For cable networks, holiday movies are the gift that keeps on giving
Fina Strazza, 10, stars in the MPCA produced Hallmark movie “A Christmas Melody,” directed by Mariah Carey.
Hallmark and its Hallmark Movies spinoff, for example, are showing 21 new original Christmas-themed movies this year, up from just 13 in 2010.
The television channel guide is littered every year with festive titles such as “Murder, She Baked: A Plum Pudding Mystery,” “The Flight Before Christmas” and “Elf” as dozens of original and acquired movies, as well as a long list of specials, roll out on cable, broadcast and streaming networks in November and December.
“Viewers are really rabid for this content,” said Michelle Vicary, executive vice president of programming for Studio City-based Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. “All we hear every year is that people want more of it.”
There’s also a growing roster of talent eager to star in holiday movies. Actresses such as Candace Cameron Bure, Beverley Mitchell and Lacey Chabert have become mainstays of the genre.
“It makes me giggle,” said Cameron Bure, who this year stars in “A Christmas Detour” on Hallmark. “I will wear the title proudly. I get so many messages from people saying, ‘I hope you have a new Christmas movie coming out.’ I love that people know me from those.”
Mariah Carey, the unofficial queen of the holidays with her hit “All I Want for Christmas,” directed and stars in “A Christmas Melody” for Hallmark.
Read entire article by Yvonne Villarreal in Los Angeles Times Company Town