Current:Home > NewsThe 15 most-watched holiday movies this season. Did your favorite make the cut? -WealthTrail Solutions
The 15 most-watched holiday movies this season. Did your favorite make the cut?
View
Date:2025-04-18 01:10:38
What holiday movies are sleighing the ratings? It’s a mixed Santa’s sack of the Ghost of Christmas Past and the Ghost of Christmas Present, according to data shared exclusively with USA TODAY.
Samba TV, which analyzes viewership habits of households collected through smart TVs, assembled a list of the most-watched movies on TV and streaming services in the U.S. between Nov. 10 and Dec. 10. (For the study, a view means the household watched at least five minutes of a feature.)
Smiling along to “Elf” proved audiences’ favorite. So far, 9 million households have watched the 2003 feature starring Will Ferrell as whimsical Buddy the tall elf, who left the North Pole in search of his biological father. Nearly 8 million households have found 1989's “National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation” as enjoyable as a one-year membership to a jelly-of-the-month club. Who doesn’t feel for Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) during his obsessive quest to provide a perfect Christmas for his extended family? And this stat might make you do Macaulay Culkin’s famed “Home Alone” face: the 33-year-old flick, in which a son forgotten by his vacationing family fights off burglars, raked in 7.1 million views.
'Santa! I know him!'How to watch 'Elf' this holiday: TV listings, streaming and more
By comparison, only three original holiday movies released on streaming platforms this year managed to snare more than 1 million households. Netflix’s “Best. Christmas. Ever!” starring Jason Biggs, Heather Graham and Brandy Norwood, attracted 2.3 million households. “The Family Switch,” Netflix's holiday-themed spin on “Freaky Friday” with Jennifer Garner and Ed Helms, garnered 1.9 million, which ties it with Amazon Prime Video’s “Candy Cane Lane,” starring Eddie Murphy.
Murphy told USA TODAY that he longed to do his first Christmas movie, and decided on “Candy Cane Lane” — a sort of “Jumanji” meets “The Santa Clause” — after contemplating remaking a classic. “’It's a Wonderful Life,’ 'Miracle on 34th Street,' we were looking through all of them," Murphy said. "But then this script came along, and it was like, ‘Hey, this has all the elements, and it's unique. So we can make our own little modern-day classic instead of remaking an old one.’”
The 15 most-watched movies between Nov. 10 and Dec. 10:
You'll notice that the largely debated "Die Hard" starring Bruce Willis makes the list. As Ashwin Navin, Samba TV's CEO, sees it: "There's no debate: 'Die Hard' is in fact a Christmas movie, and one of the greatest of all time at that," he said in a statement.
- "Elf" (2003, streaming on Max), 9 million household views
- "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" (1989, Max), 7.9
- "Home Alone" (1990, Disney+), 7.1
- "The Santa Clause" (1994, Disney+), 4.3
- "Four Christmases" (2008, Max), 3.5
- "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (2000, on Peacock Dec. 20‒31), 2.5
- "Best. Christmas. Ever!" (2023, Netflix Original), 2.3
- "The Holiday" (2006, for rent on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple TV), 2.3
- "Family Switch" (2023, Netflix Original), 1.9
- "A Christmas Story" (1983, Max), 1.9
- "Candy Cane Lane" (2023, Amazon Original), 1.9
- "It's a Wonderful Life" (1947, Amazon Prime), 1.7
- "Die Hard" (1988, Disney+), 1.4
- "Love Actually" (2003, Netflix), 1.4
- "The Polar Express" (2004, Max), 1.1
Chevy Chase fallsoff stage in New York at 'Christmas Vacation' movie screening
The casting director for 'Elf'would pick this other 'SNL' alum to star in a remake
veryGood! (1)
Related
- 'As foretold in the prophecy': Elon Musk and internet react as Tesla stock hits $420 all
- Tennis Channel suspends reporter after comments on Barbora Krejcikova's appearance
- Congress returns to unfinished business and a new Trump era
- Indiana man is found guilty of murder in the 2017 killings of 2 teenage girls
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- Chicago Bears will ruin Caleb Williams if they're not careful | Opinion
- She was found dead while hitchhiking in 1974. An arrest has finally been made.
- Saving for retirement? How to account for Social Security benefits
- Oklahoma parole board recommends governor spare the life of man on death row
- See Chris Evans' Wife Alba Baptista Show Her Sweet Support at Red One Premiere
Ranking
- Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
- Jenn Tran's Ex Devin Strader Throws Shade At Her DWTS Partner Sasha Farber Amid Romance Rumors
- Lions find way to win, Bears in tough spot: Best (and worst) from NFL Week 10
- Bitcoin has topped $87,000 for a new record high. What to know about crypto’s post-election rally
- Google unveils a quantum chip. Could it help unlock the universe's deepest secrets?
- MVSU football player killed, driver injured in crash after police chase
- See Chris Evans' Wife Alba Baptista Show Her Sweet Support at Red One Premiere
- Kristin Cavallari's Ex Mark Estes Jokingly Proposed to This Love Island USA Star
Recommendation
Billy Bean was an LGBTQ advocate and one of baseball's great heroes
California Gov. Gavin Newsom will spend part of week in DC as he tries to Trump-proof state policies
Trump has promised to ‘save TikTok’. What happens next is less clear
Steelers' Mike Tomlin shuts down Jayden Daniels Lamar comparison: 'That's Mr. Jackson'
Costco membership growth 'robust,' even amid fee increase: What to know about earnings release
Olivia Munn Says She “Barely Knew” John Mulaney When She Got Pregnant With Their Son
Saving for retirement? How to account for Social Security benefits
Why have wildfires been erupting across the East Coast this fall?