The Christmas Movie industry has almost become its own genre. Films from across the spectrum often meet in the center of the Venn Diagram under the category “Christmas”. It’s entertaining, to say the least, to observe the way moviemakers keep inventing and reinventing the Christmas trope and moviegoers never seem to tire of that magical, wintry wonderland that films so often are able to capture. Here we’ve compiled twenty of the highest grossing Christmas films, spanning decades and crossing genres (there’s even a horror film on the list…)
#21: The Bishop’s Wife – $20-30 million (adjusted for inflation)
The 1940s and ’50s produced some wonderful Christmas classics, like It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, and A Christmas Carol. The Bishop’s Wife may not be as widely recognized as these, but it’s still a heartwarming movie that we believe audiences today will still enjoy and replay, year after year. And the plot is perfectly simple, with a bittersweet twist at the end: An angel (Cary Grant) comes to Earth to help a Bishop (David Niven) and his lovely wife (Loretta Young) reconnect over the spirit of Christmas. Though even Angels sometimes have a lesson or two to learn.
