Five Holiday Movies You Didn’t Know Were Set In Idaho

We all have go-to Christmas movies that we watch every year. My family watches Elf, Four Christmases, Deck The Halls, Fred Claus, and Christmas With The Kranks multiple times each year. None of those movies were set in Idaho, but there are five movies that are. We might debate whether or not they're all Christmas movies, but they are without question seasonal movies that feature Winter in the Gem State.

Alpha and Omega (2010)
Justin Long, Hayden Panettiere, Dennis Hopper, Danny Glover, and Christina Ricci
Okay, it's not a Christmas movie, but it is a winter movie. Alpha and Omega might appear to be a kids' movie, but it's a romantic comedy based on Romeo and Juliet and was the final appearance, even if it was just his voice, for Dennis Hopper. The movie starts in Canada and moves to the Sawtooth National Recreation Area.

Arthur Christmas (2011)
James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie
Among several stops around the world, one is Idaho. The movie is cute and pretty funny for a kids' flick.

Ski Party (1965)
Frankie Avalon, Dwayne Hickman, Deborah Walley
If you've ever seen one of the Back to the Beach movies from the '60s, then you know what to expect when you watch this one. It's like Back to the Beach, but at an Idaho ski resort. It was set in the Sawtooth Forest and featured a bunch of catchy tunes.

Sun Valley Serenade (1941)
Sonja Hennie, John Payne, Milton Berle, Glenn Miller
Another musical, but this one is about a band traveling to Sun Valley for a Christmas event. The song, Chattanooga Choo Choo, sung by Dorothy Dandridge, was nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars. That song would later be the first song ever to be certified gold and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1996.

Toys (1992)
Robin Williams, Joan Cusak, Robin Wright, LL Cool J, Jamie Foxx
On paper, with this cast, Toys should have been a huge movie, but it was a box-office disaster, losing millions of dollars. It was even nominated for a Worst Director award from the Razzies. It was set in Moscow, Idaho, where a toy company was manufacturing war machines, and honestly, the plot doesn't improve much from there.