These Christmas movies are facing extinction - as soon as 2024!

Is there anything cosier than snuggling up on the sofa and watching a Christmas movie?

We all have our favourite Christmas movie, whether that’s the romance in Love Actually or the action in Die Hard (we are of the opinion that it is a Christmas movie)! But did you know that some of your favourite festive flicks could be facing extinction!?

We’ve analysed how Google searches in the UK for the most popular Christmas movies have changed since 2015. Which film's popularity has soared, and which movies are in decline and facing extinction?

According to the data, nobody will watch Nativity Rocks! by 2024!

Nativity Rocks! was released in 2018, featuring British icons such as Celia Imrie and Hugh Dennis. However, according to our research, it could only be on our watchlist for another two years!

In December 2018, just weeks after its release, it racked up a staggering 167,019 Google searches in the UK. This was the height of the film’s popularity; fast-forward to December 2021 and just 60,500 people looked for the film on Google.

On average since its release, searches for the movie drop by 35,506 each year. Should this decline in demand continue at the same rate, we could have completely lost interest in the film by 2024!

The Christmas Chronicles & Last Christmas are facing extinction, despite being recent releases

Of the 39 movies we analysed, nine of them are facing extinction!

Netflix’s The Christmas Chronicles, released in 2018, could be forgotten about by 2025. Upon its release in 2018, the movie was looked up 146,550 times in the UK. Searches had more than halved by last Christmas, managing 71,194 look-ups. The film loses an average of 25,199 searches per year, giving it a remaining shelf life of just three years!

It’s a similar story for Last Christmas. The festive blockbuster based on the music of George Michael and Wham! was released in 2019 and last December, it was searched for 548,899 times. While this seems like a fan favourite, the movie loses 140,022 searches per year, putting it at risk of extinction by 2026! 

Movies released in the noughties and 2010s are most likely to face extinction

Of the 9 movies that are facing extinction, over 88% of them were released in the 2000s and 2010s, which suggests the classics have a special place in our hearts.

Even if the movie is earmarked for extinction, older movies tend to lose searches at a slower rate than newer ones. This means that they have more longevity, sticking around on our watch list for longer.

By 2031, Die Hard will be a more popular Christmas film than The Holiday

Our research also reveals which of the Christmas movies have had the greatest increase in Google searches since 2015. The table below shows the 20 most popular Christmas movies:

 

Based on searches for Die Hard increasing by 50,796 on average every year, we’ve calculated that by 2031, its popularity will surpass Christmas favourite, Elf! And, by 2048, it will be more popular than Home Alone!

This is sure to ruffle a few feathers, as the debate about whether Die Hard is even a Christmas film at all rages on!

Love Actually is the nation’s favourite Christmas movie

Not only did Love Actually have the highest number of searches in December 2021 of all the movies we analysed (992,696), but searches are also growing at the fastest rate, increasing by 57,966 every year on average.

This cements the film as our favourite Christmas movie. Should its popularity continue to grow at this rate, it’s on track to be viewed by over one million viewers in December 2023, hitting 1,050,662 viewers in a single month!

When it comes to Christmas movies, the sequel can’t compete with the original

There are so many Christmas movie franchises, many of which we enjoy year after year. However, you just can’t beat the original, as our research shows!

Despite being released in 1990 (over 30 years ago!), the first installment of Home Alone still manages to grow its popularity by a staggering 41,985 Google searches each year. In comparison, Home Alone 2: Lost In New York adds 8,615 searches to its tally each year, while Home Alone 3 manages just half of that (4,169 searches).

The original The Santa Clause movie gains an extra 3,491 searches per year, a respectable figure when you consider the film's 1994 release. However, The Santa Clause 2 follow-up is facing extinction by 2056, with its popularity dropping by 1,199 Google searches each year!

Act now to save your favourite Christmas movies!

Is one of your favourite Christmas movies facing extinction? The good news is you can help save them. Pop the kettle on, get comfy on the sofa and enjoy!

Methodology

We curated a list of 39 of the most popular Christmas movies, based on the top-rated from IMDB. For each, we used Ahrefs to gather the number of Google searches in the UK in December from 2015-2021.

We then calculated the average change in number of UK searches to illustrate which movies were growing and dropping in popularity.

All calculations are based on increases and decreases remaining constant over time and do not take into account potential fluctuations.