Another media outlet is getting ready to vie for fans of sentimental stories in the industry’s massive holiday-programming wars.
Fox Nation, the streaming-video hub that is part of Fox News Media, will launch its first holiday movie, “Christmas in the Rockies,” later this week, part of a new holiday salvo that is expected to include two other projects, “Christmas on the Range” and “Christmas on the Coast.” “Rockies” will be available on Fox Nation starting Thursday, November 26 and will be exclusive until November 2021. “Fox & Friends” hosts Steve Doocy and Ainsley Earhardt will make cameos.
“Originally Ainsley and I were supposed to fly to Canada to film our scenes, but then the pandemic hit, nobody was flying anywhere and the producers were in a pickle, they wanted us in the film, but we couldn’t get there,” says Doocy. “When it became clear that traveling to the location was out of the question, they rewrote the movie so we could film our parts in our own studio. It was like Skyping into a movie.”
The original films show Fox Nation making a continued tilt toward lifestyle programming aimed and away from a harder focus on politics. Executives originally envisioned the subscription-based outlet as something of a “Netflix for conservatives,” but in recent months have focused more heavily on documentary programming and lifestyle fare, some of it involving Fox News Media anchors and hosts telling subscribers about hobbies like cooking or books.
“Christmas in the Rockies” follows Katie Jolly, whose dreams of a life in New York City are squelched when her father’s sudden injury leaves her in charge of the family business, Jolly Lumber. She has to solve family and business issues all the while trying to win an annual Lumberjack Competition.
Many big media companies make an effort to woo holiday viewers, including Hallmark Channel, Freeform, Lifetime and AMC. Netflix, meanwhile, is this week launching a sequel to its 2018 movie, “The Christmas Chronicles,” with actors Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn.
“Christmas in the Rockies” is produced by Brain Power Studio in association with INSP Films and Fox Nation.
Article by: Brian Steinberg for Variety.
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