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OUR METHODOLOGY - THE FESTIVE ALGORITHM
So, what is a "Christmas Movie"? A Christmas movie is a film centered around the themes, traditions or spirit of Christmas, designed to evoke joy, warmth and festive nostalgia. When we first built this list, we started from the movies we already knew. This year we started again from scratch.
We searched film databases and encyclopedias for every movie with a claim to being a Christmas movie and found almost 5,000 of them. Around 1,500 had enough of an audience to be scored fairly, and every one of those was put through the same formula. The best 300 then went through a second, closer round of data gathering before the final Top 100 was set.
The formula itself has grown up too. Our original recipe combined 8 variables. The Festive Algorithm now blends 24, grouped into five key ingredients: what viewers think, what critics think, how much Christmas spirit the movie has, whether it has become a tradition, and how easy it is to sit down and watch. Viewer opinion still carries the most weight, but no single measure can decide a movie's place on its own.
Preventing bias remains a key objective. Every movie is compared against the whole field of Christmas movies rather than against our own preferences, and movies we had never heard of were scored in exactly the same way as our family favorites. You can still find our personal picks under "Alternate lists".
Unlike other top lists, this website is not static. We will keep gathering data and adding new movies each year, so make your selections, grab that popcorn, cozy up and let the Christmas spirit warm you all the way to Christmas Day!
THE FIVE KEY INGREDIENTS
CHRISTMAS SPIRIT
The successor to our Christmas Spiritometer. An AI engine reads every movie against one fixed scorecard covering warmth, family and togetherness, generosity and goodwill, festive sights and sounds, and hope and wonder. It also judges how central Christmas is to the story, and gives a little credit for originality.
MOVIE ATTRIBUTES
Runtime and age rating, to favor picks that suit a broad range of viewers on a busy December evening. As before, a movie must be at least 60 minutes long to qualify. Shorter classics have their own Christmas Shorts list.
VIEWER DATA
Ratings from everyday audiences across several major rating sites. A movie loved by a handful of people is not treated the same as one loved by hundreds of thousands, so we take into account how many people have rated it as well as how highly.
CRITIC DATA
Professional review scores, major awards and recognition as a film of lasting importance. Many TV movies are never reviewed by critics at all. Rather than punish or reward them for that, the algorithm gives them a neutral critic score based on how similar movies have fared.
TRADITION & STAYING POWER
New for this year. The best Christmas movies come back every December, so we measure how much public interest in a movie rises each festive season and whether it keeps doing so year after year. Brand-new releases are treated gently here until they have had a few Christmases to prove themselves.
BUT IS IT A CHRISTMAS MOVIE?
Some movies are simply set at Christmas. To settle the argument fairly, we let the public decide: if interest in a movie reliably surges every December, people are clearly watching it as a Christmas movie and it stays in the running. That is why Die Hard keeps its place. Movies that are only set at Christmas, without that festive following, have been moved to their own "Is it a Christmas movie?" list.
WHAT'S NEW THIS YEAR
- A complete search of almost 5,000 movies instead of a hand-picked shortlist
- 24 variables instead of 8
- A new measure of tradition and staying power
- A fairer deal for TV movies that critics never review
- A clear, consistent rule for the "is it a Christmas movie?" debate
- All data refreshed for this season
INTERESTING FINDINGS FROM OUR RESEARCH
The Oldies really are the Goldies
The average age of the top 20 movies is 38 years, with classics from the 1940s, 1980s and 1990s dominating the top ratings.
The best Christmas movies tend to age well and become entrenched in our traditions. As tastes change and generations age, these top movies are likely to change with it.
Christmas Comedies raise spirits the most!
42% of the Top 100 picks are considered comedies and that isn't counting romantic comedies which would boost it up to 58%.
Laughing is important because it has profound psychological, emotional, and physical benefits reducing stress and releasing endorphins, which improve mood and create a sense of well-being. This just helps us more get into the festive spirit and leave behind some of that seasonal stress!
Viewers and critics don't always agree!
The average difference between the sourced critic ratings and viewer ratings (out of 10) was 1.1 (absolute) and 55% of the time the viewers gave a higher rating, suggesting the variability really is down to the eye of the beholder.
There is nothing wrong with disagreement on the perfect Christmas movie - choose what will make you feel happy this season!
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