Top 15 Santas
AMC Movie List

Top 15 Santas

Santa's usually jolly, but in Hollywood he's sometimes spiteful, mean, drunk, or entirely CGI. Which Santa tops your list out of the naughty and the nice?

rank title points votes your vote
1 Edmund Gwenn, Miracle on 34th Street
He just came to spread good cheer, but like a lot of guys who never change their clothes or shave he was mistaken for a vagrant. 207 433
2 Tim Allen, The Santa Clause
After the current Santa is KO'd by a comic mishap, Allen becomes Mr. Claus, sort of like the Dalai Lama, only with warmer clothes. 148 430
3 Tom Hanks, The Polar Express
Hanks's role as Santa turned out to be memorable, albeit in a creepy, computer-animated sort of way. 48 382
4 Billy Bob Thornton, Bad Santa
This Santa is definitely on the naughty side of the list. He would happily fill your stocking, especially after he got a few drinks in you. 46 482
5 Edward Asner, Elf
As if delivering presents weren't enough, this Santa finds out his biggest elf (Will Ferrell) has some serious daddy issues. 25 355
6 Dan Aykroyd, Trading Places
This Santa just lost his job as part of an elaborate game, so you can excuse the fact that he's covered in dirt and holding a gun. -2 334
7 Jeff Gillen, A Christmas Story
This Santa gets his jollies not by spreading joy but by traumatizing small children. As if sitting on this guy's lap weren't bad enough. -26 308
8 Paul Giamatti, Fred Claus
Even though he's Santa Claus, he needs to turn to his older sibling (Vince Vaughn) for help in a pinch. -53 285
9 Leslie Nielsen, All I Want for Christmas
What the kids in this movie want is for the guy from The Naked Gun to bring them toys in the freezing cold and reunite their divorced parents. -55 269
10 Edward Ivory, The Nightmare Before Christmas
A stop-motion Santa who gets one hell of a scare when he's kidnapped by an emaciated singing scarecrow. -59 287
11 James Cosmo, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Father Christmas (they're British) has an odd, if useful, idea for Christmas gifts for the Pevensie family: swords and other weapons. -63 273
12 James Belushi, Jingle All the Way
Belushi once co-starred with a dog in K-9, so upgrading to Arnold Schwarzenegger and playing Santa counts as progress. -64 286
13 Elizabeth Banks, Fred Claus
Not all North Pole residents have to be men, fat, or elves. Banks is Santa's sexy helper and quite nice, though everyone imagines her naughty. -85 275
14 David Huddleston, Santa Claus
More like Santa Claus: The Bomb. The priciest Christmas flick ever landed in theaters with the thud of Huddleston's toy-packed sleigh. -111 243
15 Nigel Hawthorne, Call Me Claus
Definitely a nice Santa but with poor judgment: it's a big risk enlisting Christmas-hater Whoopi Goldberg to save the North Pole. -155 225