Christmas has arrived early on Netflix, and Dennis Quaid is the reason. His new holiday movie, A Dog’s Perfect Christmas, landed on the service on November 4 and climbed to No. 2 on the United States movie chart by November 7, according to FlixPatrol data reported by Men’s Journal. The only movie ahead of it is The Day After Tomorrow, the 2004 disaster hit that also stars Quaid.
That gives Quaid the top two spots on the chart at the same time, with two movies that could not be more different. One is about the end of the world. The other is about a dog trying to save Christmas.
A chart full of doom and disaster
The rest of the chart makes the holiday movie look even more out of place. Collision Course sits at No. 4, the true crime thriller Kidnapped in Her Own Home: The Martha Carelli Story is at No. 5, and Don’t Trust the Couple Upstairs is at No. 8, according to Men’s Journal. Disaster movies, kidnapping stories and dark thrillers fill most of the list, and Netflix viewers have spent days picking exactly that kind of title.
The Day After Tomorrow has held the No. 1 spot for several days, riding the same appetite for big, noisy spectacle. Against that backdrop, a gentle family drama about a basset hound had no obvious path to the top of the chart. It got there anyway, and it got there within days of its release.
What the movie is about
A Dog’s Perfect Christmas is based on the 2020 novel of the same name by W. Bruce Cameron, the author behind A Dog’s Purpose. Quaid plays Sander Goss, the grandfather of a family whose holiday season is thrown into chaos when a medical emergency sends a family member to the hospital. Milo Ventimiglia plays his son Hunter, and Jennifer Tilly and Mary Steenburgen round out the cast.
The story is told through Winstead, the family’s basset hound, voiced by Thomas Haden Church, who decides it is his job to hold the family together until Christmas Eve. The film is directed by Cathryn Michon. It is, by design, the softest title on the chart: no jump scares, no betrayals, and a dog on the poster.
Why Christmas is winning in early November
Part of the answer is timing. Halloween viewing fades fast once October ends, and the scary titles that ruled the chart a few weeks ago have lost their moment. Thanksgiving is still about three weeks away, but plenty of viewers clearly did not wait. Holiday movies are comfort viewing, and they ask very little of an audience at the end of a long day.
Quaid himself helps. He is a familiar face across generations, and parents who grew up watching him in The Parent Trap can press play on his new movie with their own kids in the room. That kind of family co-viewing is powerful on streaming charts, because one pick has to satisfy everyone on the couch, and a dog story with a happy heart is an easy yes.
There is also a simple contrast effect. The dark thrillers on the chart compete with each other and split the same audience. A warm Christmas title stands alone in the row of posters, and anyone tired of doom and disaster can spot it in seconds. The film still has to catch The Day After Tomorrow to give Quaid the full top spot, and the real test comes when Netflix publishes its own weekly numbers. For now, though, the dog is winning. For more streaming stories, browse our Entertainment coverage.
Sources: Men’s Journal, November 7, 2026; FlixPatrol; The Cinemaholic.