Christmas seems always to be in danger of extinction, at least according to television and cinema. Indefatigable chronicler of Christmas in popular culture, William D. Crump, has listed 53 different programs where the holiday was threatened. In his book, How the Movies Saved Christmas: 228 Rescues from Clausnappers, Sleigh Crashes, Lost Presents and Holiday Disasters, Crump identifies the following five most frequent menaces:
- Santa Claus or Santa surrogate or elves or reindeer are sick, injured, or incapacitated (36 films, eight of which depict Santa suffering from amnesia).
- Villains sabotage or take over the North Pole (29 films).
- Santa crashes his sleigh (24 films).
- Christmas decorations and/or presents are lost or stolen (18 films).
- Protagonists lose the Christmas spirit (17 films).
Though not among the top 5 kidnapping Santa has featured in 10 films, including the amazingly dreadful Santa Claus conquers the Martians.