Want to know the Best Christmas Movies statistically speaking? Well that is what you are going to get here! Our movie database has ranked over 36,000 movies using box office grosses, critic reviews, audience voting and award recognition.
So a quick search through our database showed over 100 Christmas movies. The following table shows the Top 100 Christmas Movies from that search.
34 of the 100 Christmas movies crossed the $100 million adjusted domestic gross mark. So they were all box office hits.
59 of 100 Christmas movies had an Critic/Audience Rating of 60% or better. 17 of the 100 Christmas movies received at least one Oscar® nomination (all categories)….with 3 of the movies winning at one least one Oscar® (any category). Three of the movies on the table earned a Best Picture Oscar® nomination.
Christmas Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews, and awards.
Christmas Movies Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Christmas Movies movies by the stars of the movie
- Sort Christmas Movies movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Christmas Movies movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Christmas Movies movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Christmas Movie received.
- Sort Christmas Movies movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
So there you go…..our Top 15 Christmas Movies Statistically Speaking. Have we forgotten a movie? ….probably…..our database is big…..but it only has ranked about 15% of all the movies ever made. So we know we do not have all of the Christmas movies ranked. But we fell this is a pretty good list….and ultimately it is our way to say…we hope everybody has a wonderful and safe holiday….and thanks for all the support on our webpages over the years. So it is almost time for me, the 6 year old, and the 9 year old to sit down and watch Bruce Willis kill some terrorists, step on broken glass and blow up a massive building….nothing better than watching Christmas movies with the kids on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas everybody!
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Check Out Steve’s 75 Movie Christmas You Tube Video
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COPIED FROM JOAQUIN PHOENIX’s NEW PAGE
HI BRUCE
With Halloween just passing today my family and I are into the Christmas movies on TV and last night we watched a “Joyous Christmas” presumably a made-for-TV movie released just last year. Bonnie Bedelia [aged 68 then] played an endearing elderly lady in it, in fact the “Joy” of the title. My gang all liked her and I said “You know she’s been in a Christmas movie before, in fact a great classic.” Everyone looked at me blankly!
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock.
Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring.
Snowing and blowing up bushels of fun.
Now the jingle hop has begun.
One of the most stunning openings to a movie that I can ever remember. One historian calls the film “One of the greatest NON-TRADITIONAL Christmas movies ever.” Within that context what about Flora’s reference to Lady in the Lake as a movie set around Xmas time?
EDITED COPY OF POST TO STEVE ABOUT MARTIN SHEEN VIDEO
This week the special True Christmas film channel opened on television and other channels will soon join it in showing movies about Christmas. That means that from now until the new year there will be wall to wall sentimental festive weepies for me to watch and I love those simple, harmless good-spirited movies.
I’m in good company there for usually Arnie’s 1996 “Jingle all the Way” gets a re-run and as it is next week” Santa with Muscles” [made the same year] is showing starring ex American mega wrestler Hulk Hogan [aka Terry Gene Bollea ] who regards himself as a protégé of Stallone. Maybe inside those musclebound action heroes and wrestlers there’s always been a big softie who believes in Santa trying to get out. Unfortunately Hulk’s Xmas offering Santa with Muscles gets just a 24% rating from IMDB – even The Work Horse probably wouldn’t have been THAT hard on him.
I can’t recall if you did a special Xmas movies compilation last year but certainly one would be nice this year as the Big Day draws near. The Work Horse has an excellent already-standing 17 entry Christmas movies page which he could well update this festive season – .HINT! HINT!
He seemed to be using the page to try to get Willis’ Die Hard equated with it’s a Wonderful Life as a Christmas classic! I was, when I watched action movies, particularly fond of John McClane but him up there with my Jimmy as a Christmas fave? – never!
FINALLY some days off and some time for the really important things in life ;O)
Apart from the Tim Allen movies, I have seen all the films from the list. I really love those classic movies that occupy the top 3 spots, I also like Christmas in Connecticut, but since Flora mentioned Remember the Night, I must admit that that movie is way better in my opinion. I also liked the first Home Alone but doubt I’ll ever watch that one or Die Hard to get into the xmas mood :O) Can’t understand the immense popularity of White Christmas, I’d rather watch Bob Mitchum’s Holiday Affair or Loretta Young’s Come to the Stable instead. Some people consider Shop around the Corner to be a Holiday movie, so that one is way up on my list, too. What about the Duke’s Three Godfathers? That one was shown during Christmas time quite often on telly here. Interesting page as always, made me want to revisit a few of these films during the next couple of days.
Hey Lupino. I know how crazy this time of year can get. Added bonus here is the website is acting up….which has made it really hard to get new info out. Glad you like the Top 3. One day I will do a massive Xmas page….that will include many of the movies you mentioned.
So you are not going to be watching Die Hard on Xmas Eve? Well me either…..lol. White Christmas was at Bing Crosby’s peak….and he probably gets most of the credit for that film doing so well. Glad this page got you motivated to check out some Xmas movies.
Hope your holiday is awesome!
Since Christmas Eve is “The Big One” here, I’d already like to wish all those kind and lovely people on this site a very happy Christmas …may Santa be in the right mood to make all your wishes and perhaps even your dreams come true!
Thanks for all the information, stimulating conversations and sharing of knowledge and opinion!
Looking forward to much more to come ???
Lupino
Hey Lupino…..thanks for the holiday wishes….we had an awesome day….which started at 4:45 AM when our 8 year woke us up…..and now almost 20 hours later…things have finally wound down. Thanks for the kind words on our website…they are greatly appreciated.
I have around four thousand movies on video (alteast 500 Christmas), but have never included “Die Hard” and “Gremlins” with my Christmas movie even though I do have them both.
Hey John…..I think it is easier to argue that Gremlins is a Xmas movie…than it is to argue Die Hard is….but since Die Hard is one of my favorite movies of all-time, I felt I had to include it. Ho ho ho…know I have a gun….lol.
I have seen only seven of these films.
In the order they appear:
It’s a Wonderful Life
The Bishop’s Wife
Miracle on 34th Street
Christmas in Connecticut – Stanwyck and McMurray also made Remember the Night
White Christmas
Elf
Home Alone
My favourite Christmas movie of all time is the Alistar Sim version of A Christmas Carol. I usually watch it Christmas Eve but this year I watched it earlier. I don’t expect it is in your database.
Of the 15 you listed, I love The Bishop’s Wife the most. Of the films I have seen, I enjoy most of them. However, I hated Home Alone.
Other favourites of mine that are not included in this list but I believe are in your database are Meet Me in St. Louis and The Shop Around the Corner.
TCM airs a huge number of Christmas movies each December, many of them like Stanwyck’s films ones I did not know until I got TCM. Now I watch them every year.
Hey Flora…thanks for sharing your thoughts on these Xmas movies. I like Bishop’s Wife…but it is far from my favorite Cary Grant movie. As for Home Alone….I think you have to be under the age of 12 to like it. Glad TCM has given you a some new holiday movie watching traditions. Meet Me in St.Loiis would make the Top 10 for sure. Merry Christmas.