Movies

‘Home Alone’ is unofficially the greatest holiday movie of all time

By
Social Links for Tyler Schmall, SWNS
Published Dec. 21, 2018, 5:21 p.m. ET

Every year the debate is sparked: what is the best holiday movie? The answer may cause you to put your hands on your face and go “AHHHH!”

Or maybe that’s just Kevin McCallister of “Home Alone” (1990) fame, which was recently dubbed the greatest holiday movie of all time according to a new survey of 2,000 Americans.

Not only that, over half of Americans (56 percent) say they’ve watched the first two “Home Alone” movies back to back in one sitting and one in four have actually been brought to tears by the first “Home Alone.”

An infographic about the most popular holiday movies of all time.
SWNS

“Home Alone,” which is the highest grossing Christmas movie of all time in North America (Macaulay Culkin recently reprised his role for a Google Assistant commercial), just barely edged out “A Christmas Story” (1983) for the top spot on this new list, with “A Christmas Carol” (1951) earning third place.

The new study, conducted by OnePoll on behalf of digital movie and TV service, Vudu, also found “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (1964) and “Tim Allen’s The Santa Clause” (1994) ranking in the top five, too.

Is it okay to watch holiday movies when it’s not the holidays? Over half of Americans surveyed (54 percent) say they feel strange watching a holiday movie if it’s not quite holiday season.

So when is it officially okay? According to the survey, one in five actually think it’s okay to start watching holiday movies before December.

The average American loves holiday movies so much they will watch nine whole movies over a single holiday period.

Nearly three in four Americans say they tend to watch the same movie every year, with the average respondent saying they’ve seen their favorite holiday movie 11 times.

For many Americans, it comes from a place of nostalgia, as 75 percent of respondents said their favorite holiday movie makes them think of their childhood.

And while Americans are still far away from being a Grinch or a Scrooge, three in four Americans still wish they could feel the wonderment for the holidays they felt as children.

In fact, the average American would shell out $1,787 if it meant they could recapture that feeling once more.