Movies & TV / News

A Christmas Story Sequel In the Works For HBO Max

January 21, 2022 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
A Christmas Story Image Credit: MGM

It’s time to practice your Italian (“Fragile!”) and shoot your eye out, because a sequel to A Christmas Story is heading to HBO Max. THR reports that Clay Kaytis (The Christmas Chronicles) is set to direct a follow-up to the 1983 holiday classic, which will be titled A Christmas Story Christmas.

The new film will bring back star Peter Billingsley, who played the lead role of Ralphie in the original film. Billingsley will star in and produce the film, the latter alongside Vince Vaugh through their Wild West Picture Show Production shingle. Warner and Legendary are behind the film, which is written by Nick Schenk (Gran Torino, The Mule).

The original film was based on Jean Shepherd’s partially fictionalized anecdotes in hjs 1966 book In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash. It centered on Billingsley’s Ralphie, a young boy in 1940s Chicago who made his way through a treacherous Christmas season while hoping for a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle. It became a holiday classic and a mega-hit, airing in yearly Christmas Day marathons on TBS and TNT. It was also selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2012.

The new film will be set in the 1970s with an adult Ralphie returning to his house on Cleveland Street, hoping to give his kids a magical Christmas like the one he had growing up. Along the way he reconnects with childhood friends, reconciles the passing of his father, and more.

Production on the new film begins next month in Hungary.