That means Hallmark Channel Christmas movies about young people who don’t like each other but then end up liking each other a lot weren’t considered. Another qualifier: We stayed away from the world of made-for-TV movies, though some direct-to-streaming titles did make the cut. So, sorry, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation - just because you’re unavoidable doesn’t earn you a spot on the list. There’s a cynical reason to make a Christmas movie: The demand is high, even for the bad ones, every holiday season, when cable plays them ad nauseam to satisfy Christmas-crazed subscribers. More than twinkling lights and gift-making elves, we looked to these elements when putting the list together.Īlso, the movies on this list have to be good. The story of a man trying to repair his life, earn redemption, and keep his family together, Die Hard engages with some key Christmas-movie themes. And not just because it takes place at Christmas. Well, does it? Opting for a big-tent definition of what constitutes a Christmas movie, this list of the greatest Christmas movies ever made argues, yes, it does, very much so. No one would argue that that early effort was anything but a Christmas movie, but these days, the question comes up frequently: What exactly is a Christmas movie? Is merely being set at Christmas enough? Or is there some elusive other element that makes a Christmas movie a Christmas movie? It’s the old, now tired, “Does Die Hard count?” debate. In that one, Santa slides down a chimney, stuffs some stockings, and promptly disappears into the ether the whole film runs just over one minute long. The holiday season is upon us, which means it’s time to put away our differences in the interest of peace on earth, goodwill toward others, etc., etc., and kick back with a great Christmas movie, a filmmaking tradition that dates back to the 1898 film Santa Claus. This story was originally published in 2018 and is being republished in the spirit of the season. Photo: Liberty Films, New Line Cinema and Twentieth Century Fox

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