Hallmark holiday movies bring in viewers every Christmas, providing them with their annual
fix of feel-good TV comfort. Even for those who've watched dozens of Hallmark holiday
movies over the years, there's still a lot that viewers don't know about that goes on.
Hallmark holiday movies are typically set in a charming yet generic small town in America,
yet the vast majority of these made-for-TV movies are actually filmed in Canada, most
notably Vancouver. In fact, several Vancouver area suburbs — particularly the British
Columbia cities of Langley and Maple Ridge — can lay claim to hosting dozens of Hallmark
holiday movies over the years.
In fact, filming Hallmark productions has become so prevalent in Maple Ridge that the
city has its own film production liaison who receives more requests to film there than
she can accommodate. She told CBC News,
"I've actually had to turn away a few productions. I have to be a little more discerning now."
Nearby Langley has also been the setting of countless Hallmark productions. Speaking with
the Aldergrove Star, Teri James, executive director of the Downtown Langley Business
Association, outlined some of the benefits that keep Hallmark coming back year after
year, including a special tax break and local businesses that are "very supportive of filming."
She added,
"The vibe of the 'mom and pop' downtown works very well for many of the movies that are
filmed here."
While most Hallmark holiday movies take place at Christmastime, they're actually filmed
in the summer. This creates a unique challenge for filmmakers to recreate a cold, snowy Christmas
in the middle of July.
According to the Langley Advance Times, fake cotton snow and other movie making trickery
are used to create the illusion of winter, along with lots and lots of ice. Troy Scott,
an assistant director who's worked on several holiday movies, told CBC News,
"We'll go to a plant that deals with packing fish or meat and just get a huge, huge couple
truckloads of ice."
Still, faking winter in the midst of a Vancouver heatwave can be particularly daunting for
actors. Hallmark star Candace Cameron Bure explained,
"It takes a toll on you to film in this heat. Not only are you sweating, but you have to
act like you're cold, which takes another element of your energy to pretend that you're
shivering instead of just naturally shivering."
As weird as it must be for the actors and crew to recreate winter in the heat of the
summer, imagine what it's like for the people who actually live in these British Columbia
areas as they watch their towns get transformed into magical holiday wonderlands each summer.
According to one resident of Fort Langley, a historic small town of about 3,400 that
has hosted at least 30 Hallmark holiday movies over the years, the town is actually more
festive in July than it is in December. The resident claimed,
"There's usually really big candy canes and lollipops. Their decorations are above and
beyond what you would even see in the malls."
According to one antique store owner in Fort Langley, being the home for Hallmark holiday
movies is something that makes her personally happy and also reflects well on the town.
She admitted,
"People are tired of watching cars crash and things explode. A lot of people want to escape
to a place where Christmas happens."
If it seems as if every Christmas season there are more and more Hallmark holiday movies
to watch, that's because there are. Hallmark revealed that 40 brand new holiday movies
would be released in 2020. Previously, as TheWrap reported, the Hallmark Channel announced
its most ambitious slate of holiday movies ever with 40 new Christmas movies debuting
in 2019.
In fact, Hallmark Channel's annual "Countdown to Christmas" programming event didn't waste
any time in getting out there, with Yuletide programming kicking off in late October. 2019's
40 movies set a new record for the Hallmark Channel, topping the 37 that were produced
in 2018 and a big increase over the 21 produced in 2017. Considering that there were just
six Hallmark holiday movies made in 2010, the runaway success of these feel-good flicks
pretty much speaks for itself.
With its holiday movies more popular than ever, Hallmark Channel shows no signs of slowing
down the pace. According to a 2017 report from The Wall Street Journal, at that time,
the Hallmark Channel had produced 136 holiday movies since 2008. When you factor in 2018
and 2019 movies, that number balloons to 213.
One lucky fan of Hallmark holiday movies had the opportunity to watch these seasonal treats
while earning a few bucks at the same time.
As Business Insider reported, tech firm Century Link held a contest, with the prize being
that they'd pay the winner $1,000 to binge-watch 24 Hallmark holiday movies in 12 days. Applicants
to the contest needed to be at least 18 years old, able to document their movie-watching
on social media, and, of course, they had to really love Christmas.
Century Link also provided the winner with a subscription to Hallmark's streaming service
in order to access the movies, in addition to hot cocoa, Christmas cookies, a string
of lights, a mini Christmas tree and other Hallmark swag.
The winner of the contest would be expected to share his or her feelings about the movies
on social media. Century Link said in their statement,
"We want you to have opinions — lots of them! Think the grumpy Grandpa turned jolly
Santa was a little overdone? Felt like the plot was a bit half-baked? Be as honest as
possible in your review."
Fans of Hallmark holiday movies will have noticed that many of the same faces keep popping
up in movie after movie. This is certainly the case for Lacey Chabert, who had appeared
in 16 Hallmark holiday movies by 2018. In an interview with Glamour that same year,
she said,
"Hallmark has really become like family. I really respect the programming. I feel really
blessed to be a part of it. I'm really proud of the content, so it's become a very close
relationship. The values that are represented in their films are very much intrinsically
who they are as a company."
Hallmark Channel star Alicia Witt, who has also appeared in several Hallmark holiday
flicks, admitted,
"It's fun to come out with a movie where every day you have a happy ending and it's a sweet
love story [or] family story. I just spent the last week in winter clothes and people
I really enjoy working with and Christmas lights everywhere and snow and gingerbread
cookies and vegan eggnog."
A frequent star of Hallmark holiday movies has been former Full House actress Lori Loughlin,
who once offered her theory about the movies' popularity to Glamour. She explained,
"We're a society now where we're news 24/7 no matter where you turn. There are a lot
of sad or depressing stories out there. I think you want a place to escape and feel
good and be transported. Hallmark's a really good place to do that."
"Happy holidays from Vancouver."
Loughlin found herself in the middle of that very sad and cynical news cycle in 2019, when
she and her husband were hit with criminal charges of bribery, fraud, money laundering,
and conspiracy over allegedly paying a $500,000 bribe in order to get their two daughters
accepted into the University of Southern California.
The scandal led Hallmark to sever ties with Loughlin. In a statement to USA Today, the
company said,
"We are saddened by the recent news surrounding the college admissions allegations. We are
no longer working with Lori Loughlin and have stopped development of all productions that
air on the Crown Media Family Network channels involving Lori Loughlin."
The increasing number of Hallmark holiday movies each year is a testament to how much
they resonate with viewers. But why? A BuzzFeed News reporter tried to find out by asking
fans what it was about the movies that kept them coming back. One viewer said,
"It's just something to watch that's mindless and doesn't stress you out. It's something
somebody can watch and just be happy about, something that can take your mind off the
world for a little bit."
Crown Media Family Networks, the corporate parent of the Hallmark Channel, also said
in a statement,
"People need to feel good. They need to feel positive. There's so much good television
that is dark, edgy and fantastic. But in the huge spectrum of the human experience, things
can also turn out OK. Life can be good and life can be positive, and people need that
too. That's where we come in.'"
"Christmas is more than decorations, candy canes, cocoa, although I'm a big fan of those.
Christmas is about love."
While Hallmark holiday movies seem to be universally beloved, the Hallmark Channel encountered
controversy when their Christmas movies were accused of lacking in the diversity department,
particularly with LGBTQ representation onscreen. As TheWrap pointed out, not one of the Hallmark
Channel's 40 new movies for the 2019 holiday season featured an LGBTQ character in a main
storyline. Crown Media executive Michelle Vicary insisted the network was aware of the
issue and was working to remedy it. She said in a statement,
"We are continuing to expand our diversity. We are looking at pitches for LGBTQ movies
[...] and we are looking to expand and represent the United States as a whole."
In 2020, Hallmark released The Christmas House, the first Hallmark holiday movie to feature
LGBTQ characters as leads. However, Hallmark Channel exec Bill Abbott took issue with criticism
of its lack of diversity in 2019. He pointed out to The Hollywood Reporter's TV's Top 5
podcast that four of Hallmark Channel's holiday movies in 2019 featured people of color in
leading roles. He went on to say,
"I think that generalization isn't fair either, that we just have Christmas with white leads.
In terms of broadening out the demographic, it's something we're always thinking about."
Hallmark holiday movies have become a big part of the bottom line for the Hallmark Channel,
and they're becoming more profitable every year. Discussing the channel's 2019 viewership,
Michelle Vicary told BuzzFeed News,
"We had 85 million people watch us last year and we're already halfway to that before Thanksgiving."
As Bill Abbott told Vox in 2017, the network's holiday movies not only deliver big ratings,
but they can also act as a gateway to get those viewers hooked on the Hallmark Channel's
other programming. He explained,
"[Christmas] serves as a great promotional platform to tee all of [our programming] up
for the following year. It falls at the perfect time for really looking at our strategy around
our franchises and laying out the calendar, almost like a retail company would."
In the end, this all translates to huge profits for Hallmark Channel. According to a 2017
report from AdWeek, that year saw Hallmark Channel become the most-watched cable channel
among women 18 to 49 and 25 to 54, bringing in $390 million in ad revenue and another
$146 million from the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel.
In response to criticism that the Hallmark Channel hasn't produced any Hallmark holiday
movies aimed at those who don't celebrate Christmas, 2019 saw the debut of two Hanukkah-themed
films: Holiday Date and Double Holiday. Vicary told the New York Post,
"Our audience is very vocal, and they tell us when they'd like to see more of something.
We've heard over the years that they would like to see [a Hanukkah movie] if a script
came in that we liked. And that happened this year — twice."
Despite what may have been the best of intentions, The Washington Post pointed to a big problem
in both movies, saying,
"Neither movie is a Hanukkah movie. They are Christmas movies with Jewish characters. And
they rely on some of the oldest anti-Semitic tropes in the book."
According to Bill Abbott, the goal has been to take a secular view of the season. While
speaking to The Hollywood Reporter's TV's Top 5 podcast, he explained,
"It's hard if we start to [...] make movies based off of specific holidays [...] because
we don't look at Christmas from a religious point of view, it's more a seasonal celebration."
Hallmark Channel tried again with 2020's Love, Lights, Hanukkah!, but viewers still seemed
less than impressed.
"I am fifty percent Jewish."
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