To celebrate the Christmas season, we’ve enlisted the help of our expert database of tradespeople to reveal the top five most destructive Christmas movies of all time, according to how much it would cost to repair everything that gets damaged within the films. Because while Christmas is a time of love and joy, its also a time where some things can get broken, as these movies show…
Taking the top spot is the 1988 blockbuster Die Hard with its over the top action scenes totalling an eye watering £15,192,394 worth of damage to the iconic Nakatomi Plaza office block and its surroundings. In second place came Gremlins with the mischievous, evil creatures inflicting £544,415 of damage to the fictional town of Kingston Falls.
Here’s the full top five:
- Die Hard: £15,192,394
- Gremlins: £544,415
- Home Alone 2: £217,730
- The Grinch: £152,815
- Paddington: £34,547
You can see the highest cost damages below, and just scroll further for information on our expert panel and detail on the full damages list for each film.
Our expert panel includes:
- John Lindsay from NXG Roofing, and NXG Windows, builders who work across Scotland
- Rob Chalkley from Reoc Electrical, from London and the Surrey area
- Fardin Hussain from East London Painters
- Keith Marsh from K Marsh Plumbing & Heating Ltd, from London
And, for those who wanted to see our workings out, you can see the full list of damages for each of the top films, and the cost it amounted to below.
Die Hard:
| Item | Description | Cost to repair/replace |
|---|---|---|
| Marble flooring | Surface damage due to small explosive | £1,000 |
| Electrical wiring in IT room | Wires completely ripped out by force to all connecting computers | £200 |
| 2x metal cabinet doors | Damaged with a circular saw | £120 |
| Door | Door kicked and dented | £150 |
| Phone wires and electrics | Chainsaw ran right through electrical wiring and their protective metal surrounds | £680 |
| Office ceiling | Machine gun bullet holes in ceiling from warning fire | £50,000 |
| John Phillip’s Suit | Covered in blood | £150 |
| Drywall and metal supports | Completely broken through during a fight | £100,000 |
| Internal plasterboard wall | Large hole punched through wall during a fight | £900 |
| Wooden door | Dented and ripped from hinges during a fight | £150 |
| Office desk | Threw over in a fit of rage | £120 |
| Computer | Thrown on floor | £400 |
| Lamp | Thrown on floor and smashed | £20 |
| Concrete floor of helipad | Bullet hole damage from machine gun fire | £500 |
| Steel door | Bullet hole damage, especially to handle | £100 |
| Metal air ventilation shaft | Bullet hole damage from machine gun fire | £100,000 |
| Carpet/flooring | Damage from gunfire | £1,500 |
| Office chair | Smashed into window | £50 |
| Large window x2 | Glass shattered | £250 |
| Conference table | Bullet hole damage | £1,000 |
| Police car | Significant damage from body being thrown on to its bonnet from a large height, and driving backwards through a fence | £14,324 |
| Metal fence | Car driven through fence, breaking it | £4,000 |
| Large industrial safe | Completely broken in to | £2,000 |
| Large window x3 | Glass shattered by gunfire | £250 |
| Large industrial spotlight | Shot out with sniper rifle | £200 |
| Police tank | Blown up with bazooka shot | £8,000,000 |
| Concrete steps – external | Damaged due to explosion from bazooka shot | £3,900 |
| Metal handrail on external stairway | Rammed by car and significantly damaged | £1,200 |
| Fire extinguisher glass | Smashed | £50 |
| Metal door | Struck with axe | £300 |
| Office block entire floor x3 | Large C4 explosion shattering all windows and fire damage/wreckage across entire floor | £291,000 |
| Elevator shaft | Strong fire damage due to C4 explosion | £450,000 |
| 2x elevator carriages | Blown up | £100,000 |
| Large internal glass wall/partition which runs the length of an entire office floor | Completely shattered by gunfire | £2,000 |
| Office flooring | Damaged by explosion – fire damage and denting | £2,900 |
| Computer x3 | Damaged by bullet fire | £1,200 |
| Office desk x3 | Damaged by bullet fire | £360 |
| Metal door | Damaged by bullet fire | £300 |
| Drinks glasses x15 | Smashed | £20 |
| Large floor to ceiling window | Completely shattered | £2,000 |
| Military Helicopter | Crash landed – completely ruined | £6,000,000 |
| Concrete external flooring | Shattered due to helicopter crash landing on it | £3,900 |
| Entire office floor x35 | Waterlogged due to sprinkler system running and soaking all carpeting, walls etc. | £30,000 |
| Floor to ceiling window | Shattered due to body falling through it | £2,000 |
| Limo | Crashed in to van | £10,000 |
| Van | Crashed in to by limo | £10,000 |
| Garage door | Driven through by limo | £700 |
| Rolex watch | Dropped from high up on skyscraper to concrete and fire below | £2,500 |
| Total | £15,192,394 |
Gremlins:
| Item | Description | Cost to repair/replace |
|---|---|---|
| Car | Driven into a lamppost – broken bumper with smoke coming out | £4,000 |
| Garden ornament | Head snapped off and dropped | £100 |
| Carpet | Mogwai sick on carpet – cleaning required | £30 |
| Clock | Plug torn off | £3 |
| Mogwai cage | Cut open | £50 |
| Air vent grate | Gremlin smashes hole in grate | £250 |
| Door | Gremlin smashes hole in door | £180 |
| Wiring | Phone wires ripped out of wall | £500 |
| Drinking glass | Glass smashed against wall | £2 |
| Wall | Dirty footprints on wall | £15 |
| Kitchen | Gremlin gets blended – kitchen covered in goop – cleaning required | £35 |
| Dinner plates | Entire set of dinner plates smashed against a wall | £10 |
| Microwave | Gremlin explodes in microwave. New microwave required | £40 |
| Christmas tree | Tree toppled and decorations smashed | £30 |
| Curtains | Gremlin blows nose on curtains – cleaning required | £10 |
| House window | Smashed pane of glass | £200 |
| Glass door | Smashed pane of glass | £250 |
| TV arial | Arial bent | £10 |
| Garage door | Huge hole smashed through | £700 |
| Fence | Smashed through by snow plough | £600 |
| House wall | Smashed through by snow plough | £3,400 |
| Contents of living room | Completely smashed through by snow plough | £2,500 |
| Traffic lights | Wires pulled out and lights hot wired | £1,700 |
| Stair lift electrics | Torn out and hot wired | £125 |
| Window | Lady thrown through it – totally smashed | £250 |
| Fence | Smashed down | £550 |
| Christmas lights | Cut through with scissors | £20 |
| Car | Overturned | £4,000 |
| Truck | Crashed into house | £20,000 |
| Neon bar sign | Smashed | £20 |
| Drinking glasses x10 | Glasses smashed in bar | £50 |
| Pub | Totally trashed – major clean up job | £200 |
| Wall light | Smashed | £30 |
| Framed picture | Smashed | £25 |
| Pub window | Holes smashed through | £200 |
| Town Christmas lights | Destroyed | £500 |
| Entire bank | Smashed up furniture, Christmas tree, framed pictures – major clean ups and repairs needed | £2,000 |
| Small movie theatre | Major explosion – rebuild needed | £500,000 |
| Department store window | Hole smashed through – two large panes broken | £250 |
| Department store | Candy dropped everywhere – major clean-up needed | £100 |
| TV | Smashed with baseball bat | £300 |
| Wall | Rip saw blade thrown into a wall – embedded | £500 |
| Mannequin | Smashed to pieces | £50 |
| Stereo | Shot with an arrow from a crossbow | £20 |
| Baseball bat | Cut through with a chainsaw | £10 |
| Department store | Floor sliced majorly with a chainsaw | £500 |
| Department store | Dissolved gremlin corpse on floor – major clean up required | £100 |
| Total | £544,415 |
Home Alone 2:
| Item | Description | Cost to repair/replace |
|---|---|---|
| Car | Roof of car totally smashed | £2,000 |
| Front door | Kicked door off the hinges | £150 |
| Window | Window broken by a rock | £180 |
| Chest | Broken lock on wooden chest | £30 |
| Floor | Hole in floor all the way to basement from 1st floor needs fixing (10ft by 10ft) | £2,050 |
| Present | Glass present thrown | £100 |
| Pearl necklace | Necklace snapped | £1,000 |
| Shelves | Fallen and broken | £120 |
| Paint | Fell over and spilt everywhere | £250 |
| Electrics | Electrics blown on ground floor of house | £500 |
| Bathroom | All plumbing to be fixed | £10,800 |
| TV | Thrown through floor – smashed | £500 |
| Ladder | Snapped in two | £50 |
| House | Three bed town-house rebuild | £190,000 |
| Scaffolding | Broken from the front of the building – needs re-doing | £10,000 |
| Total | £217,730 |
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas:
| Item | Description | Cost to repair/replace |
|---|---|---|
| Car | Minor crash – headlamp fell out | £800 |
| Glass botte | Smashed | £5 |
| Tree | Gigantic town Christmas tree burnt down | £500 |
| Window x3 | Windows smashed through | £300 |
| Exterior of buildings | Explosion – fire damage to 6 buildings | £150,000 |
| Sleigh | Crashed into wall | £200 |
| Plate | Broken plate | £10 |
| Windows | Bed smashed through whole window pain | £1,000 |
| Total | £152,815 |
Paddington:
| Item | Description | Cost to repair/replace |
|---|---|---|
| Record player | Record player smashed | £300 |
| Toilet | Toilet blocked | £192 |
| Toilet seat | Seat broken off toilet | £156 |
| Flooding to bathroom | Entire bathroom flooded | £10,000 |
| Bathroom electrics | Flooding short circuits electrics | £125 |
| Toilet cistern | Pulled off from wall | £336 |
| Bathroom pipe | Pipe burst | £288 |
| Bathroom | Plumbing to be re-done | £10,800 |
| Bath | Bath dislodged from fittings | £300 |
| Wooden flooring on landing | Flooded | £500 |
| Wooden stairs | Flooded | £500 |
| Satellite dish x6 | Knocked completely off house | £400 |
| Ford Car | Door crashed into by another car | £2,000 |
| Geography guild metal pipes x 12 | Exploded pipes | £600 |
| Door | Kicked lock open | £150 |
| Wooden flooring in kitchen | Heavy fire damage | £900 |
| Smoke damage | Smoke damage to entire kitchen | £7,000 |
| Total | £34,547 |
