26 Christmas film quiz questions for your festive round

Everyone thinks they're good at Christmas film trivia, because everyone has seen the same eight films roughly forty times each. That's exactly what makes a Christmas movie round fun to write. You can lean on the classics for the warm-ups and then go after the details people have watched past every December without ever registering.

Here are 26 questions covering the festive canon, from the black and white originals to the ones that have only recently earned a place in the rotation. They run easy to hard, so you can take the first ten for a family quiz or the whole lot for a Christmas round that actually separates the teams.

The classics

1In which 1990 film does an eight-year-old boy defend his family home from two burglars after his family accidentally leaves him behind on a trip to Paris?

Answer:Home Alone(click to reveal)

2What is the name of the fictional town where the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life is set?

Answer:Bedford Falls(click to reveal)

3Which actor plays the angel-visited George Bailey in that same film?

Answer:James Stewart(click to reveal)

4In The Muppet Christmas Carol, which actor plays Ebenezer Scrooge opposite a cast of puppets?

Answer:Michael Caine. He reportedly insisted on playing the part completely straight, as though he were acting opposite other dramatic actors rather than felt.(click to reveal)

5Which author wrote the 1843 novella that The Muppet Christmas Carol and dozens of other adaptations are based on?

Answer:Charles Dickens (A Christmas Carol)(click to reveal)

6Bing Crosby first sang "White Christmas" in which 1942 film, a decade before the film named after the song?

Answer:Holiday Inn. The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.(click to reveal)

7In Elf, what are the four main food groups according to Buddy?

Answer:Candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup(click to reveal)

8Which comedy actor plays Buddy the elf?

Answer:Will Ferrell(click to reveal)

9In the 1984 film Gremlins, there are three rules for looking after a mogwai. Name any two.

Answer:Keep it away from bright light, don't get it wet, and never feed it after midnight(click to reveal)

10Which 2003 British ensemble romantic comedy, following a set of loosely connected London love stories in the run-up to Christmas, was Richard Curtis's debut as a director?

Answer:Love Actually(click to reveal)

Animation and family films

11In the 1993 stop-motion film The Nightmare Before Christmas, what is the name of the Pumpkin King who discovers Christmas Town?

Answer:Jack Skellington(click to reveal)

12That film is often credited to Tim Burton, who produced it and wrote the original story. Who actually directed it?

Answer:Henry Selick(click to reveal)

13In the 2004 animated film The Polar Express, which actor performed multiple roles including the conductor and the boy's father, using motion capture?

Answer:Tom Hanks(click to reveal)

14In the Dr Seuss story How the Grinch Stole Christmas, what is the name of the town the Grinch looks down on?

Answer:Whoville(click to reveal)

15Which actor played the Grinch in the 2000 live-action version, under several hours of green make-up a day?

Answer:Jim Carrey(click to reveal)

16The 1982 animated short The Snowman, based on Raymond Briggs's wordless picture book, features the song "Walking in the Air". Who sang it on the film's soundtrack?

Answer:Peter Auty, a St Paul's Cathedral choirboy. Most people say Aled Jones, who recorded the version that reached number five in the charts in 1985, but he had nothing to do with the film itself.(click to reveal)

17Which British animation studio, best known for Wallace and Gromit, made the 2011 film Arthur Christmas?

Answer:Aardman(click to reveal)

18The 2019 animated film Klaus, about a postman posted to a miserable island town, was the first feature film produced in-house by which streaming service?

Answer:Netflix(click to reveal)

The harder half

19Die Hard is set almost entirely in a Los Angeles skyscraper. What is the building called in the film?

Answer:Nakatomi Plaza(click to reveal)

20Which actor played the villain Hans Gruber in that film, in what was his first feature film role?

Answer:Alan Rickman. He later said he almost turned the part down because it wasn't the kind of film he wanted to make.(click to reveal)

21It's a Wonderful Life was adapted from a short story its author couldn't get published and instead sent out as a Christmas card. What was the story called?

Answer:"The Greatest Gift" by Philip Van Doren Stern(click to reveal)

22In The Santa Clause, what is the surname of the character who accidentally takes on the job of Father Christmas?

Answer:Calvin (Scott Calvin, played by Tim Allen)(click to reveal)

23In the 1996 comedy Jingle All the Way, two fathers compete to buy the last of which must-have action figure?

Answer:Turbo Man(click to reveal)

24Which 1988 comedy casts Bill Murray as a cynical television executive visited by three ghosts?

Answer:Scrooged(click to reveal)

25The 2019 romantic comedy Last Christmas takes its title and much of its soundtrack from the work of which band?

Answer:Wham!(click to reveal)

26In Miracle on 34th Street, what name does the department store Santa give when asked who he is?

Answer:Kris Kringle(click to reveal)

Tips for running a Christmas film round

Decide early whether Die Hard counts as a Christmas film, and announce it. The argument is older than some of your teams and it will derail the round if you leave it open.

Mix the decades deliberately. A round weighted entirely towards the 1990s hands it to one age group, and the black and white classics are the ones where older teams get their moment. Two or three questions from each era keeps everyone in it.

Visual questions work especially well here, because Christmas films are so heavily watched that a single frame is often enough. A still from a living room scene, a close-up of a prop, or a cropped poster all make good picture round material. There are more ideas along those lines in our picture round ideas.

If you want to build a full festive night rather than a single round, pair this with our Christmas quiz questions for general festive trivia, or spread the load across a few formats using our quiz round ideas. The quiz creator will put the slides and answer sheets together once you've picked your questions.