potential rising evils. Then there are those working in league with the devil, who wants to rise and bring hell on Earth. Key to this is Christine, born destined to mate with the Devil (played with scenery-chomping, charismatic might by Gabriel Byrne). Rod Steiger pops up to add a little blend of ham fist and gravitas. Miriam Margolyes has a fucking fight scene with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Miriam Margolyes! Not only that, but she batters the crap out of him. It’s sort of bad but so sincere that it has charm, whilst Peter Hyams shoots everything with an effectively gritty, grimy and dank darkness befitting of a world potentially about to end.
At the centre, we have Schwarzenegger in this period where he was trying to stretch himself as an actor. He delivers a mixed bag, not helped by a clunky script, but he’s giving it a right go and not playing his atypically heroic and flawless archetype. Maybe I’m skewed by nostalgia, given this was the first R-rated Arnold film I saw on the big screen, but I’m not alone in thinking this one has been steadily finding its audience in the past decade. Plus, given how we’re flitting between ending via World War Three or AI-led extinction, a film called End of Days is suddenly prescient.
Will you be spending your Christmas and New Year’s indulging in Seasonal Schwarzenegger? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Tom Jolliffe
