With the film still fresh in people’s mind thanks to its annual non-stop marathons, A Christmas Story sequel is officially coming to HBO Max, and this time, with original star Peter Billingsley reprising his role as Ralphie. The sequel will be directed by Clay Kaytis (The Christmas Chronicles) with a script from Nick Schenk who recently wrote the Clint Eastwood vehicles Cry Macho and The Mule. Along with his longtime partner Vince Vaughn, Billingsley will also serve as executive producer for the follow-up to the holiday classic that sees a grown Ralphie return to his childhood home.
While the original movie followed Ralphie, a nine-year old boy who desperately wanted a Red Ryder BB rifle and was set in 1940, the new story will take place in the 1970s and sees an adult Ralphie return to his house on Cleveland Street to deliver his kids a magical Christmas like the one he had growing up. The studio is hoping to recreate the same real-life tone of the first movie to show the now-father reconnect with childhood friends, reconcile the passing of his Old Man, and callbacks to the initial film.
Production on the film is already set to start in Hungary in February, so there’s a good chance HBO Max is looking to have this offering ready for the 2022 holiday season. However, this isn’t the first time a sequel to A Christmas Story has been attempted. In 1994, Succession star Kieran Culkin starred in My Summer Story (originally titled It Runs In The Family), which was a direct follow-up to A Christmas Story. Almost two decades later, A Christmas Story 2 was released straight to DVD. If you have no recollection of these films, that’s because they were awful and completely whiffed capturing the charm of the original. We probably shouldn’t even have mentioned them.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
