Display above the Prince Charles Cinema, commissioned by Time Out
Photograph: Prince Charles Cinema/Rob Greig/Time Out
Photograph: Prince Charles Cinema/Rob Greig/Time Out

Christmas pop-up cinema in London

Get festive at our list of pop-up Christmas screenings all over the city

Phil de Semlyen
Written by: Rhian Daly & Alex Sims
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Let's be real, you'll probably spend most of those lazy days between Christmas and New Year watching Yuletide classics, eating chocs, and forgetting how your legs work. But there's a lot to be said for starting your Crimbo movie viewing long before the pressies get doled out. In November and December, venues across the city start putting on special xmas screenings of festive favourites, and they're the perfect excuse to get into the spirit of the season, whether you're a grumpy Grinch or a troublingly perky Elf. 

These Christmas specials are full of added incentives to peel you off your sofa, too, including special snacks, live orchestras and sing-a-longs. So it's high time you put a cinema trip on your festive to-do list. Here are the best Christmas movie events the capital has to offer in 2025.

RECOMMENDED:

🎄 Read our full guide to
Christmas in London.
🍿 The 50 greatest Christmas movies.

Christmas film screenings in London

  • Things to do
  • Film events
  • Bermondsey

Backyard Cinema is back with a mega immersive cinema to give you all the festive feels. Roam through a fairylit winter forest and you'll find screenings of Christmas classics including Elf, Home Alone, Love Actually, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Holiday, The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, The Grinch, and It’s a Wonderful Life.

Things begin in a Christmas cabaret room with live performances of festive classics and table service so you can enjoy seasonal refreshments. Then, you'll enter an enchanted forest, with real bark underfoot, surprise performances, themed bars and photo opportunities. Finally, you'll end up at the Forest Cinema, a retro-style cinema where snow flutters down before every screening. A trip to the movies really doesn't get more festive than this. 

Discover more Christmas movie magic

  • Film
The 50 best Christmas movies
The 50 best Christmas movies
It’s the most wonderful time of the year – but is it the most wonderful time at the movies? Christmas films have something of a shaky reputation, conjuring up images of apple-cheeked brats, poorly animated reindeer and Bing Crosby in a dodgy cardigan. But the best Christmas movies have so much more to offer: in our list you’ll find psycho Santas, machine-gun terrorists and home-invading thieves – plus, of course, all the cockle-warming sentiment, feel-good frolics and classic Christmas movies for kids we demand for our festive viewing. 
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