Best Christmas Movies: What 27 Published Lists Agree On

Across 27 published lists, the best Christmas movies are led by It’s a Wonderful Life, the only film on all of them. Elf is on 26, Home Alone and The Muppet Christmas Carol on 25 each, and Die Hard on 24. This is a count of those lists, read on November 9, 2026, not a poll of critics or the public.

Below: the 28 Christmas movies named on at least 12 of the lists, with Rotten Tomatoes scores, runtimes and ratings; what the count shows and how it was done; picks by type (classics, comedies, family films, romance, action and horror, recent releases); and where the top films were streaming in the US.

The 28 Christmas movies on the most lists

Ties share a rank and run oldest first. Scores are as displayed on each film’s Rotten Tomatoes page on November 9, 2026: the Tomatometer for critics and the Popcornmeter for audiences. Runtime and rating come from the same pages; “not listed” means the page shows no rating.

Rank	Film	Year	Lists (of 27)	Tomatometer	Audience score	Runtime	Rating
1	It’s a Wonderful Life	1946	27	94%	95%	2h 9m	PG
2	Elf	2003	26	85%	79%	1h 37m	PG
3 (tie)	Home Alone	1990	25	66%	81%	1h 42m	PG
3 (tie)	The Muppet Christmas Carol	1992	25	79%	86%	1h 25m	G
5	Die Hard	1988	24	94%	94%	2h 12m	R
6 (tie)	A Christmas Story	1983	23	87%	89%	1h 33m	PG
6 (tie)	The Nightmare Before Christmas	1993	23	95%	91%	1h 16m	PG
8	Miracle on 34th Street	1947	22	96%	87%	1h 36m	not listed
9 (tie)	White Christmas	1954	21	75%	89%	2h 0m	not listed
9 (tie)	Love Actually	2003	21	65%	72%	2h 15m	R
11 (tie)	Scrooged	1988	20	75%	71%	1h 41m	PG-13
11 (tie)	National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation	1989	20	72%	86%	1h 37m	PG-13
11 (tie)	Bad Santa	2003	20	78%	75%	1h 33m	R
14 (tie)	The Shop Around the Corner	1940	19	99%	91%	1h 37m	not listed
14 (tie)	Gremlins	1984	19	87%	78%	1h 46m	PG
16 (tie)	The Santa Clause	1994	18	74%	66%	1h 37m	PG
16 (tie)	The Holiday	2006	18	51%	80%	2h 12m	PG-13
18 (tie)	A Charlie Brown Christmas	1965	16	86%	93%	30m	not listed
18 (tie)	Carol	2015	16	94%	75%	1h 58m	R
20	Edward Scissorhands	1990	15	93%	91%	1h 45m	PG-13
21 (tie)	Meet Me in St. Louis	1944	14	99%	86%	1h 53m	not listed
21 (tie)	How the Grinch Stole Christmas	1966	14	100%	94%	25m	not listed
21 (tie)	The Polar Express	2004	14	55%	64%	1h 40m	G
24 (tie)	Scrooge (A Christmas Carol)	1951	13	91%	89%	1h 26m	not listed
24 (tie)	Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer	1964	13	95%	84%	53m	not listed
24 (tie)	Black Christmas	1974	13	74%	76%	1h 38m	R
24 (tie)	Klaus	2019	13	95%	96%	1h 38m	PG
28	Christmas in Connecticut	1945	12	100%	76%	1h 41m	not listed

A Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the 1966 How the Grinch Stole Christmas are TV specials, which many lists include alongside theatrical films. Scrooge (1951) also goes by A Christmas Carol, the title Rotten Tomatoes uses. Just below the cut, Trading Places, Batman Returns, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Happiest Season are on 11 lists each.

What the count shows

One film is on every list. It’s a Wonderful Life appears everywhere from Cosmopolitan’s 95 entries to BBC Radio 2’s audience-voted 12. It is also No. 1 on nine of the 17 numbered rankings: Time Out, Esquire, Vulture, Decider, BBC Radio 2, The A.V. Club, StudioBinder, Gold Derby and /Film. The Muppet Christmas Carol leads two, at BuzzFeed and The Guardian, and Carol tops Rolling Stone’s countdown.
Agreement thins out fast. The lists name 217 different films. Thirteen reach 20 or more lists, while 86 appear on just one, among them Frozen (Cosmopolitan only) and The Long Kiss Goodnight (The Guardian only).
Being listed is not the same as being well reviewed. The Holiday sits at 51% on the Tomatometer and still makes 18 lists. The Polar Express (55%) makes 14, Love Actually (65%) 21 and Home Alone (66%) 25, and audiences rate all four higher than critics do. Jingle All the Way, at 20%, is on 10. At the other end, Christmas in Connecticut shows 100%, from only 14 reviews, and makes 12.
Die Hard beats most of the traditional films. Its 24 lists are one more than A Christmas Story and three more than White Christmas. Only Decider, British Vogue and The A.V. Club leave it out. Empire, which starts from reader votes, ranks it first; BBC Radio 2’s audience vote ranks it second.
A 1974 slasher matches Rudolph. Black Christmas, a horror film rated R, is on 13 lists, the same as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Klaus.
Older films dominate the top. Ten of the 28 came out before 1970, and only two since 2010: Carol and Klaus. Part of that is timing, because a list cannot name a film newer than the list; the section on recent releases adjusts for it.

How these Christmas movies were counted

On November 9, 2026, this guide fetched and saved published “best Christmas movies” lists found through the US Google results for the keyword (via Semrush) and web searches, logged every entry and counted how many lists name each film. A list qualified if it came from a named outlet, covered Christmas movies in general and could be read in full, with one list per outlet. Twenty-seven qualified. This is a count of these 27 lists only, not a poll of critics or the public and not a census of every list in print.

Outlet	Entries	Date on the page	Note
British Vogue	24	November 3, 2026
StudioBinder	30	January 28, 2025; page data March 23, 2026
Time Out	51	“Updated for 2025”; page data February 19, 2026
Rotten Tomatoes	100	Updated January 6, 2026	Staff picks, ordered by Tomatometer
Decider	25	Updated December 24, 2025
Esquire	49	December 8, 2025	Numbering skips 40 on the page
Cosmopolitan	95	December 5, 2025
BBC Radio 2	12	Updated December 2, 2025	Audience vote from a shortlist of 25
Empire	30	Updated November 30, 2025	Reader votes, then Empire’s critics
Looper	15	Page data November 11, 2025
Gold Derby	15	Page data December 13, 2024
Men’s Journal	60	December 9, 2024	53 films plus 7 TV episodes (not counted)
Vulture	50	Updated December 5, 2024; first published December 6, 2018
Rolling Stone	30	December 25, 2023
BuzzFeed	50	December 19, 2023
The Guardian	25	December 14, 2023
Stacker	25	December 6, 2023	Ranked by Metacritic’s Metascore
Vanity Fair	67	December 1, 2023; also names 2024 films, so updated since
Variety	45	November 17, 2023
CinemaBlend	25	November 2, 2023
The Hollywood Reporter	36	Modified July 19, 2023
TechRadar	11	Page data December 22, 2022
The A.V. Club	30	December 6, 2022
Reader’s Digest	70	Page data October 4, 2021
/Film	48	Page data November 11, 2021; also names a 2023 film, so updated since
Mental Floss	36	December 9, 2020
The Playlist	20	November 23, 2015

“Page data” means the date comes from the page’s metadata because the page text shows none. Only Empire and BBC Radio 2 involve public voting, and both say so; Empire’s critics also weighed in on the final order.

Rules for edge cases.

An entry built around two films or two versions counts for each: Empire’s Miracle on 34th Street (1947 and 1994), Variety’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966 and 2000) and Home Alone 1 and 2, British Vogue’s Home Alone 1 and 2, and Esquire’s Little Women (1994 and 2019). An aside does not count: Esquire’s Miracle on 34th Street entry also praises the 1994 remake in passing and counts only for the 1947 film.
Where a remade title has no printed year, the list’s own description decides the version. Cosmopolitan’s Miracle on 34th Street names the Macy’s parade, which only the 1947 film uses, and its streaming link plays a 96-minute film, the 1947 running time, so it counts for the 1947 film.
TV specials and TV movies count, because the lists treat them as films. The seven TV series episodes on Men’s Journal’s list do not, nor do honorable mentions or shortlists printed below a list.
A misprinted year does not create a new film. Time Out’s “Scrooged (1998)” counts as the 1988 film, and Gold Derby’s 1994 Nightmare Before Christmas as the 1993 one.

Limits. The lists run from 11 to 100 entries and from 2015 to 2026, so long lists give more films a chance and older lists cannot name newer films. Two are sorted by review scores (Rotten Tomatoes and Stacker). Twelve of the 27 come from five owners, going by each site’s own footer or ownership page: Penske Media (Variety, Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter and Gold Derby), Hearst (Esquire and Cosmopolitan), Condé Nast (Vanity Fair and British Vogue), Future (CinemaBlend and TechRadar) and Static Media (Looper and /Film). They are not independent votes. Counted once per owner, the top barely moves: It’s a Wonderful Life is on all 20 owner groups, and Elf and The Muppet Christmas Carol are on 19.

Left out. Good Housekeeping (83 films), Country Living (75), The Pioneer Woman (100), Refinery29 (55), Collider (60) and CBR (30) showed only part of their lists in the copy that could be read. Entertainment Weekly and Parade refused the request, and Ranker’s voted list returned a bot check. Curzon, Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country and Oprah Daily limit their lists to classics, which would tilt the count toward old films; Forbes’ classics list also refused the request. Hulu’s and Fandango’s pages cover their own catalogs, IMDb’s list is one user’s, Jen Hatmaker’s is a personal blog rather than an outlet, the BFI’s Letterboxd page is a watchlist, and a second Rotten Tomatoes list was skipped under the one-per-outlet rule.

Classic Christmas movies: old favorites from before 1970

Classic here means released before 1970. Old Christmas movies hold 10 of the top 28 places; the three TV specials among them are in the kids and family section below.

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946; 27 lists): Frank Capra’s drama drew five Oscar nominations, Best Picture among them, but did poorly in theaters. A paperwork error left its US copyright unrenewed in 1974, and local stations then showed it every December, which is when the Christmas habit took hold. Republic Pictures reasserted control in 1993, and NBC has held exclusive network showings since 1994.
Miracle on 34th Street (1947; 22 lists): Its three Oscars went to Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle and to the writing, crediting Valentine Davies (story) and George Seaton (script). The parade footage is real, shot during the 1946 Macy’s parade.
White Christmas (1954; 21 lists): The first production in Paramount’s VistaVision and the biggest earner of 1954, with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen. The National Film Registry added it in its class of 2025.
The Shop Around the Corner (1940; 19 lists): Rotten Tomatoes’ list puts Ernst Lubitsch’s comedy first, at 99%. James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan play feuding Budapest shop clerks who are also, unknowingly, pen pals, a setup from the same Hungarian play later used for You’ve Got Mail.
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944; 14 lists): Vincente Minnelli’s musical introduced Judy Garland’s “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and became MGM’s biggest musical of the decade. It shows 99% on the Tomatometer and sits second on Rotten Tomatoes’ list.
Scrooge (1951; 13 lists): Also titled A Christmas Carol. Alastair Sim plays the miser in Brian Desmond Hurst’s version, popular in Britain but a commercial letdown in America. Cosmopolitan, Looper and British Vogue each call it the pick of the Dickens adaptations.
Christmas in Connecticut (1945; 12 lists): Barbara Stanwyck plays a lifestyle columnist whose farm-wife persona is invented. Arnold Schwarzenegger directed the 1992 TV remake.
Holiday Inn (1942; 9 lists): Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire headline the film that gave Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” its Oscar. Its Lincoln’s Birthday number is a blackface routine, and some TV broadcasts have cut it since the 1980s.
The Apartment (1960; 9 lists): Billy Wilder’s romantic comedy with Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine won five Oscars, including Best Picture, and comes first on Stacker’s Metascore ranking.
The Bishop’s Wife (1947; 7 lists): Cary Grant is the angel, David Niven the bishop and Loretta Young the wife. It had nominations for Best Picture and for its director, and it won for sound recording.
Remember the Night (1940; 4 lists): Preston Sturges wrote it and Mitchell Leisen directed. It was the first pairing of Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray, four years before Double Indemnity.
It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947; 4 lists): Liberty Films first optioned the story for Frank Capra, who made It’s a Wonderful Life instead. Its Oscar-nominated story then lost to Miracle on 34th Street.

Funny Christmas movies

The comedies the lists name most often, with family comedies such as Home Alone in the next section.

Elf (2003; 26 lists): Will Ferrell plays a human brought up by elves, with Jon Favreau directing. It earned $232.9 million worldwide on a $33 million budget. Stacker’s Metascore ranking is the only list without it.
A Christmas Story (1983; 23 lists): Bob Clark, who also made the slasher Black Christmas, shot this comedy of an Indiana childhood in Cleveland and Toronto. It earned $20.8 million on $3.3 million, and in 2012 it entered the National Film Registry.
Scrooged (1988; 20 lists): Ghosts interrupt Bill Murray’s TV boss while he readies a live Christmas Carol. It grossed $100.3 million and got a makeup Oscar nomination, though Murray and director Richard Donner clashed throughout the shoot.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989; 20 lists): John Hughes wrote it, Chevy Chase starred, and it grossed $78.9 million on $25 million. Unlike the other Vacation films, it does not use “Holiday Road.”
Bad Santa (2003; 20 lists): Terry Zwigoff directed Billy Bob Thornton in this R-rated comedy about a drunk, thieving mall Santa. The mall scenes used a wing of Torrance’s Del Amo Fashion Center that has since been torn down.
Trading Places (1983; 11 lists): John Landis’s Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd comedy opened in June 1983 and finished fourth for the year in North America. Denholm Elliott and Jamie Lee Curtis won BAFTAs; the racial jokes and language have drawn criticism since.
Jingle All the Way (1996; 10 lists): Arnold Schwarzenegger hunts down a Turbo Man toy on Christmas Eve. It premiered at Bloomington’s Mall of America, a filming location, and holds a 20% Tomatometer, the lowest of any film in this guide.
Tangerine (2015; 8 lists): Sean Baker made it on iPhones for $100,000. A trans sex worker’s Christmas Eve in Hollywood drives the story. The Guardian ranks it second. Rated R.
The Night Before (2015; 7 lists): Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen and Anthony Mackie are old friends chasing a New York party on Christmas Eve. Rated R; $52.4 million worldwide on $25 million.
Office Christmas Party (2016; 4 lists): Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston lead this R-rated comedy. It made $114.5 million on $45 million despite a 41% Tomatometer. For a real office party, see this site’s guide on what to wear to a Christmas party.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987; 2 lists): Cosmopolitan and Reader’s Digest list this Steve Martin and John Candy road comedy even though it heads for Thanksgiving, not Christmas. For that holiday, there is a guide on what to wear to Thanksgiving dinner.

Kids Christmas movies and family picks

Ratings and runtimes are as shown on Rotten Tomatoes on November 9, 2026. TV specials carry no rating there.

Home Alone (1990; 25 lists; PG; 1h 42m): John Hughes wrote it and Chris Columbus directed. Only one 1990 release out-earned its $476.7 million. John Candy shot his cameo in 23 hours for $414.
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992; 25 lists; G; 1h 25m): Michael Caine plays Scrooge straight among the Muppets. Dedicated to Jim Henson and to performer Richard Hunt, it was the first Muppet feature made after both had died. It is one of two G ratings in the top 28, with The Polar Express.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993; 23 lists; PG; 1h 16m): Tim Burton created it and Henry Selick directed, in stop motion. No animated film before it had a Best Visual Effects Oscar nomination. Rotten Tomatoes gives the reason for its PG as “Some Scary Images.”
The Santa Clause (1994; 18 lists; PG; 1h 37m): Tim Allen inherits the Santa job in a film that grossed $190.5 million on $22 million and led to a Disney+ series in 2022. Audiences score it lower than critics, 66% to 74%.
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965; 16 lists; 30m): The first Peanuts TV special won Emmy and Peabody awards on a CBS budget of $76,000. It aired on broadcast TV for 56 years before moving to Apple TV+.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966; 14 lists; 25m): Chuck Jones directed, and Boris Karloff both narrates and voices the Grinch. CBS paid $315,000, more than four times the Charlie Brown budget. Rotten Tomatoes shows 100%, from 27 reviews.
The Polar Express (2004; 14 lists; G; 1h 40m): Robert Zemeckis made it by motion capture, with Tom Hanks doubling up on parts. At $165 million or more, no animated feature had cost as much. Its Tomatometer of 55% is the second lowest in the top 28.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964; 13 lists; 53m): Burl Ives is the snowman narrator. Its stop-motion figures were shot in Tokyo. NBC first showed it on December 6, 1964.
Arthur Christmas (2011; 10 lists; PG; 1h 40m): Aardman and Sony made this computer-animated story of Santa’s younger son, voiced by James McAvoy. It holds a 93% Tomatometer but underperformed, earning $147 million on its $100 million cost.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000; 10 lists; PG; 1h 45m): Ron Howard directed Jim Carrey in the top film of 2000 in North American theaters, and it won the Oscar for makeup. Critics are split, at 50%.
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992; 9 lists; PG; 2h 0m): The McCallister mix-up moves to New York. It placed third among 1992 releases at $359 million, with a 35% Tomatometer against 66% for the original.
Miracle on 34th Street (1994; 7 lists; PG; 1h 54m): John Hughes wrote this remake with Richard Attenborough as Kris. Macy’s wanted no part of it, which is why the store on screen is the invented Cole’s. BBC Radio 2’s audience chose this version, not the original.
The Christmas Chronicles (2018; 7 lists; TV-PG; 1h 44m): Kurt Russell is Santa. Netflix reported 20 million households streamed it in week one.
The Snowman (1982; 5 lists): Dianne Jackson directed this short for Channel 4, which usually shows it on Christmas Eve. Apart from the song “Walking in the Air,” it is wordless, and it was up for the Oscar for Best Animated Short.
Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983; 4 lists): Disney’s short casts Scrooge McDuck as Scrooge and Mickey as Bob Cratchit. It was Oscar nominated and among Clarence Nash’s last turns as Donald Duck.

Romantic Christmas movies

The Shop Around the Corner is under classics and Happiest Season under recent releases.

Love Actually (2003; 21 lists): Richard Curtis made his directing debut here, trimming 14 planned stories by four. Rated R. It took $252.6 million worldwide against a cost of $40 million to $45 million, despite a Tomatometer of 65%.
The Holiday (2006; 18 lists): Nancy Meyers wrote and directed this house-swap comedy. Its 51% is the lowest Tomatometer in the top 28, against 80% from audiences, and it grossed $205.8 million on $85 million.
Carol (2015; 16 lists): Todd Haynes directed this film of The Price of Salt, Patricia Highsmith’s 1952 novel, from a script by Phyllis Nagy, with Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. It drew six Oscar nominations, tops Rolling Stone’s countdown and comes second on Stacker’s ranking.
While You Were Sleeping (1995; 9 lists): Sandra Bullock’s rom-com grossed $182 million on a $17 million budget. Chicago stands in for the New York of the first script, a change made to save money.
The Family Stone (2005; 9 lists): Thomas Bezucha’s ensemble comedy with Diane Keaton and Sarah Jessica Parker grossed $92.9 million. A follow-up, The Families Stone, was announced in September 2026.
The Best Man Holiday (2013; 9 lists): Malcolm D. Lee brings back the friends from The Best Man. This R-rated sequel cost $17 million and earned $72.8 million.
You’ve Got Mail (1998; 4 lists): No Nora Ephron film earned more than this one, at $250.8 million, with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. The bookstore at its center shares its name with The Shop Around the Corner, the 1940 film drawn from the same play.

Action, horror and the “is it a Christmas movie?” films

This is where the argument lives. Rolling Stone opens its list by saying yes, Die Hard counts. When YouGov asked Britons in December 2017, 30% called it a Christmas film and 52% said it was not. The count cannot settle a definition; it shows only that 24 of these 27 lists include the film.

Die Hard (1988; 24 lists): Opening in July 1988, it made about $140 million. Four Oscar nominations followed, then a National Film Registry place in 2017. Rated R.
Gremlins (1984; 19 lists): Joe Dante directed; Steven Spielberg was executive producer. It opened in June 1984. Complaints about it and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom led to the PG-13 rating. Empire ranks it third.
Edward Scissorhands (1990; 15 lists): Tim Burton and Johnny Depp first worked together here. It won a production design BAFTA and more than quadrupled its $20 million cost. The town has never seen snow until Edward carves ice one Christmas.
Black Christmas (1974; 13 lists): Bob Clark shot it in Toronto for about $686,000, and Warner Bros. first released it in the US as Silent Night, Evil Night. Remakes followed in 2006 and 2019.
Batman Returns (1992; 11 lists): Tim Burton set this June 1992 sequel in a Christmas-time Gotham City, with Danny DeVito playing the Penguin. It took $266.8 million worldwide.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005; 11 lists): Shane Black’s own description: half murder mystery, half rom-com. It made only $15.8 million. Robert Downey Jr. later said it “ended up being my calling card to Iron Man.” Rated R.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999; 7 lists): Stanley Kubrick’s final feature opens with a Christmas party and came out in July 1999. One shot of Tom Cruise going through a door took 95 takes.
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010; 7 lists): Jalmari Helander’s Finnish horror comedy about wild Santas won six Jussi Awards and made $263,200 in the US. Rated R.
Krampus (2015; 7 lists): Michael Dougherty’s PG-13 horror comedy cost $15 million and made $61.5 million. Audiences are cooler than critics, 52% to 67%.
Lethal Weapon (1987; 4 lists): A Shane Black script, rated R, with Richard Donner directing. It opened in March 1987 but plays “Jingle Bell Rock” over its opening credits.

Recent Christmas movies: 2019 and later

A 2015 list cannot name a 2019 film. So each entry below shows its count out of the lists dated on or after its first US release. Rolling Stone says it left The Holdovers out on purpose, calling it too recent to have proved itself over time, so some lists hold new films back by design.

Klaus (2019; 13 of 26 lists): Netflix had never released an original animated feature before this one. BAFTA named it best animated film, and the Oscars nominated it. Scores are 95% from critics and 96% from audiences, and it is rated PG.
Happiest Season (2020; 11 of 26 lists): Clea DuVall drew on her own life for this romantic comedy with Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis, which went to Hulu instead of theaters because of the pandemic. It took home a GLAAD Media Award.
The Holdovers (2023; 10 of 21 lists): Alexander Payne’s film with Paul Giamatti is third on Rotten Tomatoes’ list at 97%. It drew five Oscar nominations, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph won Best Supporting Actress. Rated R.
Little Women (2019; 8 of 26 lists): Greta Gerwig’s adaptation won one Oscar, for costumes, from six nominations. British Vogue concedes that no version of the story strictly counts as a Christmas film, then lists it anyway.
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020; 6 of 26 lists): David E. Talbert’s Netflix musical stars Forest Whitaker as a toymaker. Critics give it 91%, audiences 69%.
Single All the Way (2021; 5 of 24 lists): This was Netflix’s first gay holiday film. Its writer had Jennifer Coolidge in mind for Aunt Sandy, and she plays her.
Last Christmas (2019; 4 of 26 lists): Emma Thompson co-wrote and co-stars. George Michael’s songs fill the soundtrack, and Paul Feig directs. Critics gave it 46% and audiences 81%, one of the widest gaps in this guide.
Spirited (2022; 4 of 24 lists): Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds lead this musical spin on A Christmas Carol, released by Apple TV+ in November 2022.
Love Hard (2021; 4 of 24 lists): This rom-com topped the Netflix charts in 87 countries within two days of release. Critics stand at 50%, audiences at 89%.
Violent Night (2022; 3 of 24 lists): David Harbour plays Santa in Tommy Wirkola’s R-rated action comedy, which took $76.6 million worldwide.

Where to stream the top 28 (US, checked November 9, 2026)

Services below come from JustWatch’s United States page for each film, read on November 9, 2026. JustWatch’s own update stamps on those pages run from November 2 to November 9. The table leaves out add-on channels sold through Amazon, Apple or Roku and live TV bundles, and streaming rights can move during the holidays, so check before settling in.

Film	Year	Subscription	Free with ads
It’s a Wonderful Life	1946	Prime Video, Paramount+, Peacock	Free Movies Plus, The Roku Channel, Plex
Elf	2003	Prime Video, HBO Max	None listed
Home Alone	1990	Disney+	None listed
The Muppet Christmas Carol	1992	Disney+	None listed
Die Hard	1988	Prime Video, Hulu	None listed
A Christmas Story	1983	HBO Max	Xumo Play
The Nightmare Before Christmas	1993	Disney+	None listed
Miracle on 34th Street	1947	Prime Video, Disney+	None listed
White Christmas	1954	Prime Video, Paramount+	None listed
Love Actually	2003	Netflix, Peacock	None listed
Scrooged	1988	Prime Video, Paramount+	YouTube
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation	1989	HBO Max	None listed
Bad Santa	2003	Prime Video, Paramount+	Pluto TV
The Shop Around the Corner	1940	HBO Max	None listed
Gremlins	1984	HBO Max	None listed
The Santa Clause	1994	Disney+	None listed
The Holiday	2006	Hulu	None listed
A Charlie Brown Christmas	1965	Apple TV	None listed
Carol	2015	Prime Video	Prime Video (ads), Tubi, Amazon MX Player
Edward Scissorhands	1990	Disney+, Hulu	None listed
Meet Me in St. Louis	1944	HBO Max	Philo, Tubi
How the Grinch Stole Christmas	1966	Peacock	None listed
The Polar Express	2004	HBO Max	None listed
Scrooge (listed as A Christmas Carol)	1951	None listed	Plex, Tubi
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer	1964	None listed; buy only	None listed
Black Christmas	1974	Prime Video, Peacock, Fandor, Shudder, Night Flight Plus, Midnight Pulp, Chilling	Free Movies Plus, The Roku Channel, Fandango at Home Free, Pluto TV, Shout! Factory TV, Prime Video (ads), Tubi, Amazon MX Player
Klaus	2019	Netflix	None listed
Christmas in Connecticut	1945	Prime Video	None listed

Frequently asked questions

What is the best Christmas movie of all time?

By this count of 27 lists, It’s a Wonderful Life. It is the only film on all 27, and it comes first on nine of the 17 numbered rankings. “Best” still depends on who picks: Empire’s reader-based list puts Die Hard first, Rotten Tomatoes’ score-sorted list The Shop Around the Corner, The Guardian and BuzzFeed The Muppet Christmas Carol, and Rolling Stone Carol.

What are some good Christmas movies for kids?

Family picks from the top 28 with a G or PG on Rotten Tomatoes include Elf (PG), Home Alone (PG), The Muppet Christmas Carol (G), The Santa Clause (PG), The Polar Express (G) and Klaus (PG). The Nightmare Before Christmas is also PG, with a note about “Some Scary Images.” A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) are TV specials of about half an hour, with no rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

What are the funniest Christmas movies?

The comedies on the most lists are Elf (26), A Christmas Story (23), and Scrooged, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Bad Santa (20 each). Bad Santa is rated R, and Scrooged and Christmas Vacation are PG-13, so they suit older viewers better than the PG picks.

Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?

Most of these lists treat it as one: 24 of 27 include it, and Empire ranks it first. The British public is less sure: in a December 2017 YouGov poll, 30% called it one and 52% said it was not. It is set on Christmas Eve but reached theaters in July 1988.

What is the highest-rated Christmas movie on Rotten Tomatoes?

Among the top 28, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) and Christmas in Connecticut show 100% on the Tomatometer, from 27 and 14 reviews. The Shop Around the Corner and Meet Me in St. Louis show 99%, from 96 and 81 reviews, and lead Rotten Tomatoes’ own list, which puts Certified Fresh films first.

What are the oldest Christmas movies on these lists?

Vulture reaches back furthest, with Georges Méliès’s Rêve de Noël (1900) and The Insects’ Christmas (1913). Among the 28 most-listed films, the oldest is The Shop Around the Corner (1940).

Where is It’s a Wonderful Life streaming?

JustWatch’s US page, read November 9, 2026, lists it with a Prime Video, Paramount+ or Peacock subscription, and free with ads on Free Movies Plus, The Roku Channel and Plex. The table above covers the other 27; rights move often in the holiday season, so check again before pressing play.

Sources

British Vogue, 24 Of The Best Christmas Movies To Get You Into The Festive Spirit, November 3, 2026
StudioBinder, 30 Best Christmas Movies of All Time, January 28, 2025 (page data March 23, 2026)
Time Out, The best Christmas movies of all time, updated for 2025 (page data February 19, 2026)
Rotten Tomatoes, The 100 Best Christmas Movies of All Time, updated January 6, 2026
Decider, The 25 Best Christmas Movies of All Time, updated December 24, 2025
Esquire, The 50 Best Christmas Movies of All Time, December 8, 2025
Cosmopolitan, The 95 Best Christmas Movies of All Time, December 5, 2025
BBC Radio 2, The Twelve Films of Christmas Revealed!, updated December 2, 2025
Empire, Best Christmas Movies: 30 Fan-Voted Picks, updated November 30, 2025
Looper, 15 Best Christmas Movies Of All Time, Ranked, November 11, 2025
Gold Derby, 15 best Christmas movies of all time, ranked worst to best, December 13, 2024
Men’s Journal, 60 Best Christmas Movies to Watch Over the Holidays, December 9, 2024
Vulture, The 50 Best Christmas Movies of All Time, updated December 5, 2024
Rolling Stone, The 30 Best Christmas Movies of All Time, December 25, 2023
BuzzFeed, The 50 Best Christmas Movies Ever, Ranked, December 19, 2023
The Guardian, The 25 best Christmas films, ranked!, December 14, 2023
Stacker, Best Christmas movies of all time, according to critics, December 6, 2023
Vanity Fair, The 67 Best Christmas Movies of All Time, December 1, 2023
Variety, The 45 Best Christmas Movies of All Time, November 17, 2023
CinemaBlend, The 25 Best Christmas Movies, November 2, 2023
The Hollywood Reporter, Tinseltown’s 36 Best Christmas-Themed Movies, modified July 19, 2023
TechRadar, The best Christmas movies: 11 festive classics, page data December 22, 2022
The A.V. Club, The 30 best Christmas movies of all time, December 6, 2022
Reader’s Digest, 70 Best Christmas Movies of All Time, page data October 4, 2021
/Film, The 48 Best Christmas Movies Of All Time, Ranked, page data November 11, 2021
Mental Floss, The 36 Best Christmas Movies of All Time, December 9, 2020
The Playlist, The 20 Best Christmas Movies Of All Time, November 23, 2015
Rotten Tomatoes, film pages for the scores, ratings, runtimes and US release dates above, accessed November 9, 2026
JustWatch, United States title pages for the 28 most-listed films, accessed November 9, 2026
Wikipedia, articles on the films named above, for production, box office and awards details, accessed November 9, 2026
Lou Lumenick, 25 years ago this month, It’s a Wonderful Life left the public domain, lumenick.com, accessed November 10, 2026
YouGov, Die Hard is not a Christmas movie, December 7, 2017 (archived copy; the live address now returns an error)
Semrush, US Google results for “best christmas movies,” read November 9, 2026

Lead photo: The State Theatre in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on December 3, 2024. Photo: MSwierenga, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).

Speculative Chic Editors

The Speculative Chic editors publish and update the guides on this site. Each guide is researched and checked against the sources it lists.