8 Top-Grossing Christmas Movies of All Time

Who's a bigger Christmas moneymaker? The Grinch, George Bailey, Buddy the Elf, Clark Griswold or Kevin McCallister?

Based on box office figures, you'd be right if you picked the "Home Alone kid." Chevy Chase's Griswold and Jimmy Stewart's Bailey aren't even close, at least in terms of how many people paid to see them at the theater.

Below are the top eight highest-grossing Christmas movies of all time, according to Forbes and Box Office Mojo.

1. 'Home Alone," $286 million, 1990

Home Alone has become a movie staple for families at Christmastime since its release just before the 1990 holiday.

The film, written and produced by the legendary John Hughes, stars Macaulay Culkin as 8-year-old Kevin McCallister.

"Home Alone" struck a chord with Americans with a theme that Christmas is all about being with your family — and outsmarting dimwitted crooks.

Not only is "Home Alone" the biggest-grossing Christmas movie of all time in North America, for two decades it was the highest-grossing live-action comedy until it was dethroned by "The Hangover Part II" in 2011.

"Home Alone" remained popular well past Christmas in its first year, holding the No. 1 spot at the box office into February.

In the words of McAllister: “You guys give up, or are you thirsty for more?"

2. 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas,' $260 million, 2000

Christmas definitely came for the makers of this holiday classic reboot, directed by Ron Howard and starring Jim Carrey. It came without ribbons, it came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas movies mean a little bit more.

3. 'Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch,' $253 million, 2018

Every Who Down in Whoville Liked Christmas We Thought. (Though the Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville, did not.) Americans, it seems, like this Dr. Seuss classic a lot.

4. 'The Polar Express,' $186.5 million, 2004

Premise: Your movie will only make money if you truly believe it will. This Oscar-nominated animated adventure and Tom Hanks vehicle is the all-time top grossing motion capture film, in which animation is done using the motions of real actors.

5. 'Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,' $174 million, 1992

The sequel to Kevin McAllister's first Christmas misadventure did well; his family was still a bunch of dolts, not having learned from leaving him home the first time.

6. 'Elf,' $173 million, 2003

Will Ferrell plays Buddy, who was accidentally taken to the North Pole as a toddler and raised by elves. After learning from Santa that his birth father is on the naughty list, Buddy returns to New York to try to help him and ends up getting the city much more into Christmas. The film has become one of Americans’ most beloved during the holidays.

7. 'The Santa Clause,' $145 million, 1994

Tim Allen’s first version of "The Santa Clause" was popular from the start, finishing as the fourth-biggest movie of 1994. That was excellent performance in the year of "Forrest Gump" and "The Lion King." And Americans have continued to return to this film every year since.

8. 'The Santa Clause 2,' $139 million, 2002

Tim Allen’s Santa is reprised, and in this edition he has to get married before Christmas to fulfill a new clause — the “Mrs. Clause.”

Long-Term Profits

Gross box office intake is how the movie industry measures a film’s success. While the highest-grossing films at the box office are widely reported, which films are truly the most profitable is a more complicated question.

One has to take into account not only box office figures, but money earned over years, or sometimes decades, on video sales and rental, broadcast and streaming before deducting costs.

Lists that film industry publications have compiled don’t seem to agree on which films actually netted their makers the most money. And none of our top grossing Christmas movies make those lists.

But there are a couple that do show up on at least one such list, including the movie that many think is the most iconic Christmas film of all time. Frank Capra’s "It’s a Wonderful Life" from 1946, wasn’t much of a box office success at first, grossing just $6.6 million. Yet it seems like every time a bell rings and an angel gets his wings, another family watches "It’s a Wonderful Life" in December.

Over the years, the movie ran up some high DVD numbers, making approximately $75 million. With a cost of just $3.1 million to make right after World War II, and a decades-long run of popularity, that’s a pretty nice return on investment.

And then there’s the 2009 version of "It’s a Charlie Brown Christmas," which was only released on video by Warner Home Video. It made around $3.5 million. But the animated film only cost about $150,000 to make, so — Merry Christmas Charlie Brown!

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