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Top Christmas films since 1980

Christmas movies have a long and robust lineage in the history of the film industry. In recent decades, we have been blessed with a wide spectrum of Christmas-related films, starring some of our favourite actors and voice artists. We take a look at the most popular examples.

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A Starry Christmas: Top Yuletide Films Since 1980

Christmas movies have a long and robust lineage in the history of the film industry. Since 1980 we have been blessed with a wide spectrum of Christmas-related films, starring some of our favorite actors and voices. Thanks to two of the most trusted film websites, we gathered data on the top grossing films, and how critics and audiences rate them, respectively. Interestingly, many of the top grossing films aren’t the most loved.

Top Grossing Christmas Films Since 1980*

* List of top 20 films compiled by Box Office Mojo. We acknowledge that there are Christmas-related films that aren’t included in this study, but for the sake of continuity and authority of the data, we left it up to Box Office Mojo to define this list for us.

 

Year

 

 

 

Film

 

 

 

Box Office Gross Worldwide Adj. For Inflation (2012 Dollars)

 

 

 

Rotten Tomatoes Score: Critics

 

 

 

Rotten Tomatoes Score: Audience

 

 

 

2004

 

 

 

How The Grinch Stole Christmas

 

 

 

$345,141,403  $464 million

 

 

 

53%

 

 

 

57%

 

 

 

2009

 

 

 

A Christmas Carol

 

 

 

$325,286,646

$351 million

 

 

 

54%

 

 

 

72%

 

 

 

2004

 

 

 

The Polar Express

 

 

 

$307,025,592

$307 million

 

 

 

56%

 

 

 

65%

 

 

 

1994

 

 

 

The Santa Claus

 

 

 

$189,833,357

$304 million

 

 

 

80%

 

 

 

62%

 

 

 

2003

 

 

 

Elf

 

 

 

$220,443, 451

$277 million

 

 

 

84%

 

 

 

73%

 

 

 

2002

 

 

 

The Santa Clause 2

 

 

 

$172,855,065 $222 million

 

 

 

55%

 

 

 

59%

 

 

 

1996

 

 

 

Jingle All The Way

 

 

 

$129,832,389 $191 million

 

 

 

17%

 

 

 

42%

 

 

 

2008

 

 

 

Four Christmases

 

 

 

$163,733,697 $176 million

 

 

 

25%

 

 

 

52%

 

 

 

2011

 

 

 

Arthur Christmas

 

 

 

$147,419,472 $152 million

 

 

 

91%

 

 

 

78%

 

 

 

1989

 

 

 

Christmas Vacation

 

 

 

$71,319,526

$133 million

 

 

 

63%

 

 

 

83%

 

 

 

2006

 

 

 

The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

 

 

 

$110,768,122

$127 million

 

 

 

15%

 

 

 

57%

 

 

 

1993

 

 

 

Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas

 

 

 

$75,082,668

$120 million

 

 

 

96%

 

 

 

89%

 

 

 

1988

 

 

 

Scrooged

 

 

 

$60,328,558

$118 million

 

 

 

66%

 

 

 

67%

 

 

 

2004

 

 

 

Christmas With The Kranks

 

 

 

$96,572,480

$118 million

 

 

 

5%

 

 

 

45%

 

 

 

2007

 

 

 

Fred Claus

 

 

 

$97,838,349

$109 million

 

 

 

21%

 

 

 

49%

 

 

 

2003

 

 

 

Bad Santa

 

 

 

$76,488,889

$96 million

 

 

 

77%

 

 

 

73%

 

 

 

1996

 

 

 

The Preacher’s Wife

 

 

 

$48,102,795

$71 million

 

 

 

62%

 

 

 

55%

 

 

 

2007

 

 

 

This Christmas

 

 

 

$49,778,552

$56 million

 

 

 

55%

 

 

 

82%

 

 

 

2006

 

 

 

Deck The Halls

 

 

 

$47,231,070

$54 million

 

 

 

6%

 

 

 

43%

 

 

 

2006

 

 

 

The Nativity Story

 

 

 

$46,432,264

$53 million

 

 

 

36%

 

 

 

74%

 

 

 

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