Best New Year’s Movies (January 2026)

New Year’s is a time of beginnings and rebirth. It is celebrated globally with festive gatherings and traditions ranging from eating certain foods to performing certain acts. In modern times, however, it is increasingly celebrated with movie marathons building to the clock striking Midnight. Quite often these movies are tied to either New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.

What are the best New Year’s movies?

There are a number of movies that are associated with New Year’s. Some are actively built around the holidays. Others only have a single important scene set during the season. In every case, the movies which follow, listed chronologically, are widely considered classics and well worth watching any time of year.

Ocean’s Eleven (1960)

The 2001 Ocean’s Eleven remake and its sequels and spinoffs are probably better known to modern audiences than the original. However, the Rat Pack vehicle from 1960 has one major story point that the remake didn’t duplicate. Namely, that the original Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra) executed his heist of five Las Vegas casinos on New Year’s Eve. This gives the classic Ocean’s Eleven a different energy than the remake, which has a different twist than the remake for those who fear spoilers.

The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

The success of The Poseidon Adventure inspired a wave of copycat disaster movies in the 1970s. It is still considered one of the definitive films of the genre, having been imitated and remade many times since. However, many forget that the disastrous night the ship was capsized by a tsunami was New Year’s Eve.

Terror Train (1980)

There are several horror movies set on New Year’s Eve. The best of them, however, is 1980’s Terror Train. The plot finds several college students celebrating the New Year with a masquerade party on a train. However, there is a masked killer among them, seeking revenge for a cruel prank. While not the most original idea, the movie is improved by the presence of Jamie Lee Curtis as the Final Girl. It is also noteworthy for David Copperfield playing the magician working the party.

Trading Places (1983)

Trading Places is widely regarded as one of the best adaptations of the Prince and the Pauper formula ever made. The movie finds a hustler played by Eddie Murphy and a commodities broker played by Dan Akroyd trading places as a result of a bet by Akroyd’s bosses. While considered a comedy classic, Trading Places is also usually ranked among the funniest Christmas movies. This is fair as most of it is set against the holiday season. And yet the climactic train scene, in which the heroes attempt to steal a secret USDA report, takes place on New Year’s Eve.

Ghostbusters 2 (1989)

While not as successful as the original, Ghostbusters 2 is still fondly remembered by franchise fans. The movie finds the original squad reforming to save the world from the sorcerer Vigo the Carpathian. To thwart Vigo’s plans to be reborn by drawing on the negative energy of New York City, the Ghostbusters tap the positive energy around the Statue of Liberty. This leads to a ridiculous yet-heartfelt scene, as the team ride the statue to storm Vigo’s stronghold on New Year’s Eve.

When Harry Met Sally (1989)

When Harry Met Sally… is one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time and one of Rob Reiner’s best films. There is some irony in this, as Reiner had originally set out to make an anti-romance about a relationship that never took off. However, he changed the ending after falling in love with Michele Singer Reiner during its filming. This resulted in one of the greatest romantic scenes of all time, as Harry (Billy Crystal) rushes to proclaim his love to Sally (Meg Ryan) at a New Year’s Eve party.

Four Rooms (1995)

Four Rooms chronicles the strange first day at work experienced by a bellhop named Ted (Tim Roth). This day, which just happens to be New Year’s Eve, involves encounters with witches, rich Hollywood weirdos, twisted children, and an odd sexual roleplaying scenario. Written and directed by four different filmmakers, it is largely viewed as a failed experiment in anthology filmmaking. Despite this, it has a cult following, if only for two of the four directors behind it being Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez.

Strange Days (1995)

Strange Days was considered a bomb on its initial release and nearly destroyed the career of director Kathryn Bigelow. Despite this, it won multiple Saturn Awards and is today considered one of the greatest cyberpunk movies ever made. The story centers around an ex-cop turned black marketeer (Ralph Fiennes) who sells illegal recordings of peoples’ experiences. When he is given a recording of an ex-girlfriend (Juliette Lewis) who recorded her murder, he turns to his bodyguard best friend (Angela Bassett) to help him solve the crime and see justice done. All of this plays out against the approach of the year 2000, with the climax of the movie set against the background of a New Year’s Eve street party.

End of Days (1999)

Like Strange Days, End of Days is based around New Year’s Eve in the year 1999. However, it is an action-movie take on Rosemary’s Baby rather than a dystopian Neo-Noir. The plot sets security expert Jericho Cane (Arnold Schwarzenegger) on the trail of a mysterious cult. This cult intends to help Satan impregnate a certain woman on New Year’s Eve 1999. This will supposedly give Hell dominion over the earth for the next 1,000 years. While lacking faith since the death of his wife and daughter, Cane is hero enough to help the knightly order charged with preventing this from happening.

The Age of Adaline (2015)

The Age of Adaline is doubly connected to New Year’s. The titular heroine, Adaline Marie Bowman (Blake Lively) was born on New Year’s Day in 1908. The plot of the movie is spread across a series of other New Year’s events over the course of a century. This is due to an accident that somehow brings Adaline back from the dead, eternally 29.

Adaline quickly figures out that she could only go so long in one place without her not aging being noticed. This led to her living fast and easy, denying herself a chance at finding long-term love again. That ended when she met Ellis Jones (Michiel Huisman) who should could not resist. Unfortunately, after agreeing to attend an anniversary party for Ellis’ parents, she recognizes Ellis’ father (Harrison Ford) as the man she abandoned 40 years earlier. The rest of the film details their conflicting feelings, and Adaline deciding if she will stay or run away yet again. While not a critical darling, the movie was a financial success and both Likely and Ford were praised for their performances.

How we picked the best New Year’s movies

Clearly we had trouble narrowing this particular Best Of list down to our usual slim standard. In this case, however, we felt variety was more important than brevity. To that end, this list offers a variety of films across various genres. This will enable our audience to find something suited to their tastes, whether they want an underrated classic or a briefly forgotten favorite.

Source: Comingsoon.net