Iowa’s Favorite Christmas Movie is Great, Others Not So Much

Who did they talk to for this survey?

It's time to start seeing lists of favorite holiday movies left and right, and a new one just came out. An article from Uproxx is entitled  "The List Of The Most Popular Holiday Movies By State Has Some Unexpected Choices" and, indeed, has some unexpected choices.

To describe how they came up with their findings:

Preply looked at search trends to “115 of the highest-rated and highest-grossing holiday movies of all-time, according to Rotten Tomatoes and Box Office Mojo. We then narrowed down the list to the top 25 most-searched-for films and evaluated how popular they were in each state.

The unexpected choices they might be referring to include "Klaus" (Colorado, Washington, and New Hampshire), "Krampus" (Vermont), "Trading Places" (Montana), and even "Edward Scissorhands" (Oklahoma and Wyoming). Most of the rest are the usual suspects like "Elf", "It's a Wonderful Life", "Home Alone" and "Miracle on 34th Street".

On another note, "Christmas with the Kranks" is an absolute gem but for some reason, never gets any love. Literally, only one state chose it and it was Nebraska. Why? If you're not familiar, it's based on the book "Skipping Christmas" by John Grisham.

It's a sweet tale of a couple of empty-nesters played by Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis who decide to spend their first Christmas alone going on a cruise instead of partaking in the normal Christmas traditions of the community. That is, until their daughter surprises them with a trip home, expecting all the trimmings. They scramble to make it work and everyone lives happily ever after.

Equally ridiculous is that only two states, including Iowa thankfully, chose "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation".  As for the rest of the states, you can see what each of their favorite Christmas movies are in the graphic below.

I also just noticed: 1 vote for "A Christmas Story"? Come on now.

As mentioned, "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" with its clumsy but well-meaning expert on "exterior illumination" Clark Griswold is an Iowa favorite. If you have your own light display comparable to Clark's or just one you're proud of and want to show off, you could win $1,000! Send us your display to help Light Up Eastern Iowa.