While your belief in Santa Claus may wane over time, your love for The Santa Clause and other Christmas classics will surely never die (except Die Hard, ironically). But which movies warm our two-sizes-too-small holiday hearts? To answer this question, we used the experiment we hold most deer (that’s right, not even Santa’s Reindeer are safe from our puns), a MaxDiff.
Even if you’re Home Alone these holidays, you can rely on 10-year old Macaulay Culkin and America's favorite Christmas classic to keep you company. Or just book the McCallister death trap for yourself. Either one works.
It turns out animated classics from the 1960s are on Americans’ nice list – A Charlie Brown Christmas and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer round out the top three. The line between frightening and endeering (two deer puns!) animation is thinner than Santa in the offseason.
Save the newer comedies for April Fools’ Day because Americans prefer to be visited by the movies of Christmas past: Americans’ least favorite Christmas movies are Love Actually, Fred Claus, and Just Friends. Seems like Christmas and the movies we watch are truly for the children–you hear that Hollywood? Rein (🦌 3️⃣) in the Christmas rom-coms!
