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.

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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.

Last updated: Dec. 1, 2020

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%

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%

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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.