The 50 Best Christmas Movies of All Time, According to Rotten Tomatoes

Cue the tired arguments about whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie. Not only has Rotten Tomatoes proclaimed that it is, but it’s also deemed it one of the best. The classic action flick came in eighth on the review aggregator’s list of best Christmas movies of all time.

Several other films that cracked the top 50 also fall into the contentious category of Christmas-y movies that not everyone agrees are truly Christmas movies—from 1983’s Trading Places to 1992’s Batman Returns.

All in all, it’s tough to compete with 1940s Christmas classics, which monopolized the top three spots: 1944’s Meet Me in St. Louis, 1940’s The Shop Around the Corner, and 1947’s Miracle on 34th Street, respectively. It’s also tough to compete with Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women—two adaptations made the list, Greta Gerwig’s 2019 version in seventh place and the 1994 Winona Ryder–starring one in 11th.

Your belief that The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) is a supreme feat of holiday filmmaking has been validated. It came in 34th place, which, considering how many new Christmas movies are churned out each year, is pretty impressive. It wasn’t the only film adaptation of Charles Dickens’s holiday story to make the top 50—Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983) took the 44th spot. And 2017’s Dan Stevens–starring The Man Who Invented Christmas, a fictionalized version of how the story came to be, surpassed them both to claim 29th place.

Entries 39 through 50—many of which scored 100 percent on the Tomatometer—aren’t ranked higher because they aren’t yet Certified Fresh. The list prioritizes movies that have earned the (not automatically awarded) label.

Holiday staples like Elf (2003), A Christmas Story (1983), and White Christmas (1954) are well represented, but the breakdown is not without some surprises. See the top 50 below, and peruse Rotten Tomatoes’ full list of 100 here.

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) // 100 percent
The Shop Around the Corner (1940) // 99 percent
Miracle on 34th Street (1947) // 96 percent
Tangerine (2015) // 96 percent
Klaus (2019) // 95 percent
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) // 95 percent
Little Women (2019) // 95 percent
Die Hard (1988) // 94 percent
Carol (2015) // 94 percent
It's a Wonderful Life (1946) // 93 percent
Little Women (1994) // 93 percent
The Apartment (1960) // 93 percent
Arthur Christmas (2011) // 92 percent
Tokyo Godfathers (2003) // 91 percent
A Christmas Story (1983) // 90 percent
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010) // 90 percent
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022) // 92 percent
Edward Scissorhands (1990) // 89 percent
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020) // 89 percent
Better Watch Out (2016) // 89 percent
Trading Places (1983) // 88 percent
Gremlins (1984) // 86 percent
A Christmas Tale (2008) // 86 percent
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2005) // 86 percent
Elf (2003) // 85 percent
Happiest Season (2020) // 82 percent
While You Were Sleeping (1995) // 81 percent
Batman Returns (1992) // 81 percent
The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017) // 79 percent
Bad Santa (2003) // 78 percent
A Christmas Story Christmas (2022) // 79 percent
White Christmas (1954) // 77 percent
Anna and the Apocalypse (2017) // 77 percent
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) // 76 percent
Happy Christmas (2014) // 75 percent
Merry Christmas (2005) // 74 percent
The Ref (1994) // 73 percent
The Santa Clause (1994) // 73 percent
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1967) // 100 percent
Holiday Inn (1942) // 100 percent
March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934) // 100 percent
Remember the Night (1940) // 100 percent
Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas (1977) // 100 percent
Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) // 100 percent
Alien Xmas (2020) // 100 percent
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) // 95 percent
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (1970) // 93 percent
White Reindeer (2013) // 90 percent
The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974) // 90 percent
Christmas in Connecticut (1945) // 89 percent