We've all seen lists professing the 'Top 10 Christmas Movies of All Time', but how accurate are they? Are they scientifically proven or merely a compilation of which movies float the editor's boat? You might as well be plucking feathers from a Christmas turkey.
Our team of boffins, disappointed with the lack of scientific clarity in the Christmas movie stakes, decided to build their own super algorithm and determine once and for all which film was on top of the Christmas charts.
Combining everything from Box Office Data, IMDB ratings and Rotten Tomato scores our science guys have produced this 'mathemagical' guide to the most popular Christmas movies of all time. We don't deal in opinion, people. Just Christmas fact.
The Clever Bit
So how did we determine which of the above is the greatest Christmas movie of all time?
Well, our in-house boffins spent days collecting data from all sorts of sources - including Box Office takings, IMDb ratings and viewers scores on Rotten Tomatoes and collated them into some crazy algorithm that only rocket scientists and exponents of pure maths will understand.
For those interested in the "clever bit" here's the math...
Home Alone
Here it is! The best and greatest Christmas film ever, that's right it's Home Alone! Right at the tippy top of our Prezzybox Christmas top 10, like the star on the tree! The hilarious, slapstick film of a young boy left alone and fighting off a duo of bumbling burglars.
Die Hard
Being set on Christmas Eve is about as Christmassy as this Bruce Willis action film gets. Watch John McClane try to reunite with his wife, fight a gang of terrorists and outsmart the great Alan Rickman.
It's a Wonderful Life
Welcome to the creme de la creme of the Christmas films. Coming in at number 3, It's a Wonderful Life. The Christmas season isn't for everyone which this film portrays with character George Bailey. But don't worry everything works out in the end as Christmas spirit once again prevails!
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Who knew that the wonderful and weird world of Tim Burton could make such a Christmas classic. Join Jack Skellington in his discovery of Christmas in this fabulously dark and creepy tale.
Gremlins
Probably one of the weirdest mainstream Christmas films ever, Gremlins will give you a little Christmas cheer and a lot of creepy mischief. Hitting number five in our top ten this film is obviously a fan favourite.
Meet Me in St. Louis
Everyone loves a Judy Garland film; mix that with a little festive spirit and Miss Garland singing the beautiful and poignant, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and you've got yourself a proper little cracker.
White Christmas
A classic story all about Christmas romance and misunderstandings...what could be better?!
Miracle on 34th Street
A heartwarming story about believing in Santa Claus, this tale will bring the spirit of Christmas into any home. While not as big in the box office as the remake with Richard Attenborough and Mara Wilson this original is rated much higher and is definitely a Prezzybox favourite.
Elf
The tale of the adorable Buddy the Elf, played by Will Ferrell, is one of the best Christmas films to be watched by the whole family. If you don't love this film you'll be a cotton-headed ninny-muggins for sure!
Scrooge
Adapted from the novel, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, this is probably one of the most iconic Christmas stories around. The story of Ebenezer Scrooge has been adapted so many times that it's been hard to find the best one, but this 1970 version made the cut. It's even good enough to make our amazing top 10.
Christmas is a time for festive cheer and joy and our Prezzybox elves have found the films that will crush that cheer stone dead. Our elves have researched all the Christmas films they could and found the worst of the worst. Check out the most cringe worthy and just plain awful Christmas films that we could find.
A Nanny for Christmas
It's hard to find a film worse than Saving Christmas...but we did! A Nanny for Christmas to Christmas movies is what the brussell sprout is to Christmas dinner. Poor dialogue and performances have attracted bad reviews from critics all over. The film is full of whimsy, rom-com cliche and so much cheesy content you could eat it with crackers. No word of a lie, it's pretty hard to watch.
Saving Christmas
A film that tries to prove that Christmas traditions are still Biblical. This film as the tagline suggest tries to "Put Christ Back In Christmas", but does it so badly that it was nominated for 6 Golden Raspberry Awards, and won 4! It's so horrifically terrible that it currently holds the lowest iMDb rating!
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
A film that's so bad that it's good! With a terrible critical response this film has been panned since its release, but has since become a Christmas cult classic that fans love to hate. With kidnapped Santas and crazy Martians you'll probably be cringing the whole way through.
Mixed Nuts
We didn't think a film with Steve Martin in could be bad but we have been proven wrong. With an over saturation of flat humour the film becomes a mess of slapstick and bad comedy, only narrowly missing out on the top 3.
Nativity 3: Dude Where's My Donkey
After the success of Nativity and it's sequel, the third instalment did not reach the heights of its predecessors. The biggest flop in the trilogy the film definitely would not have passed its Ofsted inspection!
The Perfect Holiday
Full of Christmas cliches and family drama, this film was neither a box office, nor critical success. A cheesy romance where Santa is the perfect man!
Black Christmas
A Christmas slasher film that will make you scream for all the wrong reasons. A loose remake of the 1974 original this film is the lowest grossing slasher remake in recent years.
Deck the Halls
A film about rival neighbours with Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito, this film was slammed by critics calling it "unnecessarily mean-spirited". You'd think with two comedy greats Deck the Halls would rock, but with flat comedy and a strange plot, it flopped (and was even nominated for the Golden Raspberry awards)!
Love the Coopers
While doing quite well in the box office, Love the Coopers was not so loved in the ratings, especially the Rotten Tomato critics!
Silent Night, Deadly Night
A Christmas film that definitely isn't for children! A deranged and insane Santa is on the loose killing all the naughty boys and girls. This film was so controversial with its Santa murderer that it was pulled from cinemas, but it still managed a profit!
Take a look for yourself
Don't agree with what we've come up with? Have a look through the data we collected below and see for yourself!
Scroll right to reveal the table
| Rank | Release Date | Title | Running Time | Years old | Box Office ($) | IMDb Rating | RT Critics Score (%) | RT Audience Score (%) | Calculated Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1990 | Home Alone | 102 | 27 | 476,700,000.00 | 7.5 | 55 | 79 | 95.95 |
| 2 | 1988 | Die Hard | 132 | 29 | 140,800,000.00 | 8.2 | 92 | 94 | 74.31 |
| 3 | 1946 | It's a Wonderful Life | 130 | 71 | 9,160,000.00 | 8.6 | 94 | 95 | 63.32 |
| 4 | 1993 | The Nightmare Before Christmas | 76 | 24 | 75,100,000.00 | 8 | 94 | 91 | 58.83 |
| 5 | 1984 | Gremlins | 106 | 33 | 153,100,000.00 | 7.2 | 85 | 77 | 58.31 |
| 6 | 1944 | Meet Me in St. Louis | 112 | 73 | 12,800,000.00 | 7.7 | 100 | 87 | 58.24 |
| 7 | 1954 | White Christmas | 120 | 63 | 30,000,000.00 | 7.6 | 76 | 89 | 53.55 |
| 8 | 1947 | Miracle on 34th Street | 96 | 70 | 2,650,000.00 | 7.9 | 96 | 87 | 51.14 |
| 9 | 2003 | Elf | 95 | 14 | 220,400,000.00 | 6.9 | 84 | 78 | 50.44 |
| 10 | 1970 | Scrooge | 113 | 47 | 30,000,000.00 | 7.5 | 75 | 83 | 46.27 |
| 11 | 1951 | A Christmas Carol | 86 | 66 | 8.1 | 84 | 89 | 45.42 | |
| 12 | 2003 | Love Actually | 136 | 14 | 246,900,000.00 | 7.7 | 63 | 72 | 44.71 |
| 13 | 2011 | Arthur Christmas | 97 | 6 | 147,000,000.00 | 7.1 | 92 | 76 | 44.58 |
| 14 | 2000 | Dr Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas | 104 | 17 | 345,100,000.00 | 6 | 53 | 55 | 43.31 |
| 15 | 1992 | Home Alone 2: Lost in New York | 120 | 25 | 359,000,000.00 | 6.6 | 24 | 61 | 43.15 |
| 16 | 1994 | The Santa Clause | 97 | 23 | 189,800,000.00 | 6.4 | 75 | 65 | 42.38 |
| 17 | 1989 | National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation | 97 | 28 | 71,300,000.00 | 7.6 | 64 | 86 | 42.07 |
| 18 | 1938 | A Christmas Carol | 69 | 79 | 7.5 | 100 | 73 | 41.06 | |
| 19 | 2004 | The Polar Express | 91 | 13 | 307,500,000.00 | 6.6 | 55 | 63 | 40.21 |
| 20 | 2003 | Bad Santa | 91 | 14 | 76,500,000.00 | 7.1 | 78 | 75 | 36.89 |
| 21 | 1992 | The Muppet Christmas Carol | 86 | 25 | 27,281,507.00 | 7.7 | 69 | 85 | 36.60 |
| 22 | 2006 | The Holiday | 136 | 11 | 205,100,000.00 | 6.9 | 47 | 80 | 34.84 |
| 23 | 1988 | Scrooged | 101 | 29 | 60,300,000.00 | 7 | 68 | 71 | 34.39 |
| 24 | 2013 | The Best Man Holiday | 123 | 4 | 71,625,195.00 | 6.7 | 69 | 84 | 32.71 |
| 25 | 2009 | A Christmas Carol | 95 | 8 | 325,300,000.00 | 6.8 | 54 | 58 | 32.24 |
| 26 | 2009 | Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale | 82 | 7 | 4,015,133.00 | 6.7 | 89 | 71 | 31.95 |
| 27 | 2000 | The Family Man | 126 | 17 | 124,700,000.00 | 6.7 | 53 | 67 | 28.76 |
| 28 | 1958 | Bell, Book and Candle | 106 | 59 | 2,500,000.00 | 6.9 | 75 | 67 | 27.25 |
| 29 | 2007 | This Christmas | 119 | 10 | 49,778,552.00 | 6.2 | 56 | 81 | 23.58 |
| 30 | 1994 | Miracle on 34th Street (remake) | 114 | 23 | 46,300,000.00 | 6.4 | 61 | 62 | 22.78 |
| 31 | 2015 | The Night Before | 101 | 2 | 52,400,000.00 | 6.5 | 66 | 62 | 22.57 |
| 32 | 2002 | The Santa Clause 2 | 104 | 15 | 172,900,000.00 | 5.5 | 55 | 42 | 22.50 |
| 33 | 2005 | The Family Stone | 104 | 12 | 92,283,851.00 | 6.3 | 52 | 63 | 22.40 |
| 34 | 1989 | Prancer | 103 | 28 | 18,587,135.00 | 6.3 | 67 | 57 | 20.83 |
| 35 | 2011 | A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas | 89 | 6 | 35,400,000.00 | 6.3 | 68 | 59 | 20.73 |
| 36 | 1985 | One Magic Christmas | 89 | 32 | 13,677,222.00 | 6.7 | 50 | 70 | 19.64 |
| 37 | 2015 | Krampus | 98 | 2 | 61,500,000.00 | 6.2 | 65 | 52 | 18.79 |
| 38 | 2006 | The Nativity Story | 101 | 11 | 46,400,000.00 | 6.8 | 38 | 75 | 18.02 |
| 39 | 2016 | The Man Who Invented Christmas | 64 | 2 | 3,200,000.00 | 7.3 | 80 | 86 | 16.90 |
| 40 | 2009 | Nativity! | 105 | 8 | 5,187,402.00 | 6.5 | 48 | 68 | 16.17 |
| 41 | 1996 | Jingle All the Way | 89 | 21 | 129,800,000.00 | 5.5 | 17 | 37 | 15.57 |
| 42 | 1993 | The Nutcracker | 92 | 24 | 2,119,994.00 | 5.7 | 57 | 63 | 15.56 |
| 43 | 2008 | Four Christmases | 88 | 9 | 163,700,000.00 | 5.6 | 25 | 47 | 13.12 |
| 44 | 2008 | The Night Before | 88 | 9 | 163,700,000.00 | 5.6 | 25 | 47 | 13.12 |
| 45 | 2002 | Friday After Next | 84 | 15 | 33,500,000.00 | 5.8 | 26 | 75 | 11.00 |
| 46 | 1988 | Ernest Saves Christmas | 95 | 29 | 28,200,000.00 | 5.5 | 38 | 41 | 10.66 |
| 47 | 2006 | The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause | 92 | 11 | 110,800,000.00 | 4.7 | 15 | 39 | 10.37 |
| 48 | 2008 | Nothing like the Holidays | 98 | 9 | 7,519,490.00 | 6.2 | 52 | 41 | 10.29 |
| 49 | 1980 | Christmas Evil | 100 | 37 | 450,000.00 | 5.1 | 80 | 31 | 9.58 |
| 50 | 1997 | Home Alone 3 | 101 | 20 | 79,100,000.00 | 4.3 | 27 | 27 | 9.27 |
| 51 | 2007 | Fred Claus | 115 | 10 | 97,800,000.00 | 5.6 | 21 | 45 | 8.86 |
| 52 | 2013 | Black Nativity | 93 | 4 | 7,454,185.00 | 4.4 | 49 | 51 | 8.62 |
| 53 | 1985 | Santa Claus: The Movie | 108 | 32 | 23,700,000.00 | 6 | 17 | 66 | 8.60 |
| 54 | 2004 | Christmas with the Kranks | 98 | 12 | 96,600,000.00 | 5.2 | 5 | 36 | 7.95 |
| 55 | 2012 | Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger | 105 | 5 | 10,100,000.00 | 5.4 | 36 | 50 | 7.80 |
| 56 | 2017 | A Bad Moms Christmas | 104 | 1 | 95,500,000.00 | 5.8 | 28 | 51 | 7.54 |
| 57 | 2013 | The Star | 86 | 4 | 10,000,000.00 | 5.6 | 49 | 75 | 7.11 |
| 58 | 2013 | A Madea Christmas | 100 | 4 | 53,400,000.00 | 4.7 | 18 | 70 | 7.11 |
| 59 | 1998 | I'll Be Home for Christmas | 86 | 19 | 30,000,000.00 | 5.4 | 23 | 41 | 6.44 |
| 60 | 1998 | Jack Frost | 101 | 19 | 34,500,000.00 | 5.2 | 20 | 39 | 6.06 |
| 61 | 1984 | Silent Night, Deadly Night | 79 | 33 | 1,065,000.00 | 5.9 | 31 | 39 | 5.51 |
| 62 | 2015 | Love the Coopers | 107 | 2 | 42,400,000.00 | 5.7 | 19 | 36 | 5.04 |
| 63 | 2006 | Deck the Halls | 93 | 11 | 47,200,000.00 | 4.9 | 6 | 30 | 4.20 |
| 64 | 2006 | Black Christmas | 84 | 11 | 21,500,000.00 | 4.5 | 14 | 38 | 3.41 |
| 65 | 2007 | The Perfect Holiday | 96 | 10 | 5,812,781.00 | 4.3 | 16 | 52 | 2.97 |
| 66 | 2014 | Nativity 3: Dude Where's My Donkey | 109 | 3 | 11,300,000.00 | 3.6 | 16 | 40 | 2.29 |
| 67 | 1944 | I'll Be Seeing You | 85 | 73 | 3,250,000.00 | 7.3 | 75 | 2.03 | |
| 68 | 1994 | Mixed Nuts | 97 | 23 | 6,821,850.00 | 5.3 | 7 | 46 | 1.96 |
| 69 | 1964 | Santa Claus Conquers the Martians | 81 | 53 | 200,000.00 | 2.5 | 25 | 27 | 1.37 |
| 70 | 2014 | Saving Christmas | 79 | 3 | 2,800,000.00 | 1.5 | 18 | 30 | 0.75 |
| 71 | 2009 | A Nanny for Christmas | 90 | 8 | 2,000,000.00 | 5.4 | 30 | 0.10 |