There are three main, widely recognized Grinch movies based directly on Dr. Seuss’s book “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!”: the 1966 animated TV special, the 2000 live‑action film starring Jim Carrey, and the 2018 animated film starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
Some sources also count additional specials and a horror parody, which can raise the total number of Grinch‑related movies and specials to five or more (including “Halloween Is Grinch Night,” “The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat,” and the parody “The Mean One”).
For most casual discussions, when people ask “how many Grinch movies are there,” the accepted answer is three core adaptations of the original Christmas story.
