Tom Hanks Christmas Classic Takes Over Streaming Ahead of the Holidays
All aboard the holiday hype train: Tom Hanks animated staple The Polar Express just chugged into the Top 5 on HBO Max as of December 19, 2025, according to FlixPatrol.
Holiday watchlists are doing what they always do: getting dominated by the comfort-food classics. Case in point: The Polar Express has muscled its way back into the Top 5 films on Max as of December 19, 2025, according to FlixPatrol. Not shocking for December, but still impressive for a nearly 20-year-old animated film.
Back in the Top 5
Max's Top 10 is loaded with seasonal staples right now, and The Polar Express is sitting near the top. The movie has long been one of the go-to holiday picks thanks to its timeless vibe and painterly, hyper-stylized visuals. Tom Hanks has a slightly different way of describing why it lingers: he finds it haunting.
Tom Hanks and the 'haunting' factor
Yes, Hanks does the motion-capture-and-voice heavy lifting, playing multiple roles from The Conductor to Hero Boy and more. But what stuck with him was the source material. He told IGN that the tone of Chris Van Allsburg's book is what really hooked him.
"The book itself, the 29 pages of it, is a haunting, very effective story, and you really can't quite put your finger on it. I've been reading it to my kids, I think, since it was published. And as you get closer and closer to Christmas, you read it more and more. There's something very stunning, quite frankly, about Chris Van Allsburg's paintings."
Pair that sensibility with Robert Zemeckis doing what Robert Zemeckis does, and you get a holiday movie that feels like a dreamy memory you keep replaying. It also explains why Hanks and Zemeckis keep teaming up on projects.
Why we keep rewatching these older holiday movies
Nostalgia is the obvious answer, and it is absolutely part of it. December is comfort season, and these films are basically weighted blankets for your brain.
There is also the values thing. If you grew up with these movies, they quietly helped wire your idea of what the holidays feel like, so revisiting them reinforces that.
And a lot of the older titles were not trying to be giant blockbusters. That space gave filmmakers room to try odd, memorable ideas while still hugging the core human stuff. The Polar Express is a perfect example: a simple story told with bold, unmistakable visuals.
Quick stats and where to watch
- Director: Robert Zemeckis
- Main cast: Tom Hanks, Chris Coppola, Michael Jeter, Leslie Zemeckis
- IMDb: 6.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 55% critics, 64% audience
- Box office: $286 million worldwide
- Streaming in the US: Max and Hulu
What holiday movie do you go back to every year?