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Here are the Highest-Grossing Christmas Movies of All Time

This time of year, there are few things better than a Christmas movie marathon. Just about everyone who celebrates the holiday has at least one movie they come back to every year. From A Christmas Carol to Die Hard, these holiday-themed films always seem to hit the spot for audiences. At the same time, they’re gold mines for studios. That’s probably why so many new holiday films drop every year. Let’s take a look at some of the highest-grossing Christmas movies of all time and see which classics made the list and which newcomers grabbed a spot on the list.

Some Outsider Favorites Made the List

Recently, we released a list of some of our favorite Christmas movies and we’re happy to see that some of them made the list of highest-grossing holiday features. For instance, Scrooged slipped into the top-20 with $60,328,558 according to Box Office Mojo. That’s in 1988 dollars. Adjusted for inflation, the Bill Murray-led Christmas classic would come in at $141,743,043.

Additionally, the Chevy Chase classic National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation grabbed the number 16 spot. The Griswold family’s misadventures netted $71,319526 ($159,863,867) and brought a massive Christmas bonus to Warner Bros Studios.

Four Tim Allen Films Made the Top-20

In recent years, Tim Allen’s Santa Clause series has become a Christmastime must-watch. So, it comes as no surprise that he shows up several times on the list of highest-grossing Christmas movies. Allen makes his first appearance on the list with Christmas with the Kranks at number 12. That movie brought in $73,780,539 ($108,560,896).

The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause landed at number 12 with $84,500,122 ($116,501,190). Unsurprisingly, the first two Santa Clause movies landed in the top ten. The second installment sits at the number 8 with a whopping $139,236,327 ($$215,122,060). Just above that, at number 7 is The Santa Clause with $144,833,357 ($271,633,886).

The Top-5 Highest-Grossing Christmas Movies

When we get to the top-5, things get interesting. We see two Grinch movies (neither is the original), two Home Alone movies, and a Will Ferrell flick.

The Will Ferrell-led Christmas hit Elf sits at the number 5 spot on the list of the highest-grossing Christmas movies. Since its release in 2003, it has become a must-watch movie for many people. It’s lifetime box office gross is $173,398,518 ($261,933,539).

The mean, green Christmas-hating machine appears in the second and third highest-grossing Christmas movies. Jim Carrey’s Grinch nabbed the number 3 spot with $260,044,825 ($419,738,321). The Cumberbatch-led 2018 animated feature is at number 2 with $270,620,950 ($299,547,809).

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York landed at the number four spot on the list with a lifetime gross of $173,585,516 ($343,889,857).

Home Alone, the movie that made Macaulay Culkin a household name is also the highest-grossing Christmas film of all time. It’s lifetime gross is $285,761,243. Adjusted for inflation, the 1990 classic netted a mind-boggling $607,702,876.

Even before inflation, that’s going to be a tough one to beat.