Most Christmassy films of all time
What's the most Christmassy film of all times?
DECEMBER is a time for for mince pies, warm fires, and binge-watching your favourite classics films.
But it is also the time of that age-old debate: what makes one film more Christmassy than another?
Can we really call Die Hard a Christmas film, just for being set over the festive period?
And isn’t Home Alone just a sad story about a child who gets left behind by his family which would work at any time of the year? To help put the argument to bed using data - we analysed 25 of the most popular Christmas film scripts, searching for the word “Christmas” itself. Through this scientifically flawless method, we found the word “Christmas” had occurred 984 times across the 25 films. And one film was a clear winner in terms of mentions of Christmas: The Muppet Christmas Carol. The 1992 remake of Dickens’ infamous novel says “Christmas” a stonking 124 times - making it the most festive script out there.
In second place is the Jim Carrey staple How the Grinch Stole Christmas - where the word is said 97 times.
The third most festive film - with 66 mentions of “Christmas” - is another Dickensian Christmas Carol adaptation, the 1988 Bill Murray movie Scrooged.
Closely behind is everyone’s favourite modern classic - Love Actually - where “Christmas” is said 65 times, followed by Santa Claus: The Movie - where it’s said 61 times.
Our analysis also suggests that those who claim Die Hard and Batman Returns are Christmas films - as both are set during the festive period - might have a point.
The Die Hard script mentions “Christmas” 19 times, while Batman Returns clocks up 14 mentions.
That makes both films arguably more Christmassy than Home Alone, where the word is said just 13 times.
Other movies making it to the top of the Christmas chart include the second Tim Burton film on the list, The Nightmare Before Christmas with a substantial 50 mentions.
Elf clocks in at 37 - perhaps unsurprising given it’s Buddy’s favourite time of the year. The most recentlyreleased film on the list is Arthur Christmas - which boasts 55 mentions of “Christmas”. The oldest film on the list is the 1942 Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire combo Holiday Inn where “Christmas” is said 24 times. The least Christmassy of the films we analysed was Bridget Jones’ Diary, where Christmas is mentioned just four times. But to be honest, with a box of chocolates and the Christmas tree aglow, we know you’ll watch them all.