Left-Right: Melissa Joan Hart, Barry Waton, Marissa Jaret Winkour / Photos: Crown Media/UPtv/IMDb

One of the Christmas movies I’m most looking forward to this year is “A Very Nutty Christmas”, starring Melissa Joan Hart (“Melissa & Joey”), Barry Watson (“7th Heaven”) and Broadway alum Marissa Jaret Winokur (“Hairspray”).

Synopsis: Kate (Hart), a workaholic baker, has given up on Christmas, especially this year, when her boyfriend dumps her and she’s got to fill an order of 12,000 cookies before Christmas. However, the gift of a magic nutcracker (Watson) who turns into a real man makes the once cynical Kate understand the magic and beauty of Christmas–and of love.

Photos: Official Twitters of Lowe and Davis

According to Deadline, it appears that Netflix has given the green light to the new adventure-romance holiday film, “Christmas in the Wild” co-starring Kristin Davis (“Deck the Halls”), Rob Lowe (“The Christmas Shoes”) and Lowe’s son, John Owen Lowe.

Via Deadline, the film is said ‘to be in the vein of Eat Pray Love, Christmas in the Wild is set against the backdrop of the elephant poaching and conservation battles in the African wilderness. It centers on a woman (Davis) who, after her longtime husband walks out on her just before a family safari, goes anyway. Arriving in Africa she meets a bush pilot and elephant conservationist (Lowe). John Owen Lowe plays Davis’ son.’

“Christmas in the Wild” will film in Africa with a pending premiere for the 2019 holiday season. The film is written by Neal Dobrofsky and Tippi Dobrofsky and directed by Ernie Barbarash.

Stay merry!

Left: Bethany Joy Lenz, Right: Sharon Lawrence / Photos: BJL’s Twitter/CBS

Dedicated Hallmark Channel viewers will be familiar with Bethany Joy Lenz in fan-favorites “The Christmas Secret” and, more recently, “Royal Matchmaker”; you may have also caught her in last year’s Lifetime holiday flick, “Snowed-Inn Christmas”, but to all of those “One Tree Hill” fans out there– you’ll be especially excited to see that she’s teaming up with a former OTH co-star for yet another Christmas movie!

Joy will work with Sharon Lawrence, once again, on the TV movie “Poinsettia”.

The details are very slim right now, but Christie Will Wolf will direct based off of Barbara Kymlicka‘s screenplay, and I’m assuming the movie will either air on one of the Hallmark networks or Lifetime in time for the holidays later this year.

I’m very excited for this one so, as details become available, I will keep you posted!

Stay merry!

There is going to be a lot of holiday programming to choose from this year!

I recently posted about Hallmark increasing their amount of Christmas movie premieres and Freeform expanding on their festive cheer from October through December, and now Lifetime has doubled their amount of their original Yuletide movies for their “It’s a Wonderful Lifetime” programming. Last year they introduced the line-up as “It’s a Really, Really Cozy Christmas”, but it seems that they’re returning to a former title familiar to viewers from years past.

Last year we saw six movies and a few mini films, and now we’ll be getting FOURTEEN brand-new originals–including one starring Toni Braxton! I really enjoyed their block of films last year (“Snowed-Inn Christmas”, “My Christmas Prince”, “Wrapped Up in Christmas”, “A Very Merry Toy Store”, “Four Christmases and a Wedding” & “Christmas in Mississippi”), so I’m excited to see what’s in store this time around.

Stay merry!

Photo: Crown Media

LeAnn Rimes is making her “Countdown to Christmas” debut this holiday season on the Hallmark Channel! The Grammy-winning Country singer is bringing both her acting and musical talents to the small screen in “It’s Christmas, Eve”.

The movie follows Eve Morgan (Rimes), an interim school superintendent, who is assigned to shut down a school’s failing music program and must come to terms with her own musical past.

The movie, which is set to premiere sometime in December, also stars Tyler Hynes, Gwynyth Walsh and Giles Panton.  Check out an exclusive sneak peek at www.countryliving.com!

Stay merry!

Photo: Crown Media

Danielle Panabaker is returning to the Hallmark Channel for a new holiday movie! You may have caught her in 2014’s “Recipe for Love”, and now she’s set to star in “Christmas Joy”, based off the novel by Nancy Naigle, alongside Matt Long — and Hallmark has already released a detailed synopsis:

In “Christmas Joy,” Joy Holbrook (Panabaker) is a keenly intelligent market researcher with an eye on her company’s top account and garnering a sweet promotion just in time for the holidays. Just as Joy is capturing the attention of the account’s CEO, she receives a call from her Aunt Ruby’s best friend back home in Crystal Falls, NC. Ruby has broken her ankle and needs surgery. Though the timing couldn’t be worse, Joy immediately comes to her Aunt’s bedside only to be reunited with former crush, now hospital administrator, Ben Andrews (Long), son of Ruby’s best friend Shirley. Joy also must navigate Ruby’s stubborn determination to be in control of everything, including the town’s legendary annual Cookie Crawl, a walking home tour where owners display holiday decorations and treat each other to Christmas cookies all while vying to win the prized Golden Wreath Award.

Photo: Crown Media

Spring has officially begun, but my mind is already on Christmas — and, naturally, so is Hallmark’s! According to Entertainment Weekly, both the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries will unveil 34 new original movies this holiday season, which is a new record for the pair of networks as last year they debuted a combined 33 films.

For the Hallmark Channel, we’ll see 22 of the films debut during the “Countdown to Christmas” holiday programming starting October 27th while the remaining 12 will air for the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries “Most Wonderful Movies of Christmas” slate beginning November 4th.

Following 2016’s “The Mistletoe Promise” and 2017’s “The Mistletoe Inn”, word on the street is that the third part of Richard Paul Evans’ holiday anthology series, “The Mistletoe Secret”, will be adapted for the network this year.  Leading lady favorites Danica McKellar, Candace Cameron Bure and Lacey Chabert are rumored to head up new films while Kellie Martin leads one for HMM titled “Vet”, described as “an emotional story of heroism and homecoming.”

Photo: Walt Disney Pictures

I love seeing new holiday movies each and every year–whether it’s on television, in the theaters, or even discovering a Christmas film I’ve never seen before, but there’s something about re-imagining the timeless favorites that always gives me that warm festive feeling. Next November you’ll find me at my nearest movie theater for the opening weekend premiere of Disney’s “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms”!

That’s right, Disney is bringing the Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky classic ballet (based off of E. T. A. Hoffmann’s “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”) back to the big screen and it’s got an amazing cast–including: Keira Knightley as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Mackenzie Foy as Clara along with Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, Richard E. Grant, Ellie Bamber, Jack Whitehall, Charles “Lil Buck” Riley and American ballet dancer Misty Copeland as The Ballerina, naturally.

Photo: Anna Kendrick Official Instagram

Anna Kendrick is starring in a new Disney Christmas movie called “Noelle” (previously “Nicole)”, and she’s been hard at work filming scenes these past few weeks on location in Vancouver, Canada.

“Noelle” tells the story of Santa Claus’ daughter who finds herself needing to take over the family business. Not much else about the plot has been leaked, but we’ve gotten a first look at Kendrick’s costume thanks to her Instagram posts.

Photo by Brian Bowen Smith

THR announced today that Melissa McCarthy is officially set to star in an upcoming Christmas musical comedy called “Margie Claus” which she will also produce while her husband, and business partner, Ben Falcone, will serve as director.

New Line Cinema has picked up the film, a holiday family film written by Falcone and Damon Jones.

McCarthy is starring as the title role of Margie – aka Mrs. Claus, who must assemble a rescue team to save Christmas after Santa Claus goes missing.

The tentative theatrical release date is November 15, 2019. I’m excited to see this one!

Stay merry!