Christmas Movies: Here’s The Most Popular In Arizona

ARIZONA — Few holiday traditions are better than gathering around the television for a Christmas movie with the family. However, it’s not always easy to pick that perfect festive film.

HowToWatch.com, an online platform that makes recommendations on TV services and streaming devices, found each state’s favorite Christmas movie.

“The Nightmare Before Christmas” was the most popular Christmas movie in Arizona. The 1993 fantasy/musical film follows Halloweentown's popular pumpkin king, Jack Skellington, who is bored with scaring people. When he accidentally finds Christmastown, he plots to kidnap Santa and take on the jolly old elf's role so he can control Christmas himself. But his plan goes awry along the way.

The most-popular Christmas movie in the nation? “Home Alone” earned the top spot.

The next most-popular film by state was “Die Hard,” with “Gremlins” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas” also representing the favorite film in multiple states.

“The love for other holiday classics is pretty scattered,” the authors of the study wrote. “People in Hawaii and Vermont can bond over their love for ‘Elf,’ while folks in Alaska and Delaware both wish for a ‘White Christmas.’”

HowToWatch put together the study by analyzing data through Google Trends, specifically by cross-referencing multiple “best of” lists and paring it down to sort only for Christmas movies.

The TV service information provider then went through the 25 most-popular holiday titles to discover which films people in our state had the most interest in over the past year.

Here are the 25 most-popular Christmas movies overall:

• “Home Alone” (1990)
• “Die Hard” (1988)
• “Gremlins” (1984)
• “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (1993)
• “Black Christmas” (1974)
• “Elf” (2003)
• “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946)
• “White Christmas” (1954)
• “A Christmas Carol” (1938)
• “Love Actually” (2003)
• “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” (1966)
• “Meet Me in St. Louis” (1944)
• “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” (1987)
• “Polar Express” (2004)
• “The Muppet Christmas Carol” (1992)
• “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1964)
• “The Holiday” (2006)
• “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (1989)
• “Christmas, Again” (2014)
• “Miracle on 34th Street” (1947)
• “Bad Santa” (2003)
• “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (1965)
• “A Christmas Story” (1983)
• “The Santa Clause” (1994)
• “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” (2000)

The complete study on Christmas movies is available on HowToWatch.com