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What's Coming and Going From Netflix in December 2018


Here’s a cool phenomenon: the Netflix Christmas special. This month, in addition to way too many original shows and films, Netflix is releasing Christmas episodes for existing shows, including Nailed It!, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Ezra Koenig’s Neo Yokio, and awards-bait Prince of Peoria: A Christmas Moose Miracle.

The specials are lovely, but honestly, slow down Netflix! Even excluding the specials, and the imports that Netflix calls originals, the site is releasing well over 30 seasons of original TV this month. We’ll do our best to call out the most promising—plus the best existing movies and shows that are finally available on Netflix.

Highlights

Movies

Some great movies show up this month: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Hellboy, The Big Lebowski, Shaun of the Dead, District 9, The Theory of Everything, and Michael Jackson’s This Is It. And Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle could be the second good live-action Jungle Book adaptation in three years.

Shows

Not a ton of outside TV coming to the service this month, but highlights include The Magicians Season 3 and Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown Season 11.

In originals, Fuller House is back for season 4 (!). Netflix doubles down on Narcos with Inside the Real Narcos (which is presumably where you find the swallowed balloons full of cocaine). And there’s new Terrace House.

We hadn’t heard of Inside the World’s Toughest Prisons, now entering season 3—is this just the new title of Orange Is the New Black? Folks, that show got too bleak for us! Put the comedy back in dramedy!

New series Back Street Girls: Gokudols sounds interesting: “To pay for an epic blunder, three yakuza brothers are forced to alter their bodies, form a girl group and break into the underground J-Pop idol scene.”

Comedy

Wasn’t Netflix supposed to be overflowing with comedy specials? All we see in this month’s lineup is Ellen DeGeneres and Vir Das. Who will do great, obviously, even if they’ll be a little lonely.

Last Call

If you wanna see Hellraiser, the story about why you should never buy the puzzle boxes at Cracker Barrel, then make some time before December 1. Groundhog Day, The Game, and seven seasons of Sons of Anarchy also disappear that day.

Three days later, lots of kids’ stuff disappears, including three Tinkerbells, two Brave Little Toasters, and four Air Buds. Then throughout the month, Netflix loses Battle Royale, Step Up 2: The Streets, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Food Inc., Spotlight, and Moana.

Arriving in December

Here’s the full list. Netflix originals have links to their trailers and watch pages.

December 1

  • 8 Mile

  • Astro Boy

  • Battle (film)

  • Bride of Chucky

  • Christine

  • Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

  • Crossroads: One Two Jaga (film)

  • Friday

  • Friday After Next

  • Hellboy

  • Man vs Wild with Sunny Leone: Season 1

  • Meet Joe Black

  • Memories of the Alhambra (Streaming Every Saturday) (show)

  • My Bloody Valentine

  • Next Friday

  • Reindeer Games

  • Seven Pounds

  • Shaun of the Dead

  • Terminator Salvation

  • The Big Lebowski

  • The Great British Baking Show: Masterclass: Season 5 Masterclasses

  • The Last Dragon

  • The Man Who Knew Too Little

December 2

  • The Lobster

December 3

December 4

  • District 9

December 6

  • Happy!: Season 1

December 7

December 9

  • Sin senos sí hay paraíso: Season 3

December 10

  • Michael Jackson’s This Is It

December 11 

December 12

December 13 

December 14

December 16 

December 18

December 21

December 24

December 25

  • Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown: Season 11

  • Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War

December 26

  • Alexa & Katie: Season 2

  • YOU

December 28

December 30

  • The Autopsy of Jane Doe

December 31

  • The Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons Learned From a Mythical Man

December (date unannounced) 

Last Call

Leaving December 1

  • Cabin Fever

  • Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever

  • Groundhog Day

  • Happily N’Ever After

  • Happily N’Ever After 2: Snow White

  • Hellbound: Hellraiser II

  • Hellraiser

  • Sons of Anarchy: Seasons 1-7

  • Spider-Man 3

  • Spy Hard

  • Stephen King’s Children of the Corn

  • Swept Under

  • The Covenant

  • The Game

Leaving December 4

  • Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch

  • Air Bud: Spikes Back

  • Air Bud: World Pup

  • Air Buddies

  • Cars Toon: Mater’s Tall Tales

  • Spooky Buddies

  • Tarzan & Jane

  • The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars

  • The Brave Little Toaster to the Rescue

  • The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos

  • The Search for Santa Paws

  • Tinker Bell

  • Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue

  • Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure

Leaving December 7

  • Trolls

Leaving December 10

  • Battle Royale

  • Battle Royale 2

  • Teeth

Leaving December 15

  • Step Up 2: The Streets

Leaving December 16

  • Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Leaving December 17 

  • Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2

Leaving December 19

  • Ip Man: The Final Fight

Leaving December 20

  • Moana

  • Food, Inc.

  • I Give It a Year

Leaving December 22

  • Spotlight

Leaving December 25

  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Leaving December 31

  • Troy

OK, which titles are you excited to get, or sad to lose?