Halloween Children’s Movies: Missouri Really Loves This One

ST. LOUIS, MO — Color us orange with disappointment. “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” has lost its standing as a Halloween children’s classic, according to an analysis of the top searched-for children’s movies during the frightening season. The report, based on Google searches, breaks down the top searches by state. In Missouri, parents and their kids are searching most for “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Is it a Halloween movie or a Christmas movie? The debate doesn't seem to matter much to Missourians, who love the stop-motion Tim Burton tale of Jack Skellington, the king of Halloween Town, who decides one year to abduct Santa and get in on a little of that sweet Christmas action.

Among all states, the top searched for movie was “Ghostbusters,” the favorite in 11 states. In the movie, scientists played by “Saturday Night Live” alums Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray teamed with the late actor and director Harold Ramis lose their jobs and engage in a high-tech battle with the supernatural.

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The second choice among states was the fantasy film “Coco.” In it, young Miguel finds himself in the colorful Land of the Dead as he defies his family’s generations-old ban on music and pursues his dream to become an accomplished musician.

Also big are “Scooby-Doo” (six states), along with “Beetlejuice” and “Nightmare Before Christmas” (five states each).

The Halloween movie rankings were put together by Frontier Communications Corp., which provides internet, television and phone services in 29 states. The company did a grave-diggers’ dive into Google search data for children’s Halloween movies rated PG or below and selected the top 18 that are available to buy, rent, stream or watch on television. From there, data analysts ran a search for those 18 in every state and chose those with the highest volume for the ranking.

Some other findings:

“HalloweenTown,” the story of a 13-year-old who discovers she comes from a family of witches who live alongside other supernatural beings, is a favorite in Oregon. That’s not a huge surprise, given that parts of the 1998 movie were filmed in St. Helens, Oregon (incidentally, parts of “Twilight” were also filmed there).

“Casper” is based in Maine, though folks there are more interested in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” But the story of a kind young ghost who haunts the mansion in Maine is a favorite in Wyoming. Is it because the Cowboy State’s second-largest city shares the same name as the movie?

Nowhere was the search for “Ghostbusters” greater than in New York. The classic is set in New York City.

Residents of Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming know a good movie when they see it. Their top searches this year match those in 2017, Frontier Communications said.

We're a little disappointed Hocus Pocus didn't have a bigger showing. Only West Virginia chose that classic as its favorite. But, enough from us. It's your turn: What’s your go-to Halloween movie and why do you like it? Would you recommend it for children? Tell us what you think in the comments.

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