Where Was Jingle All The Way Filmed?

While some families enjoy sitting down to watch the likes of "It's a Wonderful Life" or "Elf" every festive season, others are keen to watch "Jingle All the Way" as their guilty pleasure holiday movie. If you're unaware of this feel-good Christmas flick, it stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as a workaholic father trying to make amends after letting his son down by missing his karate graduation. To make matters worse, he forgot to purchase the Turbo Man doll that Jamie (Jake Lloyd) asked for and is hoping to open on Christmas morning (a plot that was inspired by a real-life toy craze in the '90s).

What follows is a series of missteps, illegal actions, and run-ins with the law that ultimately places Howard (Schwarzenegger) at the center of a Christmas parade — with him wearing a fully functional Turbo Man costume. He then fights Turbo Man's bitter enemy, Dementor. This is no actor in a suit, however — it's actually a postman named Myron (Sinbad), who has formed a rivalry with Howard over the course of the film while also desperately trying to find a Turbo Man doll for his son. Jamie gets his hands on a real Turbo Man doll thanks to his dad's accidental participation in the parade, but he ultimately hands it over to a grateful Myron, noting that he's got the real deal at home.

It's a somewhat flawed but nonetheless heartwarming movie that many enjoy watching at Christmastime. Perhaps part of the appeal is that it looks as if it were filmed in Anytown U.S.A. — there are numerous scenes in suburbia, along major highways, in warehouses, and at a massive mall. Given its widespread use of on-location filming, fans have often wondered where "Jingle All the Way" was filmed. The answer might surprise you, because it wasn't shot in Hollywood.

"Jingle All the Way" was filmed almost entirely on location in Minnesota, with much of the shoot taking place in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Edina. If you're local, then it likely won't surprise you to learn that the mall scenes were shot at the Mall of America (the largest mall in the country) in Bloomington, Minnesota. Other shots were done at 7th Place Mall and Mickey's Diner in St. Paul. Mickey's is used for a big scene in the film, and so too is the Nicollet Island Pavilion in Minneapolis — the nearby Hennepin Avenue Bridge features prominently. The radio station location was shot at 360 Wabasha Street in St. Paul, and Linden Hills in Minneapolis makes a brief yet notable appearance in one scene. The scene with Jamie's karate class graduation was shot at Falcon Heights Elementary School in Minnesota.

Andrew Peterson, who was a location assistant on the film, told CBS that they opted to shoot in Minnesota after glowing reviews from others in the film industry. "In '96, they were still like, 'Where's the best place to shoot?' And everybody loved shooting here. They just loved it," Peterson said. "Just the year prior, we shot, simultaneously, 'Beautiful Girls' for Miramax for around $18 million, 'Fargo,' and 'Feeling Minnesota' with Keanu Reeves." According to Anne Healy-Shapiro, another "Jingle All the Way" location scout, the film's star also played a big role in their decision. "Arnold was the one that made them come here because he loves the Mall of America," she said. The parade scene was the only part of the film shot in Los Angeles, having been done at Universal Studios.

Want to see how many of these locations you can spot in the film? Here's where you can stream "Jingle All the Way" this holiday season.