The best Christmas movies, measured by critics, audiences and IMDb voters together, are It’s a Wonderful Life, Klaus and Die Hard. That combined view matters, because critics and viewers often disagree: Home Alone, the biggest earner here, has a 66 percent critics score but more than 750,000 IMDb votes behind its 7.8.
This list of 20 classic and modern Christmas movies blends three numbers for each film into one score, so the order is something you can check rather than someone’s taste. Each entry adds the rating, runtime, director and the story behind the film, so you can plan a December watch list for any age.
Christmas Movies Ranked: Critic, Audience and IMDb Scores for All 20
| # | Film | Year | Rated | Critics | Audience | IMDb | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It’s a Wonderful Life | 1946 | PG | 94% | 95% | 8.6 | 91.7 |
| 2 | Klaus | 2019 | PG | 95% | 96% | 8.2 | 91.0 |
| 3 | Die Hard | 1988 | R | 94% | 94% | 8.2 | 90.0 |
| 4 | The Shop Around the Corner | 1940 | Not rated | 99% | 91% | 8.0 | 90.0 |
| 5 | The Nightmare Before Christmas | 1993 | PG | 95% | 91% | 7.9 | 88.3 |
| 6 | Little Women | 2019 | PG | 95% | 92% | 7.7 | 88.0 |
| 7 | Miracle on 34th Street | 1947 | Not rated | 96% | 87% | 7.9 | 87.3 |
| 8 | Edward Scissorhands | 1990 | PG-13 | 92% | 91% | 7.8 | 87.0 |
| 9 | Holiday Inn | 1942 | Not rated | 100% | 86% | 7.3 | 86.3 |
| 10 | A Christmas Story | 1983 | PG | 87% | 89% | 7.9 | 85.0 |
| 11 | Carol | 2015 | R | 94% | 75% | 7.3 | 80.7 |
| 12 | The Muppet Christmas Carol | 1992 | G | 78% | 86% | 7.8 | 80.7 |
| 13 | Arthur Christmas | 2011 | PG | 93% | 77% | 7.1 | 80.3 |
| 14 | White Christmas | 1954 | Not rated | 76% | 89% | 7.6 | 80.3 |
| 15 | Gremlins | 1984 | PG | 86% | 78% | 7.3 | 79.0 |
| 16 | Elf | 2003 | PG | 85% | 79% | 7.1 | 78.3 |
| 17 | Christmas Vacation | 1989 | PG-13 | 72% | 86% | 7.5 | 77.7 |
| 18 | Violent Night | 2022 | R | 74% | 88% | 6.7 | 76.3 |
| 19 | Home Alone | 1990 | PG | 66% | 81% | 7.8 | 75.0 |
| 20 | Bad Santa | 2003 | R | 78% | 75% | 7.0 | 74.3 |
The 20 Best Christmas Movies of All Time
1. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946): The Flop That Became a Tradition
Frank Capra | James Stewart, Donna Reed | 2h 9m | PG | 94% critics, 95% audience, IMDb 8.6 | Score 91.7
Frank Capra’s drama about George Bailey, a banker in the town of Bedford Falls, came from “The Greatest Gift,” a short story Philip Van Doren Stern self-published in 1943. It earned five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, yet lost RKO $525,000 at the box office.
Its comeback came by accident. The copyright lapsed in 1974 without renewal, the film fell into the public domain, and TV stations could air it every December without paying fees. It was among the first 25 films chosen for the National Film Registry in 1990.
2. Klaus (2019): Hand-Drawn and Brand New
Sergio Pablos | Jason Schwartzman, J.K. Simmons | 1h 38m | PG | 95% critics, 96% audience, IMDb 8.2 | Score 91.0
Klaus pairs Jesper, a postman, with a white-bearded toymaker in a snowy wooden town, told in hand-drawn animation. It was the first original animated feature Netflix released, and the directing debut of Sergio Pablos.
It won seven Annie Awards and the BAFTA for animated film, and became the first Netflix animated film nominated for an Oscar. Netflix reported that 40 million members watched it in its first four weeks.
3. Die Hard (1988): The Summer Blockbuster Set on Christmas Eve
John McTiernan | Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman | 2h 12m | R | 94% critics, 94% audience, IMDb 8.2 | Score 90.0
Die Hard traps John McClane in a Los Angeles skyscraper during a terrorist takeover, while he is visiting his estranged wife at her company’s Christmas Eve party. It opened on July 15, 1988, in the middle of summer, and grossed $143.7 million worldwide.
Because the novel it adapts was a sequel to The Detective, the studio was obliged to offer the role to Frank Sinatra first. It ties The Shop Around the Corner on 90.0, and its million-plus IMDb votes put it ahead.
4. The Shop Around the Corner (1940): The Critics’ Top Pick
Ernst Lubitsch | Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart | 1h 37m | Not rated | 99% critics, 91% audience, IMDb 8.0 | Score 90.0
Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart play co-workers at Matuschek and Company, and the story builds to Christmas Eve, the shop’s record sales night. Samson Raphaelson adapted it from the 1937 Hungarian play Parfumerie.
Its 99 percent Tomatometer is the highest of any Certified Fresh film here. MGM agreed to make it only after Lubitsch finished Ninotchka, and it joined the National Film Registry in 1999.
5. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993): Halloween Takes Over Christmas
Henry Selick | Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon | 1h 15m | PG | 95% critics, 91% audience, IMDb 7.9 | Score 88.3
Jack Skellington of Halloween Town decides to take over Christmas, with predictably strange results. Disney released the stop-motion film under its Touchstone label because it thought it too dark and scary for children.
The crew shot 109,440 frames, and it became the first animated film nominated for the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Danny Elfman sang Jack’s songs before Chris Sarandon was cast to match his voice.
6. Little Women (2019): Christmas Morning With the March Sisters
Greta Gerwig | Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh | 2h 15m | PG | 95% critics, 92% audience, IMDb 7.7 | Score 88.0
Greta Gerwig’s version of the Louisa May Alcott novel opens its family story on a Christmas morning, when Marmee persuades her daughters to give their breakfast to a poor neighbor. It drew 441 critic reviews, the most of any film here.
It earned six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and won for costume design. It took $220.1 million worldwide on a $40 million budget after its Christmas Day 2019 release.
7. Miracle on 34th Street (1947): Santa Goes to Court
George Seaton | Maureen O’Hara, Edmund Gwenn | 1h 36m | Not rated | 96% critics, 87% audience, IMDb 7.9 | Score 87.3
Edmund Gwenn plays Kris Kringle, a department-store Santa, opposite Maureen O’Hara and a young Natalie Wood. The parade scenes were shot live during the real 1946 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, using nine cameras.
Edmund Gwenn won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and the film won two more for its story and screenplay. Fox released it in May 1947, and it joined the National Film Registry in 2005.
8. Edward Scissorhands (1990): A Gothic Fairy Tale in the Suburbs
Tim Burton | Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder | 1h 45m | PG-13 | 92% critics, 91% audience, IMDb 7.8 | Score 87.0
Johnny Depp plays Edward, a pale, gentle man with scissors for hands, opposite Winona Ryder and Dianne Wiest. It was the first of Tim Burton’s many films with Johnny Depp.
Burton first wanted to make it a musical. It grossed more than four times its $20 million budget and won the BAFTA for production design.
9. Holiday Inn (1942): Where “White Christmas” Began
Mark Sandrich | Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire | 1h 41m | Not rated | 100% critics, 86% audience, IMDb 7.3 | Score 86.3
Bing Crosby runs an inn that opens only on holidays, an idea that came from Irving Berlin, with Fred Astaire as his rival. It introduced Berlin’s “White Christmas,” which won the Oscar for Best Original Song.
It holds the only perfect 100 percent Tomatometer among the films considered here, from 25 reviews. The Holiday Inn hotel chain later took its name from the film.
10. A Christmas Story (1983): One Boy, One Air Rifle
Bob Clark | Peter Billingsley, Darren McGavin | 1h 33m | PG | 87% critics, 89% audience, IMDb 7.9 | Score 85.0
Ralphie’s campaign for the one Christmas present he wants drives Bob Clark’s nostalgic comedy. Jean Shepherd, whose 1966 book the film adapts, narrates as the grown-up Ralphie.
Made for $3.3 million, it earned $20.8 million on release, then grew into a holiday staple. The house and department-store scenes were filmed in Cleveland, and the film joined the National Film Registry in 2012.
11. Carol (2015): A Love Story Begun in a Toy Store
Todd Haynes | Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara | 1h 58m | R | 94% critics, 75% audience, IMDb 7.3 | Score 80.7
Rooney Mara plays a shop clerk and Cate Blanchett a customer who meet across a toy-store counter at Christmas. Todd Haynes adapted Patricia Highsmith’s 1952 novel The Price of Salt, which she first published under a pseudonym.
It earned six Oscar and nine BAFTA nominations. Its 19-point gap between critics and audiences is the widest in the top 20, and it edges The Muppet Christmas Carol on the IMDb vote tie-break.
12. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992): Dickens With Kermit and Michael Caine
Brian Henson | Michael Caine | 1h 25m | G | 78% critics, 86% audience, IMDb 7.8 | Score 80.7
Michael Caine plays Scrooge straight, opposite Kermit as Bob Cratchit, in the first Muppet film made after the deaths of Jim Henson and Richard Hunt, and the first produced by Disney.
The crew removed and replaced sections of floor so puppeteers and actors could share the same shots. It is the only G-rated film in this top 20.
13. Arthur Christmas (2011): Santa’s Clumsy Son Saves the Night
Sarah Smith | James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie | 1h 40m | PG | 93% critics, 77% audience, IMDb 7.1 | Score 80.3
Arthur, Santa’s younger son, voiced by James McAvoy, is the hero of this comedy set around a high-tech North Pole mission control. It was Aardman’s second computer-animated feature and its first with Sony Pictures Animation.
It began life in 2007 as Operation Rudolph and took $151.5 million worldwide. It ties White Christmas on 80.3 and wins on IMDb votes.
14. White Christmas (1954): The Song Gets Its Own Film
Michael Curtiz | Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye | 2h 0m | Not rated | 76% critics, 89% audience, IMDb 7.6 | Score 80.3
Twelve years after Holiday Inn, Bing Crosby sang Irving Berlin’s title song again in a film named after it, alongside Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen.
It was the first film shot in Paramount’s widescreen VistaVision process, on a $2 million budget, and it was added to the National Film Registry with the class of 2025.
15. Gremlins (1984): The Gift That Created PG-13
Joe Dante | Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates | 1h 46m | PG | 86% critics, 78% audience, IMDb 7.3 | Score 79.0
A gift-boxed mogwai named Gizmo starts the trouble in Joe Dante’s horror comedy, a Christmas present that goes badly wrong. Steven Spielberg executive produced it and makes a cameo on a recumbent bicycle.
Complaints about its violence, along with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, led to the PG-13 rating, created within two months of its June 8, 1984 release.
16. Elf (2003): Buddy Goes to New York
Jon Favreau | Will Ferrell, James Caan | 1h 37m | PG | 85% critics, 79% audience, IMDb 7.1 | Score 78.3
Will Ferrell plays Buddy, a grown man in an elf suit loose in New York. Jon Favreau kept computer effects to a minimum, and Will Ferrell improvised moments including his shriek of “Santa!”
It opened to $32.1 million and reached $232.9 million worldwide on a $33 million budget. Terry Zwigoff turned it down to direct Bad Santa instead.
17. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989): The Griswolds Host the Holidays
Jeremiah S. Chechik | Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo | 1h 37m | PG-13 | 72% critics, 86% audience, IMDb 7.5 | Score 77.7
Chevy Chase’s Clark Griswold takes on visiting relatives and a house wired with Christmas lights in pursuit of a perfect family holiday. John Hughes based it on his short story “Christmas ’59” from the December 1980 National Lampoon.
Hughes also handed the Home Alone script to Chris Columbus. Its 86 percent audience score is 14 points higher than the critics gave it.
18. Violent Night (2022): Santa Fights Back
Tommy Wirkola | David Harbour, John Leguizamo | 1h 52m | R | 74% critics, 88% audience, IMDb 6.7 | Score 76.3
David Harbour plays a hammer-swinging Santa in this R-rated action comedy from director Tommy Wirkola, with John Leguizamo and Beverly D’Angelo. It is the newest film in the top 20.
It was shot in Winnipeg between January and March 2022, and it grossed $76 million worldwide.
19. Home Alone (1990): The Biggest Christmas Hit of All
Chris Columbus | Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci | 1h 42m | PG | 66% critics, 81% audience, IMDb 7.8 | Score 75.0
Macaulay Culkin plays Kevin, left home alone at Christmas, who defends the house from burglars played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern. Home Alone grossed $477.4 million worldwide on an $18 million budget, the most of any film considered here.
Warner Bros. first backed it, then shut it down over budget, and 20th Century Fox picked it up. Its 66 percent Tomatometer is the lowest in the top 20, which is why the combined score places it this low.
20. Bad Santa (2003): For Adults Only
Terry Zwigoff | Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox | 1h 33m | R | 78% critics, 75% audience, IMDb 7.0 | Score 74.3
Billy Bob Thornton plays a foul-mouthed mall Santa in Terry Zwigoff’s black comedy, with Tony Cox as his elf. The Coen brothers developed the idea and executive produced.
Its mall scenes were shot at the Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance, California. It took $76.5 million worldwide on a $23 million budget.
One Formula, Three Audiences: How These Christmas Movie Scores Add Up
Each film’s score is the average of three numbers on a 100-point scale: its Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer, its Rotten Tomatoes audience score, and its IMDb rating multiplied by 10. A tie goes to the film with more IMDb votes, which settled three pairs.
- Critics: the Tomatometer, the share of professional reviews that are positive.
- Audiences: the Rotten Tomatoes audience score from moviegoers.
- IMDb voters: a weighted average of user ratings, taken from the scores IMDb published on October 19, 2026.
Two films were set aside before scoring. The 1966 How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a 26-minute TV special, not a film, and the 1994 Little Women scored lower than the 2019 version of the same novel. Ratings follow the MPA film rating system, which began in 1968, so four older films are listed as not rated.
Highest-Grossing Christmas Movies on This List
Worldwide totals from Box Office Mojo show how little box office tracks with quality. Films made before 1980 are left out, because their tracked totals reflect only re-releases.
- Home Alone (1990): $477.4 million
- Elf (2003): $232.9 million
- Little Women (2019): $220.1 million
- Gremlins (1984): $165.4 million
- Arthur Christmas (2011): $151.5 million
- Die Hard (1988): $143.7 million
Outside the top 20, the Jim Carrey Grinch of 2000 took $350.2 million and The Polar Express $329.0 million. For how those numbers compare with the biggest films of any genre, see our list of the highest-grossing movies.
Christmas Movies for Kids and Family Viewing
- Rated G: The Muppet Christmas Carol.
- Rated PG: Klaus, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Arthur Christmas, Elf, A Christmas Story, Home Alone, Gremlins and Little Women.
- Not rated, made before 1968: Miracle on 34th Street, Holiday Inn, White Christmas and The Shop Around the Corner, which predate the rating system.
- PG-13: Edward Scissorhands and Christmas Vacation.
- Rated R, for adults: Die Hard, Carol, Violent Night and Bad Santa.
Gremlins carries a PG only because PG-13 did not exist yet, so it is scarier than most PG films. The Nightmare Before Christmas, at 1 hour 15 minutes, is the shortest film here and a good first pick for younger children.
Popular Christmas Movies That Missed the Top 20
- Love Actually (2003): 65 percent critics, 72 percent audience, combined 70.7.
- The Santa Clause (1994): combined 68.3.
- The Holiday (2006): 51 percent critics but 80 percent audience, combined 67.0.
- The Polar Express (2004): combined 61.7.
- Red One (2024): 29 percent critics against 89 percent audience, the widest split of any film considered.
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000): combined 58.0; see our ranking of Jim Carrey movies for where it sits in his career.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?
Its whole story takes place at a Christmas Eve office party, which is the case for calling it one, though 20th Century Fox released it on July 15, 1988. On this list it ranks third, with 94 percent from critics and from audiences.
What is the best Christmas movie of all time?
It’s a Wonderful Life tops this combined ranking at 91.7, with 94 percent from critics, 95 percent from audiences and an 8.6 on IMDb. On critics alone, The Shop Around the Corner leads with 99 percent.
What is the highest-grossing Christmas movie?
Home Alone, with $477.4 million worldwide on an $18 million budget. It was the highest-grossing live-action comedy for two decades.
Why is It’s a Wonderful Life on TV every year?
Its copyright was not renewed and lapsed in 1974, so stations could show it without paying licensing fees. Constant December broadcasts turned a box-office loss into a tradition, and in 1990 it joined the National Film Registry.
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