Netflix quietly turned a Thanksgiving novel into a Christmas movie for the holiday traffic
aakashgupta · x · 2026-10-15
Marketing analyst aakashgupta breaks down how Netflix changed Katherine Center's bestselling novel The Bodyguard into a Christmas movie for its adaptation Guarding Stars: the book is set around Thanksgiving, and swapping the holiday (plus the title) is Netflix's one big change.
- The evidence: in the trailer, a bodyguard company's briefing room covered in case files features a fully decorated Christmas tree with a stocking.
- The logic: Netflix owns November-December holiday viewing; holiday films already hold about 4 spots in the global Top 10 during Thanksgiving week, rising to 5 by early December, and Nielsen says their share is even bigger.
- The takeaway: converting IP into Christmas content lets Netflix harvest the year's biggest, most predictable traffic window — buy a novel, make it Christmas, ride the holiday surge.
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