I just finished watching My Secret Santa, Netflix’s top-streaming Christmas movie this season, and boy, they don’t make them like they used to.

It’s another generic, soulless holiday flick that left me feeling ill, like I’d gorged on a bowl of trifle, a slab of Christmas cake, and a box of shortbread all at once, yet somehow remained hungry.

It got me wondering why they just can’t make a good Christmas film anymore.

Scan any ‘top Christmas movies’ list: Home Alone, Die Hard, Elf, Love Actually, you’ll notice they’re all more than 20 years old.

The answer is obvious; the streamers are stealing the joy of Christmas.

And a lack of original, high-quality films are why we keep having the same debates every year:

Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Why is Love Actually the best? Did Kevin McCallister grow up to be Jigsaw from Saw?

We’re not debating whether Netflix’s Single All The Way, A Merry Little Ex-mas, or Hot Frosty deserve to join anything other than the naughty list.

The dearth of good Christmas films reflects a broader hollowing-out of middle-Hollywood.

According to Kristian Connelly, CEO of Melbourne’s beloved independent Cinema Nova, two forces are to blame: the rise of big-budget franchises and monopolisation by streaming giants.

In the 2010s studios began to chase blockbusters like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Fast & Furious, and The Hunger Games that had global appeal, particularly in Asian markets.

It was the beginning of the end of the big screen comedy, including holiday favourites, which didn’t translate culturally and therefore couldn’t pull the numbers at the box office.

‘The Marvel films evolved into mega-budget comedies where they didn’t actually need to land the laughs as the non-English audience didn’t care as long as there was a spectacle,’ says Connelly.

‘The game went from spending $40m on a comedy to possibly make $150m, to spending $150m on a blockbuster to make a billion.’

But when China began producing its own blockbusters, Hollywood doubled down on franchises, leaving few studios other than The Weinstein Company and Miramax making original films – it’s no spoiler to say we know how that ended.

‘The Weinsteins filled the middle ground that the major studios exited when they focused almost exclusively on franchises,’ adds Connelly.

With the middle gone and the majors unwilling to fill it, something had to step in.

Into that void stepped Netflix and co., where production decisions are driven by algorithms, optimising for the ideal film on paper but lacking the soul of a studio-produced film or depth of intellectual property to draw upon.

‘In theory, Christmas films are perfect for the streamers: un-trademarkable, formulaic, and cheap, and it’s why they flooded the market with them,’ says Connelly.

They’ve also created a negative feedback loop that makes Christmas films riskier for the legacy studios.

As Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group president Sanford Panitch told The Hollywood Reporter: ‘The studios aren’t going to make Christmas comedies if there are six Christmas comedies on a streaming platform.’

Many in the industry worry the current battle between Netflix and Paramount for Warner Bros. is will just accelerate the demise of ‘old Hollywood’, that began with Disney buying Fox and Amazon taking over MGM.

The rare exception in recent years, The Holdovers, came from ‘legacy’ studio Miramax, had a theatrical release, and didn’t go straight to streaming. The exception proves the rule.

‘Streamers know their customers aren’t paying as much attention as if the film was in a cinema, so the quality isn’t as high,’ Connelly observes.

But there’s a tinsel-y lining.

Independent cinemas like Nova are now thriving as holiday destinations for nostalgic screenings, offering the Christmas magic that no streaming production can match.

Connelly notes increasing interest from younger generations in Christmas classics, perhaps starved of the ‘nutritious’ maple syrup spaghetti of Elf we grew up with.

As I’ll be doing for Love Actually this year, don’t settle for streaming festive Netflix slop on your couch, make the pilgrimage to an independent cinema and rediscover the magic of Christmas movies.

Netflix may have stolen Christmas, but it can’t steal your heart like John McClane can.

Will is a Melbourne based freelance writer and amateur film critic