‘Elf’ tops most popular festive film

The 2003 comedy ‘Elf’ is the most popular film to watch this Christmas period, according to new research.

Research conducted by PokerListings.com analysed IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes scores, as well as Google search levels and Wikipedia page views to see which Christmas movie is the UK’s number one fan favourite.

‘Elf’ ended up taking the top spot, with more than 30,000 Google searches a month for the Christmas classic, as well as praise from audiences and critics alike. The film is currently sitting at 7/10 on IMDB and a 79% score from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. The Jon Favreau-directed comedy featured an ensemble cast with Will Ferrell, Zooey Deschanel, James Caan and many more starring.

In second place is the animated musical ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’. Released in 1993, the film is a high scorer with audiences sitting at an 8/10 on IMDB and a 91% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s the biggest scorer for Wiki page views on the list, with more than 1.1 million visiting in the past month alone. The fantasy title was the first animated film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

‘Home Alone’ sits in third place in the list as another audience favourite, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 80% and a 7.6/10 on IMDB. It’s widely considered one of the greatest festive films ever, and the effect the film has is clear, with its success influencing the making of six sequels since its release in 1990.

Elf ‘promotional carrier bag’ / Tesco Stores

‘Love, Actually’ also features in the top ten, sitting in fifth place. The film is one of the most prominent UK rom-coms set in the Christmas period, and features a star-studded cast including Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley, Emma Thompson and many more. It had a charity short film sequel, Red Nose Day Actually, which aired in 2017 on BBC One with the same cast.

The 2019 Romantic Comedy ‘Last Christmas’ makes an appearance in seventh place. Inspired by the music of George Michael, it stars Emilia Clarke in the leading role, with Emma Thompson and Henry Golding also starring. It’s an example of a Christmas movie that divided critics and fans, with a Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 81% and only a 44% score from critics, with a 6.5/10 on IMDB. It’s also one of the most Googled entries on the list with more than 11,000 searches a month.

Commenting on the findings, a spokesperson for PokerListings:

“It’s great to see how diverse the market for Christmas movies is, with a variety of genres included on the list. Despite many new additions every year to the festive line up, many entries in the top ten are more than 20 years old now, which really emphasizes how timeless movies like ‘Elf’ and ‘Home Alone’ are and how they can be enjoyed for generations to come.”