There are a few unanswerable questions in life. One of those involves a never-ending debate: Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?
A new nationally representative Hollywood Reporter/Morning Consult poll sheds some light on that answer, as well as pointing out which holiday classic Americans find most beloved.
The poll, which surveyed 2,200 adults from Nov. 15-18, found that the animated Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is the most beloved holiday film, with 83 percent of respondents having a generally favorable response to the title. Runner-ups included the animated A Charlie Brown Christmas (81 percent), the animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (80 percent) and Home Alone (78 percent).
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Rudolph, which has been a perennial TV staple for 54 years, recently nabbed 8.14 million viewers on CBS when it aired on the broadcaster on Nov. 27. In 2017, it similarly drew 8.07 million viewers. According to the THR/Morning Consult poll, 68 percent of Americans associate Rudolph with their annual holiday tradition.
But back to Die Hard. Just 25 percent of Americans consider John McClane’s ascent up Nakatomi Plaza a holiday affair, while 62 percent say it’s not, with men slightly more likely than women to say Die Hard is a Christmas film (32 percent vs. 20 percent) and Republicans and Democrats evenly split on the bitter debate (26 percent vs. 26 percent). Still, 28 percent of Americans who responded in the survey associate the action pic with their holiday tradition.
Nostalgia plays a big factor in holiday movie tastes, with 60 percent of audiences saying that feeling nostalgic towards a title is an important factor when pairing a movie with their cocoa. And 65 percent say they are more likely to sit down and watch a holiday film they consider to be a classic.
And when it comes to holiday features, the presentation takes a precedence. As far as how most Americans will watch Christmas titles, 43 percent say they are “very likely” to watch holiday movies on linear TV, while 21 percent say they’ll head to theaters for such projects and 40 percent would watch these titles on a streaming service. A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding, anyone?
