The holidays are coming, and there’s no better way to spend them than watching wintery movies while cuddled up on the couch. Of course, a hot drink in hand or a big, fluffy blanket doesn’t hurt either! The only problem these days, though, is how to decide what to watch. We at PlayStar couldn’t choose, so we turned to US audiences’ data to help us discover what the best Christmas movies are in the US.
This is an updated version of our 2023 campaign! For full graphic interaction, please click through here!
What’s Your State’s Favorite Festive Movie? The Results May Surprise You!
Favorite Festive Movie per State
Brilliantly, the data tends to reflect a love of seeing one’s own state in a wintery wonderland (whatever that means to you). Perhaps you recognize the street where the main characters are walking down in the snow, or you could imagine yourself being trapped in your parents’ house as a kid because you’ve driven through the neighborhood the movie’s set in.
Some examples of patriotic states and their top movies include:
- Washington – Sleepless in Seattle
- Illinois – Home Alone (set in Chicago)
- Connecticut – Christmas in Connecticut
- Missouri – Meet Me in St. Louis
- Minnesota – Jingle All the Way (filmed in the Twin Cities area)
Perhaps your state doesn’t have its own Christmas movie, but you may subconsciously favor one that’s in the same region!
For example, Vermont were also big fans of Jingle All the Way, and quite a few Southern states loved Edward Scissorhands. Perhaps something about the separate northern or southern climates evokes similar Christmassy feelings to those of your hometown.
On the other hand, some states had unrelated favorites. New Jersey and Pennsylvania were lovers of Jack Frost, while Florida was very into Die Hard.
Most Popular Holiday Movies Across the US
1988’s Die Hard was also the favorite across the US! Eight states named the franchise’s debut as their all-time Christmas movie. Others argue whether it should be classed as a festive movie at all, but if eight whole states think so, we’re happy to let that slide.
Other popular movies were Home Alone and Edward Scissorhands, which won the votes of four states each. Elf and Christmas with the Kranks were next on the list.
There were quite a few individual favorites by different states, such as Scrooged, Nightmare before Christmas, Meet Me in St. Louis, and It’s a Wonderful Life! If anything, this shows how many great movies are out there to love at Christmas time.
Who’s Feeling Festive?!
Now that we’ve given you the low-down on festive movies to delve into this winter, we wanted to find out which of you will be most likely to get into the Christmas spirit.
We used Google trends to identify which states were feeling most ‘Christmassy’.
Ranking at the top was Indiana, which is not too surprising since they have a town named Santa Claus which hosts Christmas-themed attractions year-round! Citizens of Indiana must constantly be feeling ready for Christmas. Next on the list were Ohio, Kentucky, and Utah. Each has their mixture of traditions, from streets (and zoos) of Christmas lights to Christmas tree forests and Dickens Christmas Festivals. It’s no wonder these states feel so festive when there are so many fun Christmas activities to get stuck into!
Which Netflix ‘Hallmark’ Christmas Movie Comes Out on Top?
‘Hallmark’ inspired Christmas movies have taken Netflix by storm this year, with an impressive launch of films you can binge all holiday season, but which one is the best for that feel-good festive vibe?
We used a mix of IMDb ratings, Rotten Tomato scores and monthly search data to crown the winner!
According to our data, the best Christmas film to watch on Netflix this year is ‘Hot Frosty’, starring Dustin Milligan as a snowman who comes to life, with an overall score of 72! In second place is ‘That Christmas’ with a score of 50, and third is ‘Meet Me Next Christmas’ with a score of 29.
Who Is the Most Beloved Movie Santa 2023 V 2024?
Actors that play Santa in some of our most loved Christmas movies have huge shoes to fill, and it seems that each year, our favorite changes.
Last year, we ranked some of the most iconic movie Santas to find out who the favorite Father Christmas is. These rankings are based on various metrics such as IMDb ratings, Google Trends, box office revenue, audience review, and the actor’s net worth, normalized to produce a comprehensive score on a 0-100 scale.
In 2023, it was Tom Hanks who took the top spot, earning an impressive overall score of 79 for his role in the animated Christmas classic ‘The Polar Express’. Next on the list was Tim Allen, renowned for his role as Scott Calvin in ‘The Santa Clause’ trilogy. It was his role in the first movie released in 1994 that secured him the second spot in our rankings, with an overall score of 63.
David Harbour and Billy Bob Thornton shared third place for the best Santa, both scoring 50 for their respective roles in ‘Violent Night’ and ‘Bad Santa.’
In 2024, a lot has changed! Coming in at number one is J. K. Simmons, who played Santa in the 2019 film Klaus, with an overall score of 70. In second we have Paul Giamatti in Fred Claus from 2007, with a decent score of 56. Third is Tim Allen, who was number two in 2023, for this portrayal in The Santa Clause in 1994, with a score of 54.
Methodology
2023
We collected data about the US’s top 100 Christmas movies from Google Trends. The rankings are based on the level of interest in each film per state. The viewer and critic ratings were sourced from IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes.
2024
We collected the following metrics, and used ChatGPT to create an overall scoring system based on the findings, to create our ranking.
IMDb Rating
Collected the 10 top-rated IMDb Christmas films that were tagged with “Santa”. Their IMDb scores were also recorded from the IMDb site: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29354040/
Google Search Trends
Typing in “Santa” (or the name given to the Santa role in film) + “in (insert movie name)”. The data collected was from 18-24 December as this is when these search terms were most used.
Box Office Revenue
The box office revenue data is publicly available and collected from these sites:
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/
Audience Review
The films were searched on Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/ and the audience review score was collected.
Santa Net Worth
The net worth of the actors who played the role of Santa is publicly available and collected from:
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