Current:Home > NewsThe 15 most-watched holiday movies this season. Did your favorite make the cut? -Stellar Wealth Sphere
The 15 most-watched holiday movies this season. Did your favorite make the cut?
View
Date:2025-04-18 17:06:19
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! (337)
Related
- New Mexico governor seeks funding to recycle fracking water, expand preschool, treat mental health
- Megan Fox Is Pregnant, Expecting Baby With Machine Gun Kelly
- Lions find way to win, Bears in tough spot: Best (and worst) from NFL Week 10
- Katharine Hayhoe’s Post-Election Advice: Fight Fear, Embrace Hope and Work Together
- DeepSeek: Did a little known Chinese startup cause a 'Sputnik moment' for AI?
- Why have wildfires been erupting across the East Coast this fall?
- Why Jersey Shore's Jenni JWoww Farley May Not Marry Her Fiancé Zack Clayton
- How many dog breeds are there? A guide to groups recognized in the US
- Biden administration makes final diplomatic push for stability across a turbulent Mideast
- Why California takes weeks to count votes, while states like Florida are faster
Ranking
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Mixed Use
- Should Georgia bench Carson Beck with CFP at stake against Tennessee? That's not happening
- Fantasy football buy low, sell high: 10 trade targets for Week 11
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- Wildfires burn from coast-to-coast; red flag warnings issued for Northeast
- Wisconsin authorities believe kayaker staged his disappearance and fled to Europe
- Burger King is giving away a million Whoppers for $1: Here's how to get one
Recommendation
Where will Elmo go? HBO moves away from 'Sesame Street'
Watch as massive amount of crabs scamper across Australian island: 'It's quite weird'
Democrat Cleo Fields wins re-drawn Louisiana congressional district, flipping red seat blue
Richard Allen found guilty in the murders of two teens in Delphi, Indiana. What now?
The White House is cracking down on overdraft fees
Cleveland Browns’ Hakeem Adeniji Shares Stillbirth of Baby Boy Days Before Due Date
Joel Embiid injury, suspension update: When is 76ers star's NBA season debut?
The Daily Money: Markets react to Election 2024