As Christmas approaches, so do more of the holiday movies. Hallmark actually began their Christmas movies before Halloween. It has been surprising to see 40 new films this holiday season in addition to all of the fall movies. Bringing Hallmark movies out early is an impressive strategy sure to put audiences in the holiday spirit.
Many were worried about the 2023 Hallmark Christmas movie lineup this year. Autumn movies seemed to already top the charts, and due to the actors and writers strikes, productions were on hold for months. Halting the filming process for some time caused worries to rise about not being able to have the usual festive Hallmark movies we see every year.
Apparently, there was no need to worry because Hallmark has been releasing the same number of holiday movies as last year. At first, it seemed as though strikes would severely harm the release of Hallmark movies, but we have seen that there has been no effect.
With some films being completed in January of 2023 and others in progress as the strikes began, there was a concern that productions would not come out in a timely manner. However, the network has managed to get just as many new holiday films out as we had hoped.
This is an impressive obstacle, given most productions had been completely on-hold since July. Certain films had been shut down for even longer, with the WGA strikes beginning in May. Prior to the strikes, it appears that quite of few of the holiday movies had already been filmed.
Hallmark has shocked us with this, and instead, this good news helps fans understand who is behind the scenes working hard to make annual holiday films just as good as in past years.
When interviewed about the effect of actor and writer strikes on Hallmark films, the Hallmark franchise themselves said, “Christmas is a year-round business at Hallmark, so we were able to mitigate early in the year, understanding that the strikes were unfortunately imminent. We’re grateful to meet all our goals for a full, all-new holiday slate and to bring our viewers the content they love most to celebrate the season.”