Entertainment
The Best Winter Movies
List Rules
Films about or set during the winter season. Vote up the best movies about winter.
Some of our favorite memories take place in winter. From the first winter holidays, to the first snow fall of the year, and all the way through Valentine’s Day we love the winter months! So it’s no wonder so many famous movies have taken place in winter! What are the best movies about winter? Vote up the best winter films below and see where your favorites rank.
The movies on this list all feature a winter setting in one way or another, whether the movie takes place in a winter climate or whether it features a winter holiday. These are some of the most heartwarming, inspirational stories in film, and many have become classics that will be remembered forever!
This list features the best movies about winter including, A Winter’s Tale, It’s A Wonderful Life, Sleepless in Seattle, Serendipity, Home Alone, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Christmas Story, and The Day After Tomorrow. Vote up the best winter movie below or add one you love that isn't already on the list.
The movies on this list all feature a winter setting in one way or another, whether the movie takes place in a winter climate or whether it features a winter holiday. These are some of the most heartwarming, inspirational stories in film, and many have become classics that will be remembered forever!
This list features the best movies about winter including, A Winter’s Tale, It’s A Wonderful Life, Sleepless in Seattle, Serendipity, Home Alone, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Christmas Story, and The Day After Tomorrow. Vote up the best winter movie below or add one you love that isn't already on the list.
Ranked by
- 1Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern
- Released: 1990
- Directed by: Chris Columbus
When bratty 8-year-old Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) acts out the night before a family trip to Paris, his mother (Catherine O'Hara) makes him sleep in the attic. After the McCallisters ...more 
2Will Ferrell, James Caan, Bob Newhart- Released: 2003
- Directed by: Jon Favreau
Buddy (Will Ferrell) was accidentally transported to the North Pole as a toddler and raised to adulthood among Santa's elves. Unable to shake the feeling that he doesn't fit in, the adult Buddy ...more- 3Tom Hanks, Michael Jeter, Nona Gaye
- Released: 2004
- Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Tom Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis ("Forrest Gump"; "Cast Away") reunite for "Polar Express," an inspiring adventure based on the beloved children's book by Chris Van Allsburg. When a doubting ...more ![It's a Wonderful Life]()
4James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore- Released: 1946
- Directed by: Frank Capra
After George Bailey (James Stewart) wishes he had never been born, an angel (Henry Travers) is sent to earth to make George's wish come true. George starts to realize how many lives he has changed ...more- 5Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia
- Released: 1988
- Directed by: John McTiernan
New York City policeman John McClane (Bruce Willis) is visiting his estranged wife (Bonnie Bedelia) and two daughters on Christmas Eve. He joins her at a holiday party in the headquarters of the ...more ![Frozen]()
6Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff- Released: 2013
- Directed by: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
When their kingdom becomes trapped in perpetual winter, fearless Anna (Kristen Bell) joins forces with mountaineer Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and his reindeer sidekick to find Anna's sister, Snow ...more- 7Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott
- Released: 1993
- Directed by: Harold Ramis
Phil (Bill Murray), a weatherman, is out to cover the annual emergence of the groundhog from its hole. He gets caught in a blizzard that he didn't predict and finds himself trapped in a time warp. He ...more ![National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation]()
8Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid- Released: 1989
- Directed by: Jeremiah S. Chechik
As the holidays approach, Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) wants to have a perfect family Christmas, so he pesters his wife, Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo), and children, as he tries to make sure everything is ...more![A Christmas Story]()
9Peter Billingsley, Darren McGavin, Melinda Dillon- Released: 1983
- Directed by: Bob Clark
Based on the humorous writings of author Jean Shepherd, this beloved holiday movie follows the wintry exploits of youngster Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley), who spends most of his time dodging a ...more![Home Alone 2: Lost in New York]()
10Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern- Released: 1992
- Directed by: Chris Columbus
After snarky youth Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) loses track of his father at the airport, he mistakenly gets on a plane headed for New York City -- while the rest of the McCallisters fly to ...more- 11Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara
- Released: 1993
- Directed by: Henry Selick
The film follows the misadventures of Jack Skellington, Halloweentown's beloved pumpkin king, who has become bored with the same annual routine of frightening people in the "real world." When Jack ...more ![Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!]()
12Boris Karloff, June Foray, Hal Smith- Released: 1966
- Directed by: Chuck Jones, Ben Washam
This special is a 1966 American animated television film special directed by Chuck Jones. It is based on the eponymous children's book by Dr. Seuss, the story of The Grinch trying to take away ...more![Ice Age]()
13Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary- Released: 2002
- Directed by: Chris Wedge
Twenty-thousand years ago, Earth is a wondrous, prehistoric world filled with great danger, not the least of which is the beginning of the Ice Age. To avoid a really bad frostbite, the planet's ...more![Little Women]()
14Winona Ryder, Gabriel Byrne, Trini Alvarado- Released: 1994
- Directed by: Gillian Armstrong
In this 1994 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's classic, the March sisters confront growing pains, financial shortages, family tragedies and romantic rivalries in mid-19th-century Massachusetts. Jo ...more![The Day After Tomorrow]()
15Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ian Holm- Released: 2004
- Directed by: Roland Emmerich
After climatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) is largely ignored by U.N. officials when presenting his environmental concerns, his research proves true when an enormous "superstorm" develops, setting ...more![The Santa Clause]()
16Tim Allen, Judge Reinhold, Wendy Crewson- Released: 1994
- Directed by: John Pasquin
Divorced dad Scott (Tim Allen) has custody of his son (Eric Lloyd) on Christmas Eve. After he accidentally kills a man in a Santa suit, they are magically transported to the North Pole, where an elf ...more![Miracle on 34th Street]()
17Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn- Released: 1947
- Directed by: George Seaton
In this Christmas classic, an old man going by the name of Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) fills in for an intoxicated Santa in Macy's annual Thanksgiving Day parade. Kringle proves to be such a hit that ...more![Scrooged]()
18Bill Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe- Released: 1988
- Directed by: Richard Donner
In this modern take on Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," Frank Cross (Bill Murray) is a wildly successful television executive whose cold ambition and curmudgeonly nature has driven away the love ...more![The Shining]()
19Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd- Released: 1980
- Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) becomes winter caretaker at the isolated Overlook Hotel in Colorado, hoping to cure his writer's block. He settles in along with his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and ...more![Love Actually]()
20Hugh Grant, Laura Linney, Colin Firth- Released: 2003
- Directed by: Richard Curtis
Nine intertwined stories examine the complexities of the one emotion that connects us all: love. Among the characters explored are David (Hugh Grant), the handsome newly elected British prime ...more![Sleepless in Seattle]()
21Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Bill Pullman- Released: 1993
- Directed by: Nora Ephron
After the death of his wife, Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) moves to Seattle with his son, Jonah (Ross Mallinger). When Jonah calls in to a talk-radio program to find a new wife for his father, Sam ...more![Gremlins]()
22Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton- Released: 1984
- Directed by: Joe Dante
A gadget salesman is looking for a special gift for his son and finds one at a store in Chinatown. The shopkeeper is reluctant to sell him the "mogwai" but sells it to him with the warning to never ...more![The Holiday]()
23Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law- Released: 2006
- Directed by: Nancy Meyers
Two women, one (Cameron Diaz) from America and one (Kate Winslet) from Britain, swap homes at Christmastime after bad breakups with their boyfriends. Each woman finds romance with a local man (Jude ...more![White Christmas]()
24Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney- Released: 1954
- Directed by: Michael Curtiz
Singers Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and Phil Davis (Danny Kaye) join sister act Betty (Rosemary Clooney) and Judy Haynes (Vera-Ellen) to perform a Christmas show in rural Vermont. There, they run into ...more- 25Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Gil Birmingham
- Released: 2017
- Directed by: Taylor Sheridan
Cory Lambert is a wildlife officer who finds the body of an 18-year-old woman on an American Indian reservation in snowy Wyoming. When the autopsy reveals that she was raped, FBI agent Jane Banner ...more
