Online marketing has popped up teasing The Christmas Chronicles 3, but fans question whether the movie is real.
Is There a Christmas Chronicles 3?
A poster is going viral on social media (largely Facebook) teasing the release of The Christmas Chronicles 3 on Netflix.
The poster teases an upcoming sequel to 2020's The Christmas Chronicles 2, showing Santa Claus holding teddy bears in front of a huge Christmas tree and a snowed-in town.
This poster is verifiably fake, as the Santa in the image is AI-created and bears no resemblance to Kurt Russell from the first two films.
Will There Be a Christmas Chronicles 3?
As of writing, there are no confirmed plans for The Christmas Chronicles 3 to be made. However, director Chris Columbus has thought of ideas for what he would do with a third movie if it were to happen.
Speaking with ComicBook, Columbus teased some unexplored material with Goldie Hawn's Mrs. Claus after she says, "It’s so nice to have real children in the village again."
He enjoyed that this was left open and hopes to look into it further if he's "lucky enough to do a third" movie:
"There’s a poignant moment in the movie where they’re watching the kids making snow angels, and Mrs. Claus says, 'It’s so nice to have real children in the village again.' But you’re like, 'We never explain why she feels that way. There’s some sort of hidden, slightly dark, melancholy thing in their past that we don’t know about.' And I love the fact that we don’t deal with it in this movie. It’s in some of the notes that Kurt wrote. We know what it is. Maybe it connects if we’re lucky enough to do a third."
Unfortunately, there have been no discussions about a third movie. Columbus admitted that he "can’t even think about what the third potential movie could be" but would be open to any options that come up:
"I don’t know. But it’s interesting because right now I can’t even think about what the third potential movie could be. But we’re certainly set up to open up this world even more."
At least one star from the first two movies is "interested in doing a third one," as Darby Camp told PureWow (via Pure Wow) that she would "love to get to work with everybody again."
If that movie happens, she teased that she would love to see her character "actually drive the sleigh on her own."
Star Kurt Russell also offered his own thoughts on a possible third movie with the New York Times in November 2020.
Having "no idea what Netflix wants to do" with the franchise, he admitted that he was not one to go for sequels often, although the process has changed for the modern day:
"We have no idea what Netflix wants to do there. I’ve never been big on sequels, but that was 50, 40, 30 years ago. Now sequels aren’t even sequels anymore. We’ve just cyclically found our way around to making television. You go to the movies and you’re seeing television because there’s a serial aspect to it."
The Christmas Chronicles and its sequel are now streaming on Netflix. As of writing, there are no plans for a third movie to be made.
