New animated Batman movie channels Home Alone and sees the Joker go full Grinch in first trailer

The first trailer for animated movie Merry Little Batman is here, and it's absolutely wild. 

The clip, which you can watch above, sees Batman leave his son, young Damian Wayne, home alone near Christmas (to do important Batman stuff, of course). When he gets into trouble and is stuck away from Gotham, Damian must suit up and take on the city's most dastardly criminals himself, Kevin McCallister style, as the Joker is going full Grinch and trying to steal Christmas. 

All in all, it looks like an adorable – and very fun – holiday movie with a hefty helping of chaos. Count us in. 

Merry Little Batman is directed by Regular Show's Mike Roth, with Teen Titans Go's Morgan Evans behind the screenplay.

It was announced back in April that Merry Little Batman would be followed by an animated spin-off series, titled Bat-Family.

If the trailer has you in the mood for more Batman and Robin, the good news is we'll be seeing Bruce and Damian Wayne in the new DCU as part of Chapter One: Gods and Monsters. The film, titled Brave and the Bold, will be directed by The Flash's Andy Muschietti, but details are thin on the ground after that. 

Then there's also The Batman Part 2, which is arriving in October 2025. This film is in its own continuity as part of Matt Reeves' burgeoning Bat-verse, which will also soon include the Penguin TV spin-off and the Arkham Asylum show, too. 

Merry Little Batman arrives this December 8 on Prime Video. In the meantime, check out our guide to the best movies on Amazon Prime Video to fill out your watchlist. 

Molly Edwards
Senior Entertainment Writer

I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English. 

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