Heavy Family enjoys a holiday movie
Less than a year after Hallmark Channel premiered its critically acclaimed “Christmas On Cherry Lane,” a sequel is underway with filming set to begin in late June 2024, according to production trades including Creative BC.
Soon after that shoot is finished, according to The Cinemaholic, two additional “Christmas On Cherry Lane” movies are scheduled to shoot later in the summer. That would turn the innovative project — which followed three different families living in the same house over a 50-year span, featuring an ensemble cast including Jonathan Bennett, Erin Cahill, and James Denton — into a full-fledged movie franchise.
Crew of ‘Christmas On Cherry Lane’ Sequel is Already Prepping Set & Scripts for Stars
It’s not clear if the three upcoming “Christmas On Cherry Lane” movies will star the same ensemble cast as the 2023 original, but director Gail Harvey has returned to Vancouver to oversee the sequel, which is scheduled to film from June 26 through July 15, per Creative BC. The other two movies, according to The Cinemaholic, are scheduled to film in July and August.
As she prepped for the upcoming shoot, Harvey posted an Instagram photo on June 11 with some of her team members from the original movie, including cinematographer David Bercovici-Artieda and production designer Nick Richardson, and wrote, “back with my gang in vancouver !! my film family”
That same day, she shared a photo in her Instagram Stories of herself with Bercovici-Artieda, returning producer (and Hallmark actor) Antonio Cupo, and production manager Priscilla Yeo gathered around a table.
“In the production office today with my new friend @priscillayeo and my old friends @davidbercoart and @antoniocupo ❤️📷”
Sequel of Acclaimed ‘Christmas On Cherry Lane’ Will Follow Similar Structure
GettyJames Denton, Catherine Bell, screenwriter Rick Garman, Vincent Rodriguez III, Jonathan Bennett, Erin Cahill, director Gail Harvey and John Brotherton attend Hallmark Channel’s “Christmas on Cherry Lane” premiere on December 7, 2023
“Christmas On Cherry Lane” followed the storylines of three different couples who all lived in the same house in different decades. Cahill and John Brotherton played a 1973 couple expecting their first baby, Catherine Bell and James Denton played a newly engaged couple in 1999, and Jonathan Bennett and Vincent Rodriguez III played a married couple hoping to welcome their first foster child on Christmas Eve 2023. Plot twists at the end revealed multiple connections among the families across the years.
The “Christmas On Cherry Lane” sequel, according to Production List, will follow a similar structure, following “three families living in the same house in different eras” — 1951, 2003 and 2024 — as they “struggle to keep the spirit of Christmas alive.”
Though the original movie wasn’t the most popular movie of Hallmark’s 2023 “Countdown to Christmas,” it was the top-rated non-sports programming on its December 9 premiere night, according to The TV Ratings Guide, drawing 2 million viewers that night, per Forbes. The outlet said Hallmark’s biggest hit of the season, Lacey Chabert and Scott Wolf’s “A Very Scottish Christmas,” drew 3.3 million viewers on its premiere night.
“Christmas On Cherry Lane” also received much critical acclaim. It was named by Vanity Fair as “one of the top 20 new holiday films in 2023” and earned a GLAAD nomination for Outstanding Streaming or TV Film.
Clearly excited about the project, Hallmark hosted a special premiere of the movie at New York’s Lincoln Center, complete with a red carpet event for the cast and many other Hallmark stars including Tyler Hynes, Victor Webster, Andrew Walker and Nikki DeLoach. Because the film features stories from different years, the full cast didn’t film together, so the event gave them all a chance to finally connect in-person.
During a Facebook Live session on December 8, Bennett exclaimed, “This is the first time the whole cast has been together. I don’t think I’ve ever done a movie like this, where you haven’t met everyone in the cast.”
“I think John Brotherton described it as sort of a braid in how it all weaves together,” Denton interjected. “Everybody’s so busy and we only worked about a week a piece. At least that’s what Catherine and I did. So you come in and do your week and then everybody has lives and kids to deal with. So, you want to hang around and meet everybody but it’s just not practical…I’ve never done anything like it.”