The global streaming landscape on December 19, 2025, is less about “what’s new” and far more about rituals already firmly in place. In the days leading up to Christmas, audiences are not seeking risk, discovery, or disruption. They are looking for comfort, recognizable events, and brands that promise immediate emotional payoff. And this is clearly reflected across nearly every platform.

Netflix: Events Still Rule — but Comfort Never Leaves the Top 10

On Netflix’s movie chart, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery leads for a reason. The third installment in the franchise arrives as a built-in event: a strong brand, a recognizable cast, accessible humor, and a type of mystery that works both as escapism and as social currency. It is the Netflix model at its most efficient — high reach, low rejection, and strong global appeal.

What truly stands out, however, is the rest of the ranking. The Croods: A New Age, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Shazam!, and even The Dark Knight sit alongside generic holiday romances like My Secret Santa. This is the algorithm working at full capacity: children on school break, exhausted adults, families sharing screens. The Top 10 becomes a space of intergenerational negotiation — and older catalog titles gain renewed life.

On the TV side, the pattern is even more telling. Man Vs Baby leads, followed closely by Emily in Paris and Stranger Things, two series that no longer need to prove their artistic worth to dominate attention. They function as cultural comfort zones. The most revealing data point, however, is Stranger Things maintaining such a high position on the eve of its final chapter. Collective anxiety has already turned into a viewing habit.

HBO Max: IP Power, Nostalgia, and Horror as Event Television

HBO Max is playing a different game — and winning on its own terms. IT: Welcome to Derry tops the TV chart by a wide margin, reinforcing something the platform understands better than most: horror becomes an event when anchored in strong IP. Viewers are not just curious; they are invested.

The same impulse explains the dominance of It and It Chapter Two in the movie ranking. The blend of nostalgia, “safe fear,” and immediate recognition works especially well in December, when audiences crave intensity without long-term emotional commitment.

The chart also shows HBO Max at ease mixing worlds: adult animation (Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake), prestige drama (The Pitt), heightened romance, and local true crime (Ângela Diniz). It is not a homogeneous Top 10, but it is entirely consistent with the platform’s identity.

Disney+: Christmas as Core Business

If there is a platform that truly owns Christmas, it is Disney+. Home Alone and Home Alone 2 dominate with authority, followed by Zootopia, Avatar, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. This is not nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake — it is an inherited ritual. These titles no longer compete with new releases; they compete with family traditions.

The strategic nuance lies in the “special looks” for Avatar: Fire and Ash and Zootopia 2. Disney understands that December is not just about consuming the present, but about emotionally preparing for what’s next. It plants anticipation while harvesting viewership.

On the TV side, Percy Jackson and the Olympians confirms that YA content continues to function as a gateway for younger audiences during school breaks. Taylor Swift’s special, meanwhile, exists almost outside traditional TV logic — it is not narrative, it is pure emotional event.

Prime Video: Fandom Loyalty and the Power of the Long Tail

Prime Video stands out for its stability. Fallout remains strong, proving that video game adaptations can sustain momentum when executed well. Maxton Hall and The Summer I Turned Pretty reaffirm the enduring appeal of young-adult romance, while Yo soy Betty la fea once again demonstrates that emotional longevity outperforms any notion of “timeliness.”

In film, the dominance of titles like Red One and How the Grinch Stole Christmas reinforces the platform’s profile: straightforward entertainment, minimal risk, maximum domestic appeal.

Apple TV+: The Quiet Victory of Curation

If any Top 10 feels editorially intentional, it is Apple TV+’s. F1 leads the film chart with striking numbers, followed by a slate of originals that reinforce the idea of a premium, non-inflated catalog.

On the TV side, Pluribus and The Last Frontier take the top spots, but the most meaningful signal is the sustained presence of The Morning Show, Slow Horses, Severance, and Down Cemetery Road. These are not fleeting spikes — they are long-term assets. Apple is not competing for daily volume; it is competing for sustained prestige.

The Bigger Picture: Less Hype, More Habit

This week’s global Top 10 does not point to a streaming revolution. It points to something quieter — and perhaps more significant: the consolidation of streaming as emotional routine.

December 2025 is not about what is new, but about what accompanies us. Rewatched films, revisited series, familiar characters. At a time when the industry debates the “death of cinema,” the charts tell a different story: audiences have not abandoned stories — they have simply chosen where and how to reconnect with them.

And this holiday season, they have chosen safety, memory, and recognition.

Miscelana Top 10

1 — Emily In Paris (Netflix)
2 — I Love LA (HBO Max)
3 — Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix)
4 — Landman (Paramount+)
5 — Stranger Things (Netflix)
6 — Robin Hood (MGM+)
7 — Stranger Things (Netflix)
8 — Merteiul: The Seduction (HBO Max)
9 — Angela Diniz: Assassinada, Condenada (HBO Max)
10- F1 (Apple TV+)