One cannot understate the popularity of Ron Howard's over-designed 2000 winter holiday film "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Although made for an exorbitant budget of $123 million, "Grinch" would earn over $345 million worldwide and become a Christmastime staple in many a home. This despite being a bloated, 105-minute expansion of a 1957 Dr. Seuss picture book that was only 64 pages.

Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" was previously adapted into a 25-minute TV special in 1966, which itself garnered animated follow-ups in 1977 and 1982. Since 2000, the book was also made into a 2007 stage musical, a 2018 animated film called merely "The Grinch," and a 2020 filmed version of the stage production. 2022 also saw the release of a horror spoof of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" called "The Mean One."

This is all in addition to an unending deluge of Grinch-themed merchandise that floods malls every winter holiday season. The merch, some might say,...