Here’s a look at media of interest coming out in December 2025.
Movies
A full list is available here.
- The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, Dec. 19
DVDs and Blu-rays
A full list is available here.
- Tom and Jerry: The Golden Era Anthology (Blu-ray), Dec. 2
- The Meteor Man (1993) (Blu-ray), Dec. 2
- The Emperor’s New Groove (4K), Dec. 9
- Hazbin Hotel (Season 1) (Blu-ray), Dec. 9
- Wally Gator: The Complete Series (Blu-ray), Dec. 16
- Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har: The Complete Series (Blu-ray), Dec. 16
Disney+
A full list is available here.
- Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures (Season 3), Dec. 8
Hallmark+
A full list is available here.
- The Christmas Baby, Dec. 21
Paramount+
A full list is available here.
- Transformers: EarthSpark (specials/series finale), Dec. 8
- Tales of the TMNT (season 2 premiere), Dec. 12
Peacock
A full list is available here.
- Christmas in Rockefeller Center, Dec. 3, 8 PM ET
Sports
- Christmas Day NFL football:
- Dallas Cowboys vs. Washington Commanders, 1 PM ET/10 AM PT, Netflix
- Detroit Lions vs. Minnesota Vikings, 4:30 PM ET/1:30 PM PT, Netflix
- Denver Broncos vs. Kansas City Chiefs, 8:15 PM ET/5:15 PM PT, Amazon Prime Video (Thursday Night Football)
- Christmas Day NBA basketball:
- Dunk the Halls (Cleveland Cavaliers vs. New York Knicks), 12 PM ET/9 AM PT, Disney Channel, Disney XD, ESPN2, Disney+, ESPN app
- San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder, 2:30 PM ET/11:30 AM PT, ABC, ESPN
- Dallas Mavericks vs. Golden State Warriors, 5 PM ET/2 PM PT, ABC, ESPN
- Houston Rockets vs. Los Angeles Lakers, 8 PM ET/5 PM PT, ABC, ESPN
- Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Denver Nuggets, 10:30 PM ET/7:30 PM PT, ABC, ESPN
Other
- Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest, 8 PM ET/5 PM PT, ABC
My thoughts
Another “SpongeBob SquarePants” movie is coming out. This time, it’s about SpongeBob having an adventure with ghostly series villain the Flying Dutchman. Like the last film, it’s in CGI; unlike the last film, at least it won’t be an ad for a needless spin-off (“Kamp Koral”). Unfortunately for SpongeBob’s box office, he’s up against the release of the latest “Avatar” film the same weekend.
There’s a number of DVDs and Blu-rays out in time for the holidays. A complete collection of all Golden Age “Tom and Jerry” shorts is available on Blu-ray unedited for the first time for the series’ 85th anniversary (yes, that includes the more problematic shorts, completists).
“Hazbin Hotel” is getting a Blu-ray release for season 1, for fans of that show who want a physical release (or don’t want to keep paying for Amazon Prime forever). “The Emperor’s New Groove” sees its first 4K Blu-ray release.
Robert Townsend’s superhero spoof “The Meteor Man” also is being released on Blu-ray; despite its tone, it’s also an early example of a movie starring a Black superhero. A Marvel comic miniseries was released alongside the movie, adapting the plot but also putting the cast in the mainstream Marvel Universe (Spider-Man and several Marvel characters appear). The film’s antagonists (a street gang) appeared years later in a 2019 Miles Morales Spider-Man comic.
Hallmark Channel/Hallmark+ film “The Christmas Baby” is about two women in a relationship who take in an abandoned infant. Again, Hallmark’s made some effort in recent years to feature more diverse stars in its films. (The company also has lines of greeting cards aimed at African Americans and LGBTQ folk, so there’s another incentive.) It’s also clearly not hurting its ratings compared to Great American Family, which is basically a “non-woke” Hallmark knockoff with far fewer viewers. (One of GAC’s founders is a former Hallmark CEO who stepped down after controversy over pulling Hallmark Channel TV ads featuring a lesbian couple.)
More Hanna-Barbera Blu-rays
Finally, two Hanna-Barbera shows are getting Blu-ray sets via the Warner Archive: “Wally Gator” and “Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har.” Both are shorts that were released in syndication to individual stations to air as they wished, either individually or put together into half-hour blocks.
Wally is a cheerful alligator who keeps trying to escape from his zoo to experience life on the outside. Unfortunately for him, things usually turn out disastrous. Lippy and Hardy are a lion and a hyena respectively; the two engage in Lippy’s ill-conceived get-rich-quick schemes. Said schemes always turn out badly, to the perpetually-depressed Hardy’s dismay.
Wally was originally voiced by Daws Butler (impersonating actor Ed Wynn); Lippy was also voiced by Butler, impersonating actor Joe E. Brown (Butler later used the same voice for Hanna-Barbera’s Peter Potamus); Hardy was voiced by Mel Blanc.
Here’s the opening credits for both segments. Ironically, few of their shorts involve the swamp (Wally) or the jungle (Lippy and Hardy).
Sports stuff
There’s quite a few basketball and football games on Christmas Day. Apparently neither sports league wants to back down from the other, so it’s basically sports on TV all day. Given Christmas Day on traditional linear TV is just reruns and old movies otherwise, it’s just as well.
Netflix is back with a double header of football, but Amazon Prime Video is also airing a game on Christmas Day this year per “Thursday Night Football.” On Prime’s side is that the game will feature a popular (if lackluster this year) team, the Kansas City Chiefs.
ABC and ESPN will air five back-to-back basketball games on Christmas Day. Along with such is “Dunk the Halls,” a real-time simulcast featuring Mickey Mouse, Daisy Duck, and other Disney stars anchoring a game. Joining Mickey and the gang this year is Stitch, fresh off his billion-dollar-grossing live-action remake. Said remake I finally watched this week; can’t say I’m pleased by the film’s changes from the original, especially those involving Jumba.
Image: “Dunk the Halls.” (Disney)
