Chevy Chase Is Coming To Tampa For Screening Of Iconic Christmas Movie

When you think of holiday movies, you probably think of Christmas Vacation, and Chevy Chase is coming to Tampa for a screening of this iconic movie.

If you were to ask 10 people what their favorite Christmas movies are, I have no doubt that on more than half of them would be National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. It's been a favorite for my family and me for as long as I can remember and I'm not sure there's been a Christmas that's gone by without us watching it as a family. In fact, usually over the course of December, I watch it a few times. It's just that good. And there's no denying that there's some quotes in there that no matter who you say it to, they know what movie it's from.

Well, you'll have a chance this winter to get up close and personal to Clark Griswold himself, Chevy Chase.

It was a few years ago that in Tampa that Richard Dreyfuss was in town for a screening of Jaws at SharkCon. It was so cool to be able to watch the movie with him being in the audience watching it with us, then doing a Q&A afterwards. Now, the holiday version of that will be taking place in December when Chevy Chase comes to Tampa for a special screening of Christmas Vacation. The event will take place on December 1 to kick off Christmas month at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts.

What is being billed as "A Live Conversation with Chevy Chase", according to the event website, "Chase will share behind-the-scenes stories and anecdotes about the making of this beloved movie that has become a Christmas tradition. But the laughter doesn't stop there! Chase also will be taking questions from the audience."

Tickets for this special holiday event go on sale this Friday, July 12 and start at $40. You can find more info here

Everyone has a favorite Christmas movie. A movie that you just have to see every year. One that you could watch over and over again. However, Florida's favorite Christmas movies might surprise you. Most of them are considered to be outliers. Spoiler alert, "Home Alone," that Macaulay Culkin classic does not appear in the top ten for Floridians. Even more disturbing is the fact that a horror movie was among the most popular holiday movie in Tennessee and Michigan. It's called "Violent Night."

I don't know about you, but I see enough near violence in shopping center parking lots this time of year. Not interested in watching tinsel slashings on the television. For me, I really look forward to some of the classic cartoons like "Frosty The Snowman," "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas," and "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer." They are nostalgic and remind me of childhood. I do love the current version of The Grinch with Jim Carey as well as "Elf" with Will Ferrell.

Back to the rankings. They come from Looper. Their experts found a 300% increase in Google searches for ‘best Christmas movies’ in the past month. In addition, there has been a 130% increase in demand for ‘best Christmas movies streaming.’ So first, they looked into IMBb’s list of best Christmas movies of all time. Next, they analyzed Google search trends data. Finally, they took all the data and compiled a list of  the most searched-for holiday movie in every U.S. state.

Here is another spoiler alert. None were the sappy Hallmark Christmas movies. There were a couple of surprises for me. Here is one. The Rankin-Bass stop-motion class "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" did not rank in Florida. However, it dominates searches in the Midwest. You can find the entire report here.

Florida's favorite Christmas movies might surprise you. Here are the top five.

This film actually won three Academy Awards. It's another one to reel in the cynics. In it, a man named Kris Kringle fills in for the Macy's Santa Claus who shows up drunk for the Thanksgiving Day parade. He claims to be the real Santa and ends up in court defending both his mental health and his claims. Of course there are a few glimmers of miracles that continue to occur.