Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1996 Christmas Movie Becomes A Streaming Hit On Prime Video

After spending the ’80s and early ’90s becoming the pre-eminent action star of his generation and feuding with Sylvester Stallone over the title, Arnold Schwarzenegger spent the latter half of the ’90s trying to prove he could front charming family-friendly fare — and wouldn’t you know it, he could. Of course, a man who hailed from a small Austrian township and conquered bodybuilding, married a Kennedy, became a movie star, and launched a successful career in U.S. politics was never really going to struggle with something as trivial as a career rebrand. So, ’90s kids were treated to all manner of surprisingly decent family comedy, from “Kindergarten Cop” to the Christmas favorite “Jingle All the Way.”

Don’t let that 20% score on Rotten Tomatoes score fool you: “Jingle All the Way” not only had kids of my generation enraptured, it also had something for the adults, tapping into the rampant commercialism that had turned Christmas from a time of peace and togetherness into a frantic scramble for the latest toy. In my time it was Power Rangers and Pokémon, not to mention Tickle Me Elmo. For Schwarzenegger’s Howard Langston, it was Turbo Man — the latest action figure that his son, Jamie (Jake Lloyd), simply must have for Christmas. In order to make up for being a somewhat neglectful father and husband, Howard makes it his mission to track down the in-demand action figure and hilarity and hijinks ensure. 

As well as Schwarzenegger’s surprisingly adept comedic performance, “Jingle All the Way” also featured the late, great Phil Hartman as Howard’s brilliantly smarmy neighbor Ted Maltin. In all, this 90s Christmas classic stands as yet another reason not to take Rotten Tomatoes all that seriously. Now, Prime Video subscribers are attesting to that fact, sending “Jingle All the Way” into the most-watched charts for the festive season and reminding us all that it remains one of the best Christmas movies of all time.

At the same time as Arnold Schwarzenegger and “Reacher” star Alan Ritchson are shooting their forthcoming Christmas comedy, “Jingle All the Way” has risen through the Prime Video most-watched rankings to remind us all that the Austrian star is more than capable of handling such family-friendly Christmas movies.

According to FlixPatrol, a site that tracks and aggregates viewership data across streaming services, “Jingle All the Way” arrived on the charts at number seven on December 14, 2024 — which is actually a little later than I might have expected. Of course, in a time where streaming has ensured a steady cavalcade of middling holiday movies, it’s understandable that audiences’ attention might be a tad more divided than it used to be.

Nevertheless, Schwarzenegger’s classic Christmas outing has not only found its way onto the charts, it has risen through the rankings since its debut. On December 15 it hit number six, before jumping to the third position on December 16. The film has since hovered around that spot, dipping to number four as of December 18 before rising like Turbo Man himself — or indeed, the Turbo Man of the Iron Age, Jesus Christ — once again on December 19 to retake number three.

Christmas is a pretty competitive time when it comes to movies. Not only do you have your classic Christmas fare vying for attention — from the film IMDb claims is the greatest Christmas movie ever, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” to modern classics such as “Elf” — you now have things like “Red One,” Dwayne Johnson’s festive outing that was kind of a box office flop (but not really). That film has remained at the top of the Prime Video charts since it hit the service following it’s anticlimactic theatrical run, and it seems nothing can dethrone it at this point.

Queen Latifah gave it a shot with her forgotten Christmas rom-com “Last Holiday,” and John Candy is currently having a crack at it with the great “Uncle Buck” hitting the Prime Video charts. Thus far, however, Arnie is the only one who might be in with a shot of dethroning “Red One.” “Jingle All the Way” might be in a tenuous position at number three, but it’s been rising steadily through the ranks since December 14, 2024 and it might well be able to take that top spot by the end of the week.

Though “Jingle All the Way” remains a classic Christmas movie that didn’t need a sequel, we did end up getting a direct-to-video follow-up that starred Larry the Cable Guy in 2014. Thus far, that forgotten sequel is nowhere to be seen, but if there’s any way to orchestrate some sort of mass viewing to make it so that Larry is the one that finally dethrones The Rock, I think we have a duty to do it.