You know how long it’s been since A Christmas Story came out? Everyone who saw Ralphie almost shoot his eye out in theaters would have to wait another nine years before Mariah Carey released “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” What did people even listen to during the holidays back then? “Silver Bells”? The horror.
A sequel to 1983’s A Christmas Story also could have been a horror, but apparently A Christmas Story Christmas (which was released on HBO Max today) is pretty good! In an interview with People, star Peter Billingsley explained why it took so long to make a follow-up. “You really want to try to create something that could stand on its own, that’s original,” he said. “In movies, you want to play offense — you want to do something great, you want to have momentum, do great storytelling. But in this one, you gotta play defense too because you have to protect, I think, its association to the original.”
Billingsley also explained that being a father made him want to make a sequel to the holiday classic. “A lot of people have said, ‘Why now?’ for this movie, and definitely being a father in real life [paralleled] being able to channel being a father in A Christmas Story Christmas,” he said. A new generation can learn the power of a triple dog dare.
A Christmas Story Christmas is out now.
(Via People)