Merry Grinchmas: A Top 15 Christmas-Movie List!

by Drive_Home | created - 14 Dec 2012 | updated - 4 months ago | Public

I'm certainly not the biggest fan of the holidays other than the fact that there's time off involved. Having said that, for one reason or another, the following films/TV specials are tops in my book.

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1. Home Alone (1990)

PG | 103 min | Comedy, Family

63 Metascore

An eight-year-old troublemaker, mistakenly left home alone, must defend his home against a pair of burglars on Christmas Eve.

Director: Chris Columbus | Stars: Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard

Votes: 652,790 | Gross: $285.76M

2. Love Actually (2003)

R | 135 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

55 Metascore

Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.

Director: Richard Curtis | Stars: Hugh Grant, Martine McCutcheon, Liam Neeson, Laura Linney

Votes: 531,491 | Gross: $59.70M

3. A Christmas Story (1983)

PG | 93 min | Comedy, Family

77 Metascore

In the 1940s, a young boy named Ralphie Parker attempts to convince his parents, teacher, and Santa Claus that a Red Ryder Range 200 Shot BB gun really is the perfect Christmas gift.

Director: Bob Clark | Stars: Peter Billingsley, Melinda Dillon, Darren McGavin, Scott Schwartz

Votes: 168,614 | Gross: $20.61M

4. Gremlins (1984)

PG | 106 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror

70 Metascore

A young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town.

Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, John Louie

Votes: 247,783 | Gross: $148.17M

5. The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus (1985 TV Movie)

TV-G | 50 min | Animation, Adventure, Family

At a council convened by The Great Ak, the forest being tells the story of Santa Claus to explain why he deserves to be made immortal.

Directors: Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin Jr. | Stars: Earl Hammond, Earle Hyman, Larry Kenney, Lynne Lipton

Votes: 1,418

6. How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966 TV Movie)

Not Rated | 26 min | Animation, Comedy, Family

A grumpy hermit hatches a plan to steal Christmas from the Whos of Whoville.

Directors: Chuck Jones, Ben Washam | Stars: Boris Karloff, June Foray, Dal McKennon

Votes: 59,020

7. Scrooged (1988)

PG-13 | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

38 Metascore

A selfish, cynical television executive is haunted by three spirits bearing lessons on Christmas Eve.

Director: Richard Donner | Stars: Bill Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe, John Glover

Votes: 116,426 | Gross: $60.33M

8. Christmas Vacation (1989)

PG-13 | 97 min | Comedy

49 Metascore

The Griswold family's plans for a big family Christmas predictably turn into a big disaster.

Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik | Stars: Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Juliette Lewis, Johnny Galecki

Votes: 220,108 | Gross: $71.32M

9. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965 TV Movie)

TV-G | 25 min | Animation, Comedy, Drama

Depressed at the commercialism he sees around him, Charlie Brown tries to find a deeper meaning to Christmas.

Director: Bill Melendez | Stars: Ann Altieri, Chris Doran, Sally Dryer, Bill Melendez

Votes: 44,094

10. White Christmas (1954)

Not Rated | 120 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance

56 Metascore

A successful song-and-dance team become romantically involved with a sister act and team up to save the failing Vermont inn of their former commanding general.

Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen

Votes: 51,128 | Gross: $30.00M

11. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

PG | 130 min | Drama, Family, Fantasy

89 Metascore

An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.

Director: Frank Capra | Stars: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell

Votes: 499,100

12. Elf (2003)

PG | 97 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family

66 Metascore

Raised as an oversized elf, Buddy travels from the North Pole to New York City to meet his biological father, Walter Hobbs, who doesn't know he exists and is in desperate need of some Christmas spirit.

Director: Jon Favreau | Stars: Will Ferrell, James Caan, Bob Newhart, Zooey Deschanel

Votes: 310,781 | Gross: $173.40M

13. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964 TV Movie)

TV-G | 47 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy

A young reindeer Rudolph lives at the North Pole. His father is one of Santa's reindeer and it is expected that Rudolph will eventually be one too. However, he has a feature which is a setback and causes him to be ostracized: his red nose.

Director: Larry Roemer | Stars: Billie Mae Richards, Burl Ives, Larry D. Mann, Paul Soles

Votes: 37,469

14. Frosty the Snowman (1969 TV Short)

TV-G | 25 min | Animation, Short, Comedy

A living snowman and a little girl struggle to elude a greedy magician who is after the snowman's magic hat.

Directors: Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin Jr. | Stars: Jackie Vernon, Billy De Wolfe, Jimmy Durante, Paul Frees

Votes: 21,464

15. Die Hard (1988)

R | 132 min | Action, Thriller

72 Metascore

A New York City police officer tries to save his estranged wife and several others taken hostage by terrorists during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.

Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson

Votes: 945,497 | Gross: $83.01M

16. 8-Bit Christmas (2021)

PG | 97 min | Comedy, Family

66 Metascore

In 1980s Chicago, a 10-year-old sets out on a quest to get the Christmas gift of his generation: the latest and greatest video-game system.

Director: Michael Dowse | Stars: Winslow Fegley, Neil Patrick Harris, Steve Zahn, June Diane Raphael

Votes: 21,630



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