If one city in the United States epitomizes the holiday season, it is New York City.
With the first weekend of December quickly behind us, the 2022 holiday season of shopping, holiday parties, dinners and get-togethers is in full forward mode.
All three NFL teams in the state are having good seasons in NY sports betting, but even football takes a back seat to the magic of the holidays.
With so many things to do and see over the next three-plus weeks, we also need to find time to relax and re-energize in between, before and after each holiday activity.
A great way to do that is to watch a holiday film to stay in the spirit of the season.
And that prompts this question: What are the top holiday movies that we should be sitting down to watch in the Empire State?
Utilizing Google Trends to solidify its methodology, EmpireStakes.com analyzed the most popular Christmas movies of New York residents by looking at the search results of each movie around Christmas for the past five years. The movies included the 40 most popular Christmas movies over the past year, based on global traffic from AhRefs.com.
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Most Popular Christmas Movies in New York
Breakdown of Top 5
The iconic Home Alone (1990), starring Macaulay Culkin and Joe Pesci, tops the list with 35% of New Yorkers showing interest. You know the scenario: A large family rushes to catch a plane to Paris for Christmas but leaves a child behind and absolute mayhem ensues.
The animated and treasured holiday classic, The Polar Express (2004), starring Tom Hanks and Chris Coppola, comes in second among the top five with 20% showing interest.
Based on the children’s adventure book by Chris Van Allsburg, the train ride of a lifetime to the North Pole shows a young boy that believing in the wonder of life never fades.
Will Ferrell’s epic performance in Elf (2003) comes in third with 16% interest. Directed by Jon Favreau, Elf is a human raised by Santa’s elves, who learns about his origins and heads to New York City to meet his biological father, player by James Caan. Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Ed Asner and Bob Newhart all appear in supporting roles.
The ever-lasting A Christmas Story (1983), starring Peter Billingsley and Melinda Dillon, finished just a percentage point below third, with 15% looking to watch.
Ralphie is trying to convince everyone around him, including parents, teachers and even Santa himself, that a red B.B. gun really is the perfect Christmas gift he wants.
Rounding out the top five: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) with 14% interest. Kevin McCallister, played by Culkin, again gets separated from his family, with the rest of his family heading to Florida. Pesci and Daniel Stern also star.
Whatever movie you choose this holiday season, New York, just grab the popcorn and sit back and relax, because you really can’t go wrong with any viewing option you choose.
Stay close to EmpireStakes.com through the holidays and all year long, for stories of interest, and for NY sportsbook promos.
