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7 Highest Grossing Christmas Movies: The Grinch tops
With exciting Christmas-themed movies like Red One set to release this year, let’s have a look at the highest grossing Christmas movies of all time.
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The Grinch is the highest grossing Christmas themed film
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The next Christmas-themed film to look forward to is Red One
Christmas movies are movies themed around the festival of Christmas. They are often described as holiday films. Christmas movies are the movies that an entire family would enjoy watching together as part of their Christmas celebrations, for how wholesome and heartwarming they are. The highest grossing X'mas movies have wooed people for generations.
Many families keep a collection of Christmas-themed movies at home to be watched each year, as they, together, bring in the new year. Let’s have a look at the highest grossing Christmas movies at the worldwide box office, as we await the release of the most anticipated X'mas movie of the year, Red One.
7 Highest Grossing X'mas Movies At The Worldwide Box Office
1. The Grinch
The highest grossing Christmas movie is the animated movie The Grinch. It is the third screen adaptation of Dr Seuss’ book How The Grinch Stole Christmas. One was a TV special that played on television back in 1966 and the other one was a live action movie that was released in the year 2000. Both the TV special and the live action flick were very well received but the animated version emerged as the biggest box office success of the lot.
The Grinch grossed almost 540 million dollars against a budget of roughly 75 million dollars. It is unquestionably the biggest active Christmas intellectual property. We can expect more Grinch films in the years to come.
2. Home Alone
The first Home Alone film starring Macaulay Culkin that released in 1990, emerged a global sensation. Made at a budget of under 20 million dollars, the Christmas-themed comedy grossed 476 million dollars worldwide. It is the highest return on investment for a Christmas movie ever.
The film shot Macaulay Culkin to instant fame and he got a lot of significant movie offers after that. Even the sequel of Home Alone was a major blockbuster and that movie too is a part of the highest grossing Christmas movies list. Home Alone is a classic and enjoys a very high repeat viewing audience. The revenue that the movie generates from DVDs and other rentals is massive too.
3. Alvin And The Chipmunks
Alvin And The Chipmunks is a live action-cum-animated movie, part of the highest grossing Christmas movies list. Released in 2007, it grossed 360 million dollars against a budget of 60 million dollars.
The movie was negatively received but still became a major box office spinner. Not just that, it was also the 7th best selling film on DVDs for the year. The movie was followed by 3 more hugely successful Chipmunks films, only that they were not Christmas-themed.
4. Home Alone 2: Lost In New York
Home Alone 2, the sequel of Home Alone was again a massive blockbuster at the time of its release, grossing around 359 million dollars against a budget of under 30 million dollars.
It was released just 2 years after Home Alone. Although it didn’t match or outgross the first part, it did extraordinary business when seen as a standalone film. Home Alone 2 was the 3rd highest grosser of 1992. Home Alone as a franchise hasn’t aged well. The 3rd part having a new star cast underperformed. The 4th film was released directly on television.
5. How The Grinch Stole Christmas
How The Grinch Stole Christmas is another Grinch film part of the highest grossing Christmas themed films. How The Grinch Stole Christmas was the first Grinch special made particularly for the big screen. It was a live action movie as proposed to The Grinch that was released years later; an animated movie.
How The Grinch Stole Christmas grossed 346 million dollars worldwide, against a budget of around 123 million dollars. It was the 6th highest grosser of the year 2000.
6. A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol was made using motion capture and is the 6th highest grossing Christmas-themed film currently. It was a failure at the box office primarily due to its very high budget of around 200 million dollars. It grossed 325 million dollars worldwide and the producers lost money on the project.
A Christmas Carol got mixed reviews from critics and audiences alike. Many complained about the movie being dark-themed; something that Christmas releases generally are not. Regardless, Jim Carrey won a Kids’ Choice Award for favourite voice from an animated movie.
7. The Polar Express
The Polar Express is one of the most loved Christmas-themed movies. Although it was a failure at the box office due to the very high budget, it enjoys a cult following now and there are plans going on to reboot it. It revolves around a young boy who sees a mysterious train bound for the North Pole stop outside his window, and is invited aboard by its conductor. He joins other children as they embark on a journey to visit Santa Claus, who is preparing for Christmas
The Polar Express grossed 318 million dollars against a budget of 170 million excluding marketing expenses.
Following is a list of Highest Grossing Christmas Movies, on the basis of worldwide gross:-
| Rank | Movie | Worldwide Box Office Gross |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Grinch | USD 540 Million |
| 2 | Home Alone | USD 476 Million |
| 3 | Alvin And The Chipmunks | USD 360 Million |
| 4 | Home Alone 2 | USD 359 Million |
| 5 | How The Grinch Stole Christmas | USD 346 Million |
| 6 | The Christmas Carol | USD 325 Million |
| 7 | The Polar Express | USD 318 Million |
Disclaimer: The box office figures are compiled from various sources as well as our own research. The figures can be approximate and Pinkvilla does not make any claims about the authenticity of the data. However they are adequately indicative of the box-office performance of the films in question
Conclusion:
Christmas movies continue to be enjoyed by families all across. Most Christmas movies however release directly on digital these days. That’s the reason we haven’t had a new film top the list of highest grossing Christmas movies in a while. Red One starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans is the next big Christmas-themed movie and one would hope that it is as loved as other Christmas movies part of the coveted list.
Which is your favourite movie from the list of highest grossing Christmas movies?
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