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70 free Thanksgiving Movies trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
62 free Thanksgiving Movies trivia questions with answers. Thanksgiving has never had a Christmas-sized film catalogue, but the movies it does own are fiercely loved: John Hughes stranding Steve Martin and John Candy in Wichita, Jodie Foster's messy Baltimore dinner table, Snoopy dealing out toast and jelly beans, and Woody Allen bookending two years of family drama with turkey. This quiz digs into the whole shelf, from Miracle on 34th Street's live-shot 1946 parade to Eli Roth's 2023 slasher and Trey Edward Shults's Kickstarter-funded Krisha. Expect questions on cast, plot turns, production stories, box office and awards across Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Home for the Holidays, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, Free Birds, Pieces of April, The Blind Side, Addams Family Values, Hannah and Her Sisters, Scent of a Woman, Rocky, Dutch, The Ice Storm, Grumpy Old Men, Son in Law, You've Got Mail, Funny People and Thanksgiving. Easy warm-ups sit beside genuinely hard production trivia, so it works for a family game or a serious film buff. Every answer has been checked against a primary source, so if you argue about a question at the table, you will win the argument.
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Q 01In Planes, Trains and Automobiles, what does John Candy's character Del Griffith sell for a living?
Shower curtain rings
Del's line of work becomes a running gag, and he even passes the rings off as earrings to raise cash on the road.
Q 02Which future star beats Neal Page to a taxi at the start of Planes, Trains and Automobiles?
Kevin Bacon
The uncredited-feeling cameo is a blink-and-miss moment in the opening rush-hour scramble.
Q 03In Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Neal and Del's flight to Chicago is diverted to which city?
Wichita, Kansas
The diversion is what strands the pair together overnight, forcing them to share a single motel bed.
Q 04Roughly how long was the first cut of Planes, Trains and Automobiles before it was trimmed for release?
Three hours and 45 minutes
Hughes's rewrites and the stars' improvisation produced whole subplots that never made the final film, including one where Neal's wife suspects an affair.
Q 05In Planes, Trains and Automobiles a cut scene had Neal and Del pass Chicago. Which state patch does the trooper wear?
Wisconsin
The cut scene explained why the trip from St. Louis to Chicago somehow took two days.
Q 06Whose 'Everytime You Go Away' did John Hughes want for the ending of Planes, Trains and Automobiles?
Paul Young
The singer himself approved and wanted the song included, but his record company said no, so a cover by Blue Room plays over the credits.
Q 07Who directed the 1995 Thanksgiving comedy-drama Home for the Holidays?
Jodie Foster
It was only her second film as director, following Little Man Tate.
Q 08In which city does Claudia's dysfunctional family gather for Thanksgiving in Home for the Holidays?
Baltimore
Foster chose the city as the prototype of the American city, calling it dangerous, east coasty and urban, yet hopeful.
Q 09How many turkeys were reportedly used to shoot the Thanksgiving dinner scene in Home for the Holidays?
64
The dinner took more than ten days to film and also consumed 44 pies and 50 gallons of juice standing in for wine.
Q 10Which actor plays Claudia's brother Tommy in Home for the Holidays, largely improvising?
Robert Downey Jr.
Foster's freedom on set reportedly reignited his excitement about making films after a disillusioned stretch.
Q 11A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving first aired on CBS two days before the holiday in which year?
1973
It placed third in that week's Nielsen ratings, behind only All in the Family and Sanford & Son.
Q 12Which Peanuts character invites herself, Marcie and Franklin to Charlie Brown's house for Thanksgiving?
Peppermint Patty
She later rejects the toast-and-popcorn feast for lacking traditional foods, then has to apologize.
Q 13In 2020, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving moved to streaming exclusively on which service?
Apple TV+
The deal required a free three-day window each November, and in 2020 and 2021 the special also aired commercial-free on PBS.
Q 21Who plays April Burns, the daughter cooking Thanksgiving for her estranged family in Pieces of April?
Katie Holmes
Writer-director Peter Hedges believed she took the part because it was so unlike her earlier roles.
Q 22On roughly what budget was Pieces of April finally shot, after three larger attempts fell through?
$300,000
Cast and crew earned $200 and $100 a day respectively, and Hedges was paid $10 to write and another $10 to direct.
Q 23Which cast member of Pieces of April earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress?
Patricia Clarkson
She plays April's mother Joy, who is dying of breast cancer, and swept several critics' association awards that season.
Q 14Who composed the music for A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving?
Vince Guaraldi
The score was recorded at Wally Heider Studios in late 1973 and finally released in full for the special's 50th anniversary in 2023.
Q 15Miracle on 34th Street opens with the Macy's parade Santa in what condition?
Drunk
Kris Kringle complains to event director Doris Walker, who talks him into taking the sleigh himself.
Q 16Miracle on 34th Street's parade scenes were shot live at the real Macy's parade of which year?
1946
Maureen O'Hara recalled a bitterly cold day where every shot could be attempted only once.
Q 17In which month of 1947 was Miracle on 34th Street released, on Darryl F. Zanuck's insistence?
May
Zanuck argued more people went to the movies in warm weather, so the studio hid the Christmas setting in its marketing.
Q 18Which actor won Best Supporting Actor for playing Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street?
Edmund Gwenn
The role was first turned down by Cecil Kellaway, who happened to be Gwenn's cousin.
Q 19In the 2013 animated film Free Birds, what mission do time-travelling Reggie and Jake pursue?
Get turkeys off the Thanksgiving menu
They travel back to 1621, three days before the first Thanksgiving, and end up pitching pizza as the replacement dish.
Q 20Which Star Trek actor voices S.T.E.V.E., the egg-shaped time-machine AI in Free Birds?
George Takei
The film's score was originally to be written by Steve Martin, and one of Martin's demos featured vocals by another Star Trek alum, Leonard Nimoy.
Q 24The title Pieces of April comes from a 1972 song by which band?
Three Dog Night
Composer Stephin Merritt talked Hedges out of using the song at the end and wrote an original closer instead.
Q 25From which sitcom set did Sean Hayes call to ask for a part in Pieces of April?
Will & Grace
Hedges told him Bobby was written as African-American; Derek Luke, the last to audition, landed that role on the spot.
Q 26The Blind Side is based on a 2006 book by which author?
Michael Lewis
The same writer's Moneyball also became an Oscar-nominated sports film.
Q 27In Addams Family Values, Wednesday plays which historical figure in the camp's Thanksgiving play?
Pocahontas
She breaks from the script mid-performance and leads the camp's outcasts in burning down the stage.
Q 28Which real location stood in for Camp Chippewa in Addams Family Values?
Sequoia National Park
The adjacent Sequoia Lake in California's Sierra Nevada supplied the camp's waterfront.
Q 29Addams Family Values' title was Paul Rudnick's jab at a 1992 'family values' speech by which politician?
Dan Quayle
The speech had blamed the Los Angeles riots on a breakdown of family values.
Q 30Who plays Debbie Jellinsky, the serial-killer nanny who marries Uncle Fester in Addams Family Values?
Joan Cusack
Nathan Lane, who cameos as a police desk sergeant, later played Gomez in the Broadway musical.