What’s your state’s most Googled debatable Christmas movie?
The team at Brightspeed Plans found the most searched unconventional Christmas movies in the US—find out which film your state searched most.
Jumplinks:
When it comes to Christmas movies, we all know the classics
—White Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, It’s a Wonderful Life, the list goes on and on.
When the weather gets chilly and the mistletoe gets hung, it’s nice to cuddle up and watch a Christmas movie to get into the holiday spirit.
But what about movies that aren’t explicitly about Christmas, yet feature an unmistakably holiday-like vibe? For instance, the “Jingle Bell Rock” scene in Mean Girls, or the snowy, cozy atmosphere of The Chronicles of Narnia?
There have been many debates online about whether these unconventional holiday movies really count as Christmas movies. While some people stick to the classics, others like to expand their holiday movie palates to include nontraditional options, like the Christmas scenes in You’ve Got Mail or Step Brothers.
To celebrate the season, the team at Brightspeed Plans decided to find out which alternative Christmas movies America is searching for most. We also ran a survey to see if people agree with their state’s most searched film, and how committed they are to defending their favorite nontraditional Christmas flick.
We found that the majority of survey respondents embrace more alternative choices—81% of the respondents like to watch a mix of Christmas movies and unconventional holiday films. Check out the rest of our findings to see if you agree with your state’s most-searched debatable Christmas movie.
Your state’s most searched unconventional Christmas movie
Interesting findings
Mean Girls is the most searched unconventional movie across all states with 32 states that Googled it.
With the Mean Girls musical movie premiering earlier this year, perhaps the original is at the top of mind for many nontraditional Christmas movie fans.
Gremlins was searched in six states: Colorado, Maine, New Mexico, Oregon, South Carolina, and South Dakota.
While 41% of survey respondents don’t consider the film a Christmas movie, 28% of Gen Z do consider it a Christmas movie because it has at least one scene that references the Christmas season.
You’ve Got Mail was the third most searched unconventional Christmas movie.
You’ve Got Mail premiered on December 18, 1998, just in time for the holiday season.
While not an obvious Christmas film, You’ve Got Mail is a remake of a classic Christmas movie, The Shop Around the Corner, which is an adaptation of a Hungarian Play.
30% of the participants feel strongly that their favorite unconventional holiday film is a Christmas movie and that no one will convince them otherwise.
30% of Gen Z is open to being convinced otherwise.
30% of the Boomers don’t care at all.
In 2022 when we conducted this study, Die Hard was the most searched unconventional Christmas film in 27 states, while Mean Girls took second place with 5 states. In 2024, Die Hard wasn’t the most searched nontraditional Christmas movie in any state, except for Alaska.
Our survey data
We surveyed 1,000 Americans to find out what they think about the most searched alternative Christmas movies in the US.
"What do Americans think about these nontraditional Christmas movies?"
66% of the participants agree with their state’s unconventional Christmas movie.
59% of the respondents don’t consider Mean Girls a Christmas movie.
49% of the respondents don’t consider Step Brothers a Christmas movie.
42% of the respondents don’t consider The Chronicles of Narnia a Christmas movie.
41% of the respondents don’t consider Gremlins a Christmas movie.
28% of GenZ considers Gremlins a Christmas movie because it has at least one scene referencing the Christmas season.
65% of the respondents don’t consider Batman Returns a Christmas movie.
38% of the respondents don’t consider Die Hard a Christmas movie.
31% of Gen Z consider Die Hard a Christmas movie because it has at least one scene referencing the Christmas season.
Our methodology
The team at Brightspeed Plans gathered unconventional Christmas movies with the help of publications like Parade, Esquire, and Shmoop, along with Instagram Polls. Once we had a list, we used SemRush, an SEO software platform, to gather search volume for each movie. We then selected the top 12 movies with the highest search volume and used Google Trends to gather analytics on volume search per state.
For our survey data, we surveyed 1,000 Americans using Pollfish, a market research software tool that gathers faster insights and results giving you real-time responses. We asked questions to gather insight into their favorite unconventional Christmas movie.
