CLEVELAND — Nearly 40 years after it first came out, multiple reports say "A Christmas Story" is getting a sequel -- with original Ralphie actor Peter Billingsley in talks to return.
Warner Bros. and Legendary will be handling production. Deadline reports that the sequel will premiere on HBO Max.
However, the sequel will be filmed far from Cleveland, in Hungary.
The Greater Cleveland Film Commission (GCFC) says the sequel is in its pre-production phase and that many details don’t connect directly to Cleveland.
“They are just at the beginning, so there’s a lot of preproduction before the movie actually takes place,” said GCFC President Bill Garvey. “As far as we know, no filming will take place in Cleveland.”
The house used in the original 1983 film is located on W. 11th St. in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood and is now home to a museum. The owner of the iconic house is Brian Jones, who is originally from California. Jones said in a statement to 3News that the house is playing no role in the new sequel at all.
"Well this is the third sequel to "A Christmas Story," Jones said. "The other two are terrible so I’m not holding out much hope for this latest straight-to-HBO spinoff. The original is such a classic that the odds are long against yet another sequel coming close to the original. But hopefully Peter Billingsley can pull it off.
There is no filming taking place at "A Christmas Story House." We did receive a short notice request through the (Greater) Cleveland Film Commission for the production company to come and “scan” the house and neighborhood. But, no requests to actually film at the house or in Cleveland. I declined the request."
Other films are headed to Northeast Ohio, according to Garvey.
“We have three projects that were announced to get the state tax incentive award to the tune of just a hair under $180 million dollars that will be spent here because of that,” he said.
According to Garvey, $106.6 million dollars was spent in northeast Ohio in 2021.
Academy Award-winning films, such as "Judas and the Black Messiah," and popular films, such as "The Fate of the Furious," "Marvel's The Avengers," "Captain America: The Winter Solder," and "Spider-Man 3," have been filmed in Northeast Ohio.
“We have such a diversity of architecture, so you can find almost anything,” Garvey said. “For a filmmaker, that kind of flexibility is very attractive and that’s why we’ve been so successful”
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