A very Wilmington Christmas: Holiday movies, songs and TV shows with Port City ties

When it comes to the holiday season that is now fully upon us, there's something to be said for keeping it local.

In terms of shopping? For sure: Give the Wilmington merchants all of your money. But why not also apply that same logic to arts and entertainment?

Lots of Christmas movies, Christmas songs and holiday-themed episodes of television shows have come out of Wilmington over the decades. Here are just a few worth knowing about.

Songs

'When We Hit December'

There have been dozens of wonderful Christmas tunes written and recorded by Wilmington bands and songwriters over the years. The latest entry into the pantheon of Wilmington Christmas songs, and it's a worthy one, is this absolute gem from Sean Thomas Gerard, which has a slowly lilting bounce and spine-tingling lyrics: "I don't need a shooting star/ I don't need a fifth of whiskey or a jazz guitar ... When we hit December/ It's easy to remember /All I need for Christmas, my love, is you."

On Dec. 9, Gerard and other Wilmington songwriters will perform their holiday originals, as well as some seasonal classics, as part of the Christmas Unplugged concert at Bourgie Nights in downtown Wilmington.

'Christmas Tree Island'

The Rosebuds were an indie rock and pop band that formed in Wilmington in the early 2000s and went on to sign with Durham's Merge Records, the indie label for which they recorded a half-dozen stellar records in the 2000s and 2010s. In 2012 (the band was no longer in Wilmington, but still, we'll claim 'em) the band released "Christmas Tree Island," a record that somehow managed to build melodic bridges between childhood nostalgia, seasonal depression and the ever-loving Christmas spirit with songs that spanned multiple genres, from jangly rockers ("I Hear (Click, Click, Click)") and poppy delights ("Oh It's Christmas") to jazzy novelties ("Christmas Dan") and avant-sex-soul ("I'm Coming Home").

'The Songs the Season Brings'

The longtime Wilmington indie folk duo Beta Radio, made up of friends Benjamin Mabry and Brent Holloman, gets over 900,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, thanks to being on such playlists as Best Indie Folk of 2020 and of 2021. In 2015, they released this four-volume collection, a rootsy mix of stirring originals and gorgeous renditions of classic Christmas carols and religious songs.

Built for playing on repeat all December long, it's not just one of the best Wilmington Christmas albums of all time, but one of the all-time best Wilmington albums, period.

Movies

'Iron Man 3'

If "Die Hard" is a Christmas movie (and it is), then "Iron Man 3," which shot here in 2012 and is still the highest-grossing movie ever made in Wilmington, is definitely a Christmas movie.

For one, it takes place at Christmas. But, as an article on Marvel.com points out − the article is titled, ahem, "Iron Man 3 Is A Christmas Movie — Here's Why" − "the essence of the story revolves around Tony (Stark, inventor of Iron Man, played by Robert Downey Jr.) going through hardships and coming out the other side to see the wrong in his ways. That’s the spirit of Christmas."

You can watch "Iron Man 3" on Disney+.

Wilmington Christmas movies:Recognize this? 6 Christmas TV movies made in the Wilmington area

'One Christmas'

Trivia question: "What was acting great Katharine Hepburn's final film?"

The answer is this 1994 made-for-TV movie shot in Wilmington. It's based on a story from Truman Capote about a boy who goes on Christmastime adventures with the father he barely knows. It also starts Henry Winkler, Swoosie Kurtz and Pat Hingle, who had moved to Wilmington after shooting the Stephen King horror film "Maximum Overdrive" here in the 1980s.

You can buy or rent on Google Play or Amazon Prime, or on YouTube. 

'The Angel Doll'

Heartwarming 2002 movie directed by the late Alexander "Sandy" Johnston is based on the novel by Jerry Bledsoe. It's about two small-town boys, one poor, one middle-class, who team up to obtain the title doll for the poor boy's ailing sister for Christmas. Stars Keith Carradine and Pat Hingle, among others.

You'll have a chance to see "The Angel Doll" on the big screen for free 4 p.m. Dec. 11 as part of the N.C. Filmmakers Series at The Pointe 14 movie theater in Wilmington.

'USS Christmas'

This Hallmark movie was shot in Wilmington in September of 2020 and is about a young woman (Jen Lilley) who falls for a Navy pilot (Trevor Donovan). It also features scenes on the Battleship North Carolina.

Other Port City locations include the Hannah Block Historic USO/Community Arts Center and the Wilmington Railroad Museum.

It has aired on various Hallmark channels in recent months, so it's possible you'll be able to see it in December.

'A Christmas Proposal'

Prolific Wilmington filmmaker Nakia Hamilton created this comedic drama/romance last year about a man with a job opportunity that will allow him to travel the world.

There's just once catch: He can bring his girlfriend, but only if they're married before Christmas.

Stars Joshua T. Shipman, Lily Nicole, Amber Dawn Fox, Natasha Locklear and Denine Rochelle. You can watch it on TubiTV.com.

TV episodes

'One Tree Hill'

The CW drama shot in Wilmington for eight seasons from 2004 to 2011, so it's not surprising that Christmas popped up more than once. In the season seven episode "At the Bottom of Everything," Haley (Bethany Joy Lenz, who also directs the episode) and Quinn (Shantel VanSanten) decide to celebrate Christmas early so that their dying mother can celebrate.

And, as noted by former Wilmington film reporter Hunter Ingram in a post he did for the Wilmington visitors' bureau, season four episode "Songs to Live and Die By" evokes holiday classic "It's a Wonderful Life" when Chad Michael Murray's character Lucas gets to see what life in Tree Hill would've been like without him if he'd died of a heart attack.

'Welcome to Flatch'

The first-season, 2021 finale of this Wilmington-and-Burgaw-shot oddball Fox comedy − titled, of course, "Merry Flatchmas" − is set at a small-town Christmas festival and features lead character Kelly Mallet (played by the one-named comic Holmes) trying to impress her dad by playing Santa and, naturally, failing spectacularly.

Wilmington actor Banks Repeta ("Armageddon Time," "Black Phone") plays Levi, a town boy dressed as an elf who refuses to do Kelly's bidding.

With an episode titled "O Come, All Ye Flatchful" set to air Dec. 8, there's more Christmas to come in "Flatch."

'Dawson's Creek'

The best-known Christmas episode from this famed teen drama that shot in Wilmington in the late '90s and early 2000s is "Merry Mayhem" from 2002, when Dawson (James Van Der Beek), Joey (Katie Holmes), Pacey (Josh Jackson) and Jen (Michelle Williams) all return separately to their hometown of Capeside for the holidays. Alcohol-fueled "mayhem" of the title ensues.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Christmas movies, songs and TV shows with Wilmington ties