Since it churns out an average of 40 tinsel-covered movies every year, Hallmark has turned the production of Christmas flicks into a science. The formula? Combine a ~$2 million budget, a predictable plotline, and a portfolio of greeting-card-looking actors into a beloved classic.
The story. You probably could have guessed, but almost all of Hallmark’s holiday movies are about Christmas. (In one film, characters celebrate Christmas and Kwanzaa.) The network didn’t make its first Hanukkah movie until 2019, and it wasn’t until 2023’s Round and Round that most Hallmark-heads would say the channel made a good Hanukkah movie. Additionally, a 2023 analysis of Hallmark movies by the New York Times found that:
- 40% of films since 2017 begin with a woman traveling to a small town.
- 20% of the men in the movies are single fathers, a statistic much higher than the actual number of single dads in the US.
The actors. Hallmark usually casts leading roles from within its own ecosystem, meaning you see a lot of familiar faces trying to save the local inn or host a royal ball. The most iconic Christmas queen is Lacey Chabert, who has starred in over 40 made-for-TV holiday movies for the channel. Other recognizable names include Aaron Tveit and Tamera Mowry-Housley.
It’s a relatively stable gig for actors in a wildly unstable industry. Most Hallmark movies take just 15 days each to film in the summer, have light subject matter, and can easily net $150,000 for even the less-famous lead actors.—MM
