Most Profitable Holiday Movies of All Time

Much about the 2020 holiday season won’t be normal, but thankfully, festive films are still a thing. The arrival of the most wonderful time of the year means it’s time to start playing holiday movies on repeat — if you haven’t been already.

Find Out: 19 Sequels That Made Much More Than the First Film

Each year, new holiday movies are released, and the hits can bring in serious money. However, these films still face tough competition from old classics.

GOBankingRates conducted a study to determine the most profitable holiday movies of all time. Using data from IMDb, Box Office Mojo, Business Insider and Rotten Tomatoes to find out factors like the worldwide box-office gross and budget of the film, the movies are ranked by total profit.

No doubt, several of your favorites likely made the cut. Without further ado, here’s a look at the most profitable holiday movies of all time.

25. ‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’

• Year released: 1989
• Worldwide box-office gross: $72.7 million
• Budget: $27 million
• Profit: $45.7 million
• Profit percentage: 169.3%

24. ‘Krampus’

• Year released: 2015
• Worldwide box-office gross: $61.5 million
• Budget: $15 million
• Profit: $46.5 million
• Profit percentage: 310.3%

23. ‘Arthur Christmas’

• Year released: 2011
• Worldwide box-office gross: $147.4 million
• Budget: $100 million
• Profit: $47.4 million
• Profit percentage: 47.4%

22. ‘Bad Santa’

• Year released: 2003
• Worldwide box-office gross: $76.5 million
• Budget: $23 million
• Profit: $53.5 million
• Profit percentage: 232.6%

21. ‘The Nutcracker and the Four Realms’

• Year released: 2018
• Worldwide box-office gross: $174 million
• Budget: $120 million
• Profit: $54 million
• Profit percentage: 45%

20. ‘The Best Man Holiday’

• Year released: 2013
• Worldwide box-office gross: $72.8 million
• Budget: $17 million
• Profit: $55.8 million
• Profit percentage: 328.5%

Read More: Critically Acclaimed Movies That Bombed at the Box Office

19. ‘The Star’

• Year released: 2017
• Worldwide box-office gross: $84.3 million
• Budget: $20 million
• Profit: $64.3 million
• Profit percentage: 321.6%

18. ‘Office Christmas Party’

• Year released: 2016
• Worldwide box-office gross: $114.5 million
• Budget: $45 million
• Profit: $69.5 million
• Profit percentage: 154.5%

17. ‘Jingle All the Way’

• Year released: 1996
• Worldwide box-office gross: $129.8 million
• Budget: $60 million
• Profit: $69.8 million
• Profit percentage: 116.4%

16. ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’

• Year released: 1993
• Worldwide box-office gross: $91.5 million
• Budget: $18 million
• Profit: $73.5 million
• Profit percentage: 408.2%

15. ‘Four Christmases’

• Year released: 2008
• Worldwide box-office gross: $164.1 million
• Budget: $80 million
• Profit: $84.1 million
• Profit percentage: 105.1%

14. ‘The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause’

• Year released: 2006
• Worldwide box-office gross: $110.8 million
• Budget: $12 million
• Profit: $98.8 million
• Profit percentage: 823.1%

13. ‘A Bad Moms Christmas’

• Year released: 2017
• Worldwide box-office gross: $130.6
• Budget: $28 million
• Profit: $102.6 million
• Profit percentage: 366.3%

12. ‘The Santa Clause 2’

• Year released: 2002
• Worldwide box-office gross: $172.9 million
• Budget: $65 million
• Profit: $107.9 million
• Profit percentage: 165.9%

See: Streaming Services That Offer the Best Variety of Movies for Your Family

11. ‘Daddy’s Home 2’

• Year released: 2017
• Worldwide box-office gross: $180.6 million
• Budget: $69 million
• Profit: $111.6 million
• Profit percentage: 161.8%

10. ‘A Christmas Carol’

• Year released: 2009
• Worldwide box-office gross: $325.3 million
• Budget: $200 million
• Profit: $125.3 million
• Profit percentage: 62.6%

9. ‘The Polar Express’

• Year released: 2004
• Worldwide box-office gross: $313.5 million
• Budget: $165 million
• Profit: $148.5 million
• Profit percentage: 90%

8. ‘While You Were Sleeping’

• Year released: 1995
• Worldwide box-office gross: $182.1 million
• Budget: $17 million
• Profit: $165.1 million
• Profit percentage: 971%

7. ‘The Santa Clause’

• Year released: 1994
• Worldwide box-office gross: $189.8 million
• Budget: $22 million
• Profit: $167.8 million
• Profit percentage: 762.9%

6. ‘Elf’

• Year released: 2003
• Worldwide box-office gross: $221.8 million
• Budget: $33 million
• Profit: $188.8 million
• Profit percentage: 572.3%

5. ‘Love Actually’

• Year released: 2003
• Worldwide box-office gross: $244.9 million
• Budget: $40 million
• Profit: $204.9 million
• Profit percentage: 512.3%

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4. ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’

• Year released: 2000
• Worldwide box-office gross: $345.1 million
• Budget: $123 million
• Profit: $222.1 million
• Profit percentage: 180.6%

3. ‘Home Alone 2: Lost in New York’

• Year released: 1992
• Worldwide box-office gross: $365.2 million
• Budget: $28 million
• Profit: $337.2 million
• Profit percentage: 1,204.1%

2. ‘Dr. Suess’ The Grinch’

• Year released: 2018
• Worldwide box-office gross: $511.6 million
• Budget: $75 million
• Profit: $436.6 million
• Profit percentage: 582.1%

1. ‘Home Alone’

• Year released: 1990
• Worldwide box-office gross: $477.1 million
• Budget: $18 million
• Profit: $459.1 million
• Profit percentage: 2,550.4%

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Methodology: In order to discover the most profitable holiday movies of all time, GOBankingRates first looked at IMDb’s “Top 25 Highest-Grossing Christmas Movies," Business Insider’s “The 45 most successful Christmas movies of all time” and Rotten Tomatoes' “The Best Christmas Movies of All-Time” to get a base of holiday movies to select from. For each movie in this cumulative list, GOBankingRates used Box Office Mojo to find (1) the year each movie was released; (2) the total worldwide profit for the movie; (3) the budget for the movie; (4) total profit, by taking factor (2) and subtracting factor (3); and (5) the return on investment (%) that the movie made against its budget. Only factor (4) was taken into account during ranking. All data was collected on and up to date as of Nov. 19, 2020.

About the Author

Laura Woods

Laura Woods is a freelance writer with more than 10 years of experience. She specializes in a variety of topics, including marketing, personal finance, entertainment and lifestyle. Her work has been featured on dozens of sites, including HuffPost, CNBC, Business Insider, Nasdaq, MSN, Yahoo, Fortune, Inc., Entrepreneur and POPSUGAR. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA from Robert Morris University.

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