Kurt Russell’s underrated 2018 Christmas comedy is climbing up theNetflixcharts six years after its original release. Russell may be best-known as an action star, thanks to career-defining movies likeEscape from New York,The Thing,Tango & Cash,Tombstone,Backdraft,Stargateand many more. But over the years Russell has also carved out a space for himself in lighter fare, taking on both comedy and family-friendly roles.
The star’s work in family-friendly projects indeed began early on when he toiled as a lovable child and teen actor in Disney titles likeThe One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band,The Horse in the Grey Flannel Suit,The Computer Wore Tennis ShoesandNow You See Him, Now You Don’t. Success as a grown-up comedy performer was in the offing for Russell starting in the 1980s, when he starred alongside wifeGoldie Hawnin the hit movieOverboard. Later, Russell went even wackier, playing the eccentric title character in 1992’sCaptain Ron.
Russell’s The Christmas Chronicles Is A Hit On The Netflix Charts
The Family Comedy Makes For Wholesome Holiday Streaming
Russell is back in family-friendly mode inThe Christmas Chronicles, which is currently finding new success on Netflix six years after it was released. The film stars Russell as Santa Claus, who sees his Christmas rounds interrupted when a pair of kids stow away on his sleigh, causing him to crash. Santa and the two children must scramble to verify all the presents are delivered on-time to nice kids around the world.
What This Means For The Christmas Chronicles Series
The Christmas Chronicles 2 Released In 2020
Development onThe Christmas Chroniclesbegan in 2013 when Chris Columbus’ company purchased Matt Lieberman’s spec script for a found footage holiday movie about two kids setting out to prove Santa Claus is real. The found footage angle was dropped, and the film was released in 2018 with Judah Lewis and Darby Camp as the kids who crash Santa’s sleigh, alongside Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Lamorne Morris (as a cop, not for the last time) and Goldie Hawn as Mrs. Claus.
The Christmas Chroniclesgarnered mostly positive reviews, as reflected in its 67% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Netflix announced that 20 million households watchedThe Christmas Chroniclesin its first week of release. In 2020, the streamer followed up that success withThe Christmas Chronicles 2, which sees the kids from the first movie being transported to the North Pole, where they help Santa do battle with an evil elf.
The Christmas Chroniclesnow qualifies as a Netflix seasonal mainstay, given its return to the top 10 six years after its release, and its sequel remains on the streamer as well.The Christmas Chronicles 3has naturally been speculated about, but nothing has been confirmed. The renewed success of the first movie could indeed prompt Netflix to move forward on a continuation of the family-friendly series. On the other hand, given the evergreen nature of Christmas movies, Netflix may opt out of another sequel, believing that twoChristmas Chroniclesmovies are enough to provide plenty of holiday cheer.
The Christmas Chronicles
Cast
The Christmas Chronicles is a 2018 Netflix original Christmas movie starring Kurt Russell as Santa Claus. After sneaking onto Santa’s sleigh and losing all of the world’s presents by crashing the sleigh, two young children named Teddy and Kate race against time to save Christmas. The film was followed up by The Christmas Chronicles 2 in 2020.
