AGXStarseed
Well-Known Member
I'm sure a lot of us have at least one movie that is 'Christmassy' or set around this time of year that we like; be it an adaptation of a book like The Snowman or one of the many versions of A Christmas Carol, a comedy like Scrooged or Home Alone, an action film like Die Hard, a new/nostalgic animated film such as Frozen or How the Grinch Stole Christmas, etc.
While I personally watch a lot of the same films every year for the nostalgia, I've mentioned on other threads that I've watched some new films that have become new favourites.
These include Joyeux Noel (a film set in during WW1 when Scottish, French and German soldiers have the Christmas Truce and shows the events that follow) and The Christmas Chronicles (An entertaining little film about two kids who's attempt to prove Santa's existence has some unexpected consequences).
However, there still are options available for new film ideas, which - in an era of remakes/reboots and with a past and present of poor quality Christmas movies thrown together just because "it's a Christmas movie - who cares?" likely to be continued into the future - can be rather welcome.
As such, I've created this thread for fun just to throw around some ideas you might have for some future films either just set at this time of year or films that Christmas-themed.
Here's some ideas from me to start us off:
1. A film showing people celebrating Christmas in multiple ways: An idea here is to show four/five different people and show them each celebrating the holiday in their own ways - interacting with each other occasionally and showing both the good and bad in their choice of celebrations. I think this might be interesting to show how Christmas can be celebrated in a multitude of ways, from those who keep it traditional, those who go for a more modern take on the holiday, those who choose to be alone, etc.
You could maybe make one or two of the characters Autistic and have them be polar opposites, as some of us would be content spending the holiday by ourselves/skipping it while some of us would outright detest such an idea.
I think there's some possibilities here.
2. An adaptation of a book: With The Grinch getting a new adaptation this year and A Christmas Carol having received however many adaptations on TV and in film, it might be an idea to look at other stories set around the season to adapt to the screen - there's a list of over 25 potential candidates here: 27 Christmas Books for Adults to Read This Holiday Season
One idea for a new adaptation from me would be The Box of Delights - a fantasy novel by John Masefield. This had a 6-episode TV adaptation back in 1984 and could potentially be done well in a theatrical remake. The story is a fantasy adventure about a schoolboy named Kay Harker, who one Christmas is entrusted by an old man named Cole Hawlings with a magical box which allows Kay to shrink, fly and time travel - with Cole warning that he must protect the box from an evil magician named Abner Brown, stating "The Wolves are running".
Here's the first episode:
Funnily enough from watching the series, I remember one of the girls in the show saying Christmas should be "brought up to date with gangsters and automatic pistols and aeroplanes". This made me wonder, can you imagine a version of A Christmas Carol set in 1930's New York with Scrooge as a Gangster? I'd tune in to watch that. 
3. A Christmas/Winter themed story involving Aliens: This is more of a personal choice as, not taking into account Doctor Who - which is a sci-fi show that has done plenty of Christmas-themed episodes, some of which I still enjoy watching - I've noticed there's not a lot of Christmas films/specials that cross over into sci-fi. The only other one I can really think of is the animated film A Cosmic Christmas and the infamous films Santa Claus Conquers The Martians and The Star Wars Holiday Special.
I think a story about one or more aliens coming to Earth during the holiday season could create some inventive scenarios and, depending on the type of film, some funny comedy and/or heartfelt moments. To quote what I said on the thread Movies/TV shows you thought had potential, but let you down..., "The idea of [aliens] coming to Earth for a vacation in the same way we go to other countries on our holidays - for the purpose of exploring a new location, learning history and culture and enjoying ourselves away from home - is an idea I can easily accept and I think could be explored in more detail and across multiple genres. I could easily imagine a coming-of-age film where some people reminisce about how during one summer they encountered a group of aliens on holiday to Earth and spent the whole summer together with them; learning about each other and having fun."
Now replace Summer with Christmas and I think you could achieve something good. Heck, going back to the threads about bringing back other public domain characters instead of just doing the same ones over and over, maybe make the alien an updated version of this guy: Dr. Synthe
You could maybe even tie the song A Spaceman Came Travelling into it by stating it was one of the alien's ancestors who came to Earth all those years ago.
4. A film based on a different winter holiday other than Christmas: While Christmas is arguably the most well known and widespread winter holiday, it's not the only one. I've seen an animated movie called Eight Crazy Nights that was set around Hanukkah and starred Adam Sandler...it was horrible.
For some of us, seeing a film about a different winter holiday - be it Hanukkah (Jewish), Kwanzaa (African-Americans), Yule (Pagan/Neopagan), etc. - might provide an interesting look at another holiday/be a nice break from all the Christmas-related films.
Heck, I can imagine someone making a comedy film based on Festivus - which was created in the 1960s, popularized in Seinfeld and now some people celebrate to varying degrees.
So, what about you guys? Do you have any ideas for future Winter/Christmas films?
While I personally watch a lot of the same films every year for the nostalgia, I've mentioned on other threads that I've watched some new films that have become new favourites.
These include Joyeux Noel (a film set in during WW1 when Scottish, French and German soldiers have the Christmas Truce and shows the events that follow) and The Christmas Chronicles (An entertaining little film about two kids who's attempt to prove Santa's existence has some unexpected consequences).
However, there still are options available for new film ideas, which - in an era of remakes/reboots and with a past and present of poor quality Christmas movies thrown together just because "it's a Christmas movie - who cares?" likely to be continued into the future - can be rather welcome.
As such, I've created this thread for fun just to throw around some ideas you might have for some future films either just set at this time of year or films that Christmas-themed.
Here's some ideas from me to start us off:
1. A film showing people celebrating Christmas in multiple ways: An idea here is to show four/five different people and show them each celebrating the holiday in their own ways - interacting with each other occasionally and showing both the good and bad in their choice of celebrations. I think this might be interesting to show how Christmas can be celebrated in a multitude of ways, from those who keep it traditional, those who go for a more modern take on the holiday, those who choose to be alone, etc.
You could maybe make one or two of the characters Autistic and have them be polar opposites, as some of us would be content spending the holiday by ourselves/skipping it while some of us would outright detest such an idea.
I think there's some possibilities here.
2. An adaptation of a book: With The Grinch getting a new adaptation this year and A Christmas Carol having received however many adaptations on TV and in film, it might be an idea to look at other stories set around the season to adapt to the screen - there's a list of over 25 potential candidates here: 27 Christmas Books for Adults to Read This Holiday Season
One idea for a new adaptation from me would be The Box of Delights - a fantasy novel by John Masefield. This had a 6-episode TV adaptation back in 1984 and could potentially be done well in a theatrical remake. The story is a fantasy adventure about a schoolboy named Kay Harker, who one Christmas is entrusted by an old man named Cole Hawlings with a magical box which allows Kay to shrink, fly and time travel - with Cole warning that he must protect the box from an evil magician named Abner Brown, stating "The Wolves are running".
Here's the first episode:
3. A Christmas/Winter themed story involving Aliens: This is more of a personal choice as, not taking into account Doctor Who - which is a sci-fi show that has done plenty of Christmas-themed episodes, some of which I still enjoy watching - I've noticed there's not a lot of Christmas films/specials that cross over into sci-fi. The only other one I can really think of is the animated film A Cosmic Christmas and the infamous films Santa Claus Conquers The Martians and The Star Wars Holiday Special.
I think a story about one or more aliens coming to Earth during the holiday season could create some inventive scenarios and, depending on the type of film, some funny comedy and/or heartfelt moments. To quote what I said on the thread Movies/TV shows you thought had potential, but let you down..., "The idea of [aliens] coming to Earth for a vacation in the same way we go to other countries on our holidays - for the purpose of exploring a new location, learning history and culture and enjoying ourselves away from home - is an idea I can easily accept and I think could be explored in more detail and across multiple genres. I could easily imagine a coming-of-age film where some people reminisce about how during one summer they encountered a group of aliens on holiday to Earth and spent the whole summer together with them; learning about each other and having fun."
Now replace Summer with Christmas and I think you could achieve something good. Heck, going back to the threads about bringing back other public domain characters instead of just doing the same ones over and over, maybe make the alien an updated version of this guy: Dr. Synthe
You could maybe even tie the song A Spaceman Came Travelling into it by stating it was one of the alien's ancestors who came to Earth all those years ago.
4. A film based on a different winter holiday other than Christmas: While Christmas is arguably the most well known and widespread winter holiday, it's not the only one. I've seen an animated movie called Eight Crazy Nights that was set around Hanukkah and starred Adam Sandler...it was horrible.
For some of us, seeing a film about a different winter holiday - be it Hanukkah (Jewish), Kwanzaa (African-Americans), Yule (Pagan/Neopagan), etc. - might provide an interesting look at another holiday/be a nice break from all the Christmas-related films.
Heck, I can imagine someone making a comedy film based on Festivus - which was created in the 1960s, popularized in Seinfeld and now some people celebrate to varying degrees.
So, what about you guys? Do you have any ideas for future Winter/Christmas films?
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