
The holidays are upon us, and there’s no better way to get in the spirit of the season than by watching your favorite holiday movie. But did you know that your go-to holiday movie could be influenced by where you live?
Using data from Rotten Tomatoes and other public sources, we put together a list of the most popular holiday movies of all time. Then, we worked with the team at Mindnet Analytics and used Google Trends data to determine which holiday movie each state was most obsessed with relative to other states.
When you see some of the movies that made the list of most popular holiday films, you might question if some of these are really considered Christmas flicks. If you’re a purist who only considers movies like White Christmas or Miracle on 34th Street to be holiday films, you might be a little surprised to see titles like Batman Returns and Die Hard, but every movie on the list has the holidays as a central theme.
Interesting Finds
- The holiday movie that was the favorite in the largest number of states in 2019 is Gremlins
- Some of the holiday movies that multiple states across the country are obsessed with include Batman Returns, Black Christmas, Die Hard, Home Alone, and Gremlins
- Interestingly, not a single state was most obsessed with classics It’s a Wonderful Life or Miracle on 34th Street
The Holiday Movie Each State is Most Obsessed With
Don’t want to use the map above? Here are the full findings in an alphabetized list:
Alabama | Black Christmas |
Alaska | Gremlins |
Arizona | Bad Santa |
Arkansas | Batman Returns |
California | Edward Scissorhands |
Colorado | Gremlins |
Connecticut | Christmas in Connecticut |
Delaware | Black Christmas |
District of Columbia | Trading Places |
Florida | Batman Returns |
Georgia | Black Christmas |
Hawaii | Trading Places |
Idaho | Frosty the Snowman |
Illinois | Gremlins |
Indiana | Gremlins |
Iowa | Home Alone |
Kansas | Gremlins |
Kentucky | Batman Returns |
Louisiana | Black Christmas |
Maine | Babes In Toyland |
Maryland | Batman Returns |
Massachusetts | Gremlins |
Michigan | Holiday Inn |
Minnesota | Home Alone |
Mississippi | The Best Man Holiday |
Missouri | Die Hard |
Montana | The Snowman |
Nebraska | Gremlins |
Nevada | Edward Scissorhands |
New Hampshire | Elf |
New Jersey | Trading Places |
New Mexico | Gremlins |
New York | Batman Returns |
North Carolina | Black Christmas |
North Dakota | A Charlie Brown Christmas |
Ohio | Black Christmas |
Oklahoma | Gremlins |
Oregon | Die Hard |
Pennsylvania | Trading Places |
Rhode Island | Love Actually |
South Carolina | Gremlins |
South Dakota | A Christmas Story |
Tennessee | Gremlins |
Texas | Gremlins |
Utah | White Christmas |
Vermont | Frosty the Snowman |
Virginia | Die Hard |
Washington | Die Hard |
West Virginia | Krampus |
Wisconsin | Gremlins |
Wyoming | Happy Christmas |