Best Thanksgiving Movies Of All Time
When one thinks of holiday movies, the first thing that springs to mind is most likely Christmas. With new releases every year at both the box office and on streaming services, as well as all those classic favorites we know and love, there’s no shortage of Christmas movies to add to your watch list. But amid all that Yuletide cheer, Thanksgiving shouldn’t be forgotten—and there are quite a few movies that align with “Turkey Day,” many of which can be an enjoyable addition to seasonal traditions.
Stacker analyzed data from Letterboxd, IMDb, and Metacritic to rank the highest-rated Thanksgiving films of all time. To determine which movies would qualify, our experts surveyed the history of film, comprehensive film databases, and legitimate editorial compilations of Thanksgiving movies.
It is important to recognize that genre is meant to help describe and communicate the vibe of a film, not to serve as a limiting factor on what films can and cannot be. There are no hard-and-fast rules that define a Thanksgiving movie, and we agree that leaning into more open interpretations of what fits in certain fringe genres is best practice for developing a pool of films that represent all possible expressions of a particular subgenre. As a result, we considered any movie that takes place over Thanksgiving or involves significant Thanksgiving scenes to be part of our “best of” list.
Only feature films were considered (sorry, “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving”), and each film had to be watched by at least 1,000 Letterboxd users. Films are ranked by Letterboxd scores, with initial ties broken by IMDb user ratings and secondary ties broken by Metascore. Letterboxd scores are out of five, IMDb scores are out of 10, and Metascores are out of 100.
Keep reading to see if any of your favorite Thanksgiving-themed films made the list.
Written by: Jody Ellis
Description: Stacker analyzed data from Metacritic, IMDb, and Letterboxd to rank the highest-rated Thanksgiving films of all time.