News

Gilmore Girls is the perfect cold-weather, bingeworthy comfort show that has accompanied millions of Rory and Lorelai fans all around the world. The series that first aired in 2000 is an autumn and winter staple, that’s for sure, but an even better way to indulge in the Christmas spirit is to take one of the widely loved Gilmore Girls stars and put them in a Christmas movie.

Lets all bow down to Lionsgate, because the production company together with director Dallas Jenkins were behind making this wish become reality. The Christmas comedy drama movie The Best Christmas Pageant Ever connects a Gilmore Girls star to the festive season, and it couldn’t be a greater delight. The movie, which was released for the big screens on November 8, 2024, is now finally available to rent on Apple TV+ or Prime Video. As the adaptation of the 1972 children’s novel of the same name by Barbara Robinson,...

The box office is heating up in fall 2024, making for a highly competitive season. One of the biggest hits right now is the well-reviewed film adaptation of Wicked, which released in theaters on November 22. At the time of writing, Wicked has made over $359 million worldwide, and is well on its way to becoming one of the year's best performing films at the box office. Disney's Moana 2 released this past weekend and delivered a strong $135.5 million opening. Meanwhile, Ridley Scott's blockbuster sequel Gladiator II is also vying for a spot in the box office race.

At the same time that these coinciding box office hits are occurring, it is also getting closer and closer to the holiday season. This means the release of several festive movies both in theaters and on streaming. One of those movies was Netflix's Hot Frosty, a movie that, while a direct-to-streaming release, has been successful for its platform.

Initially a magazine short story, then expanded to novel form in 1972, Barbara Robinson’s “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” has remained a holiday staple ever since. Its enjoyable central conceit of Roald Dahl-style comedic nastiness — the first sentence pegs principal figures as “absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world” — no doubt explains an enduring popularity among young readers, while there’s just enough inspirational uplift by the end to earn parental approval.

That equation gets reversed to a degree in this first big-screen version from Dallas Jenkins, whose Biblical-times series “The Chosen” set a high mark among faith-based entertainments for the small screen in recent years. His “Pageant” goes a little too sentimental and instructive too soon for those viewers whose attention spans are better suited to the antic earlier going. Nonetheless, this is a well-cast, well-crafted diversion for the whole family that’s already done...

Beginning this Thursday on Hallmark+, the two-episode premiere of Holidazed will bring you into the holiday celebrations of six families on a very special neighborhood block.

Holidazed weaves together the stories of these diverse families, utilizing their family history and future aspirations in a special one-of-a-kind series that has rarely been done on television.

We have some exclusive interviews for you below, but first, let’s discuss the groundbreaking new show.

(Courtesy of Hallmark Media)

The first thing you need to know is that the cast is incredible.

The sprawling ensemble reaches well beyond traditional Hallmark stars with a breadth of talent other shows can only dream about.

(Courtesy of Hallmark Media)

As the series kicks off, viewers will be introduced to a vibrant cast of characters:

Linda Johnson (Loretta Devine): Robert’s ex-wife, determined to embrace her independence and live her best

life. Robert Johnson (Dennis Haysbert):...

Photo: Erin Cahill, Nazneen Contractor, Ian Harding Credit: ©2024 Hallmark Media/Photographer: Shane Harvey

The new Hallmark+ limited series Holidazed is about holiday revelations, and family connections while starring a bevy of stars.

Hallmark Media is premiering its first-ever, limited holiday series Holidazed with the first two episodes airing on November 14 on Hallmark+. The new series stars Loretta Devine, Dennis Haysbert, Ser-Darius Blain, Virginia Madsen, John C. McGinley, Holland Roden, Lucille Soong, Osric Chau, Noemi Gonzalez, Lindy Booth, Rachelle Lefevre, Ian Harding and Erin Cahill.

Phew! That is quite the line-up for this new series about holiday revelations and family connections. Read on to find out more about the first two episodes of Holidazed and its cast on Hallmark+.

Love, family and holiday surprises in Holidazed on Hallmark+ Photo: Erin Cahill Credit: ©2024 Hallmark Media/Photographer: Shane Harvey Episode 1 – The Beginning

According to the official synopsis, the first episode reveals that the...

There is a new holiday series called Holidazed on Hallmark+. Firstly, this limited series features an ensemble cast that tells the story of a group of six families that live in a cul-de-sac. Furthermore, in this series there are “Holiday revelations, family connections, and a bevy of stars.”

In addition, here is more information on this new series including the stars, and the premiere date.

Photo: Erin Cahill Credit: ©2024 Hallmark Media/Photographer: Courtesy Hallmark Media What Is Hallmark+ Series Holidazed About?

Hallmark+ is premiering the new series Holidazed soon. What is it about? According to the network, “The series follows six families, all living on the same cul-de-sac as they gather for the holidays when emotions are amplified and relationships tested. But in the end, all come together in heartwarming and funny celebrations that showcase what we do have in common: Love in all its different forms.”

Photo: Erin Cahill,...

Based on the 1972 children's book of the same name by Barbara Robinson, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever lengthens the story but fails to dig deep while exploring its own true meaning of Christmas. Now that it's November, stores, companies, and the media will all be leaning head-first into the Christmas spirit, even if the event itself is still almost two months away. This is the cycle of Christmas cheer in film and television. Though it's being released right on schedule, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is trying to combat the commodification of Christmas, if only slightly.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Director Dallas JenkinsRelease Date November 8, 2024Studio(s) Kingdom Story CompanyWriters Platte Clark, Darin McDaniel, Ryan SwansonCast Tom Young, Jenni Burke, Isla Verlot, Nolan Grantham, Wyatt Dewar, Danielle Hoetmer, Mason D Nelligan, Essek Moore, Ewan Wood, Beatrice Schneider, Kynlee Heiman, Molly Belle Wright, Matthew Lamb, Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez, Kirk B.R. Woller,...

There is a reason certain Christmas movies stand the test of time and return year after year, and also a reason the Hallmark-style factory-made product is easily forgotten. It’s a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas and A Christmas Story are pure examples of the former. They are perennials, classics.

In fact, that sweetly nostalgic 1983 A Christmas Story is what I thought of most when watching the latest entry in the genre, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, which may not be the best Christmas movie ever, but it grabs your heart and makes you smile. It also is that increasingly rare so-called “faith based” film that doesn’t try to hit you on the head with a sermon. Instead, it manages to be thoroughly entertaining family fare that also uncovers the true, not commercial, meaning of the holiday. I wouldn’t be surprised if this Lionsgate release becomes a perennial itself.

If there’s one thing the world needs, it’s yet another Christmas movie. That probably sounds sarcastic, but I mean it. The endless deluge of Christmas films, year after year, has watered the holiday down into a genial but middling medley of cozy trappings and tropes. The Hallmark Channel bears a lot of the blame for this, pumping out hundreds of blandly reassuring holiday films in rapid succession, all with the same four or five plots and (slightly) different casting.

Ironically, this overwhelming wave of (hopefully) well-intentioned Christmas movies has led to a situation not unlike the one found in “A Charlie Brown Christmas Special.” This holiday has been overly commercialized for so long now that it’s hard to remember it any other way, and the actual message of the season has been lost in the flood of corporate cash-ins.

At the end of the “Charle Brown Christmas,...

Exclusive: In advance of its big slate presentation tomorrow here at CinemaCon, we’ve caught word from exhibition sources that Lionsgate is making a few release-date changes.

First of all, its anticipated reboot of The Crow from director Rupert Sanders and starring Bill Skarsgård is moving from June 7 to August 23.

On its new date, The Crow will go up against Amazon MGM’s Zoë Kravitz’s feature directorial debut, the suspense thriller Blink Twice, as well as Sony’s Kendrick Brothers’ faith-based title The Forge.

The Crow, based on the original graphic novel by James O’Barr, follows soulmates Eric Draven (Skarsgård) and Shelly Webster (FKA Twigs), who are brutally murdered when the demons of her dark past catch up with them. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Eric sets out to seek merciless revenge on their killers, traversing the worlds of the living and the...

Peter Pan & Wendy takes up again the most classic Disney in, precisely, its anniversary, with one of its most iconic stories.

This time with the appeal of giving us Jude Law as Captain Hook.

Peter Pan & Wendy is a film directed by David Lowery starring Alexander Molony and Ever Anderson.

Peter Pan & Wendy (2023) About the Movie

A perfect opportunity to revisit a classic and make slight modifications to it? Well, that seems to be the idea of Disney and its screenwriters (the film infobox lists no less than ten people on the team).

Peter Pan & Wendy is everything we saw in the 1953 animated version, what we relived with more magic in Spielberg’s Hook and now we return to it with Jude Law playing the bad guy.

There is nothing wrong with the film, except that we have already seen it and, if you are expecting...

It’s been a busy week for London premieres, tonight sees the Neverland express arrives in Leicester Square for Disney+’s Peter Pan & Wendy . The film stars Jude Law, Yara Shahidi, Ever Anderson, Alexander Maloney, as well as The Lost Boys: Jacobi Jupe, Joshua Pickering, Kelsey & Skyler Yates, Caelan Edie, Noah Matofsky, Florence Bensburg, Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez, Felix de Sousa and is directed by David Lowery.

The original movie will begin streaming on Disney+ 28 April, 2023. Colin Hart & Scott Davis are on the red carpet, here are their interviews.

Peter Pan & Wendy Premiere Interview

Plot:

The reimagining introduces Wendy Darling, a young girl looking to avoid boarding school who meets Peter Pan, a boy who refuses to grow up. Alongside her brothers and a tiny fairy, Tinker Bell, she travels with Peter to the magical world of Neverland. There, she encounters an evil pirate captain, Captain Hook, and embarks on a...

Disney has released the official trailer for “Peter Pan & Wendy,” the studio’s latest live-action adaptation which sees the beloved lead characters of Walt Disney’s 1953 animated classic in dual protagonist roles.

The new trailer is long-awaited for Disney fans, following an exclusive first-look at footage during D23 Expo in September. Similar to the initial teaser, the trailer shows off breathtaking visuals of Neverland, courtesy of the film’s director of photography Bojan Bazelli, and foreshadows an action-packed confrontation between Wendy and the film’s hot-tempered villain, Captain Hook.

Directed by David Lowery, the upcoming film stars Alexander Molony and Ever Anderson in the lead roles of Peter Pan and Wendy. Alongside them, Jude Law stars as Captain Hook and Yara Shahidi is making history as the first Black woman to ever take on the role of Tinkerbell.

The age-old tale follows the adventures of the eternally youthful Peter Pan,...

X-Files Recap is a weekly column by Keith Uhlich covering Chris Carter's 10-episode continuation of the X-Files television series.Shafts of light outlined by drizzly mist. A soon-to-be massacred boy (Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez) separated from his mother. A shape-shifting monster lurking in the woods. Business as usual on The X-Files, though there’s something about the adeptly creepy teaser sequence of “Familiar” (the eighth episode of Season 11, penned by former Xf writer’s assistant Benjamin Van Allen, and beautifully, atmospherically directed by series newcomer Holly Dale) that feels provocatively off and strange. It’s a sensation that extends over the entirety of an installment sure to be categorized as “old school,” though it more accurately blends the freshly peculiar with the staunchly, yes, familiar. “Thanks for backing me up out there,” says FBI Special Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) to her partner Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) after they mutually spar...