With the month of May being half-way over, Hallmark has wasted no time preparing for the next movie line-up: “June Weddings”. Recently, Hallmark announced a preview special that would air on Hallmark Channel on May 19th. The hosts of the preview will be Pascale Hutton and Kavan Smith, stars of The Perfect Bride: Wedding Bells. Following this announcement, Hallmark revealed the four movies that would make their debuts in June! The movies are:
Marrying Mr. Darcy – June 2nd
The Perfect Bride: Wedding Bells – June 9th
Love at First Dance – June 16th
Wedding March 4: Something Old, Something New – June 23rd
There’s a few things I noticed about this particular line-up. Last month, I talked about how “Dream On” (the Summer of Dreams sequel) was not going to be a part of the “June Weddings” line-up because of the film’s production dates. Even though the movie had its title changed to “Wedding of Dreams” (according to What’s Filming), it looks like I was correct about this speculation. Another speculation that I had was about “Wedding Dance” possibly being the last movie in the “June Weddings” line-up. I was correct about that speculation too, though the film is now known as Love at First Dance. The only “June Weddings” speculation I was incorrect about was Wedding March 4: Something Old, Something New being moved to a different movie line-up. When production for the next installment of the Wedding March series was pushed back to May, I honestly thought it wasn’t going to be ready in time for any June release dates. But, having the fourth Wedding March movie be the last film to premiere in the line-up does seem to make sense, with the film possibly being edited during the line-up’s run.
What do you think about the “June Weddings” line-up? Which film are you looking forward to the most? Share your thoughts in the comment section!
Have fun at the movies!
Sally Silverscreen
Link to the official “June Weddings” preview page: https://www.crownmediapress.com/Shows/PRShowDetail?SiteID=142&FeedBoxID=845&NodeID=302&ShowType=&ShowTitle=2018+June+Weddings+Preview+Special
Link to the “In Production” page for the Vancouver and British Columbia areas: http://www.whatsfilming.ca/inproduction/ (if you visit this page after May 18th, Love at First Dance will be taken off this list. Also, if you visit this page after May 25th, “Wedding of Dreams” will be taken off this list.)
What’s Filming never fails to surprise me when new projects pop up on their website. Recently, two movie titles appeared on What’s Filming that instantly caught my eye. As I thought about both of these movies, I wondered if they could possibly be Hallmark movies? In this ‘Word on the Street’ post, I will be talking about each movie and explain why I think they could be Hallmark movies. Let the conversation begin!
Listed at the bottom of the “In Production” page for the Vancouver and British Columbia area is a movie titled “Wedding Dance”. Right away, the title indicates that this will likely be a wedding themed movie. Last month, I mentioned that Hallmark released a trailer for their “June Weddings” line-up, announcing that four movies will be released in June. Maybe this movie is the missing piece to the “June Weddings” puzzle? What’s also important to mention is that “Wedding Dance” is currently filming until May 18th. If this were a Hallmark film, it would give the creative team behind this movie enough time to edit the film for a mid to late June release. The only actors that are currently attached to the project are Jason Cermak and Cecilia Deacon. Jason is no stranger to Hallmark, as he has appeared in nine Hallmark films and on two episodes of When Calls the Heart. According to her filmography on IMDB, Cecilia has appeared in only one Hallmark movie, which was Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Home Again. Hallmark has not made any official announcements about “Wedding Dance”, so we’ll have to wait to find out if it truly is a “June Weddings” film.
Link to the “In Production” page for the Vancouver and British Columbia area: http://www.whatsfilming.ca/inproduction/ (if you visit this page after May 18th, “Wedding Dance” will be taken off the list)
On the “Upcoming” list for the Vancouver and British Columbia area, I spotted a movie titled “Poinsettias for Christmas”. It will be in production from May 18th to June 8th, with no cast currently attached to the project. The reason why I think this movie could be a Hallmark production is the only Hallmark movie, that I’m aware of, that even touches upon the subject of poinsettias is Hearts of Christmas. I can’t think of a Hallmark Christmas movie where poinsettias were the primary focus, so this would be new territory for the network. Hallmark has not made any announcements about “Poinsettias for Christmas” either, so this is another movie that we’ll have to stand by for.
Link to the “Upcoming” page for the Vancouver and British Columbia area: http://www.whatsfilming.ca/upcoming/ (if you visit this page after May 18th, “Poinsettias for Christmas” will be moved to the “In Production” page for the Vancouver and British Columbia areas)
Since I haven’t delivered any ‘Word on the Street’ stories since early April, I decided to share some speculations about two movies and a confirmed casting announcement that are listed on What’s Filming! I will talk about each of these pieces of movie news, as well as share my thoughts on each one. Now, let’s get started!
Last week, What’s Filming revealed that the leads for the upcoming, live-action adaptation of Kim Possible have been selected! According to a video featured on the What’s Filming website, it was announced that Sean Giambrone, series regular on The Goldbergs, and Sadie Stanley are going to play the beloved characters of Ron Stoppable and Kim Possible. I, honestly, am not surprised that the chosen leads are actors that don’t have household names. This is because Disney Channel, in the past, has casted other actors without household names in their productions, sometimes in an effort to help them become well-known stars. However, I am interested in seeing how Sean and Sadie bring the characters of Ron and Kim to life, as well as how they plan to carry the DCOM (Disney Channel Original Movie) legacy.
Early in April, I reported that Wedding March 4: Something Old, Something New was in production from April 16th to May 4th. Now, according to What’s Filming, the next installment in the Wedding March series appears to have gotten pushed back. Production will now start on May 8th and end on May 29th. Because of these new production dates, I’m starting to wonder if this movie will end up getting moved to Hallmark’s “Summer Nights” movie line-up? This would not be the first time that upcoming Hallmark films have changed production dates, leading to potential release date changes. This happened with “Dream On” (the Summer of Dreams sequel) in early April, where I reported that, because of the film’s production dates changing to May, it was likely that the film could end up premiering in the “Summer Nights” line-up. If the new Wedding March movie gets moved out of the “June Weddings” line-up, what wedding themed movie could take its place? We’ll have to wait until Hallmark’s official announcement about their “June Weddings” line-up to find out.
Link to What’s Filming’s “Upcoming” page: http://www.whatsfilming.ca/upcoming/ (if you visit this page after May 29th, Wedding March 4: Something Old, Something New will be moved to the “In Production” page for the Vancouver and British Columbia area)
While looking on the What’s Filming website, I came across a movie titled “Christmas by the Book”, which is currently in production until May 18th. When I read that title, I wondered if the movie could be a Christmas themed sequel to 2015’s Love by the Book. Though Hallmark has made no official announcement about this movie, it wouldn’t be the first time that Hallmark has made sequels to original films years after their premiere. Two recent examples are All of My Heart: Inn Love and the previously mentioned film, “Dream On”.
There have been a lot of news that has come out this week surrounding the production of two upcoming Hallmark movies and a future Disney Channel movie! I’ll break down each specific movie’s production news and share my thoughts on each. All of these stories are from What’s Filming and all of these movies are either currently in production or will be in production in the Vancouver and British Columbia area.
Back in March, I reported that the Summer of Dreams sequel was going into production. Because of that production date, it was believed that “Dream On” (the current title for the film) was going to be a part of Hallmark’s “June Weddings” line-up. However, “Dream On” was added again to the “Upcoming” page on What’s Filming, starting production on May 8th and finishing on May 25th this time. What this means is that “Dream On” will likely not make an appearance in Hallmark’s “June Weddings” line-up as we originally thought, but might instead be included in their “Summer Nights” line-up (just like Summer of Dreams). Hallmark recently released a trailer for the 2018 “June Weddings” line-up. It was mentioned in this trailer that there were going to be four new movies, however, only three were advertised: Marrying Mr. Darcy, The Perfect Bride 2, and Wedding March 4: Something Old, Something New. If “Dream On” is not that mystery fourth movie, then I wonder what it could be? Maybe it’s the project that’s also featured on What’s Filming titled “I Do”? We’ll have to wait for Hallmark’s official word for the time being.
Link to What’s Filming’s “Upcoming” page: http://www.whatsfilming.ca/upcoming/ (if you visit this page after May 8th, “Dream On” will move to the “In Production” page for the Vancouver and British Columbia area)
Link to the “June Weddings” trailer: http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/june-weddings/videos/first-look-june-weddings-2018
Another upcoming Hallmark movie that is listed on What’s Filming is Truly, Madly, Sweetly. Dylan Neal and Nikki DeLoach are both attached to the project, with What’s Filming providing an article about the movie. After I read the brief synopsis in this article, I became intrigued by this movie. While Hallmark has made movies about cupcake bakeries before (with The Sweetest Heart being the most recent entry), I can’t think of a Hallmark movie that has centered around a food truck before. This gets me excited about the possible creativity that this project has to offer! Within this article, an Instagram photo of both Dylan and Nikki was featured, having Dylan himself hinting at a fall release. If Truly, Madly, Sweetly is to be a “Fall Harvest” movie, Hallmark will probably not give any official announcements for a while.
Link to What’s Filming’s article about Truly, Madly, Sweetly: http://www.whatsfilming.ca/2018/04/09/unspeakable-miniseries-hallmark-truly-madly-sweetly/
Link to What’s Filming’s “In Production” page: http://www.whatsfilming.ca/inproduction/ (if you visit this page after April 27th, Truly, Madly, Sweetly will be taken off this page)
My very first Word on the Street post was about the Kim Possible live-action Disney Channel movie. While casting still has not been announced, it has been mentioned on What’s Filming that the film will go into production from June 4th to July 23rd. In an article about the movie, it is warned that these dates might change. If the Kim Possible movie is filming this summer, it’s possible (no pun intended) that it might be released either later this year or sometime next year. So far, there have been no announcements about any premiere dates, so we’ll just have to wait for Disney’s official word. Two months ago, when I talked about this movie, I did share my concerns about the potential alienation of the fans of the original show. Because production hasn’t even started yet, I can’t form an honest opinion about the film’s quality, meaning that I’ll have to wait at least until a trailer is released for me to get a sense of the film’s tone and spirit.
Link to What’s Filming’s article about Kim Possible: http://www.whatsfilming.ca/2018/04/10/kim-possible-live-action-movie-based-on-disneys-popular-animated-series-filming-in-vancouver/
Link to What’s Filming’s “Upcoming” page: http://www.whatsfilming.ca/upcoming/ (while these dates may change, if you visit this page after June 4th, Kim Possible will be moved to the “In Production” page for the Vancouver and British Columbia area)
What are your thoughts on this movie news? Looking forward to any of these films? Please share your thoughts in the comment section!
While Avengers: Infinity War will dominate the big-screen on the weekend of April 27th, another movie will take over the small-screen on that same weekend: Hallmark Hall of Fame’s The Beach House. In an effort to continue their 60+ year legacy, Hallmark is adapting Mary Alice Monroe’s novel as the next installment in the collection. Recently, Hallmark released a trailer for the film on their website, almost two weeks before the movie’s premiere. Keep reading if you want to find out how I feel about this trailer!
I’ll be honest with you, I wasn’t thrilled with this trailer for a few reasons. The first is the editing. This trailer is filled with choppy, quick-cuts which gave the impression that the film will have a faster pace. However, the pace of a typical Hallmark Hall of Fame movie is on the slower side, so it doesn’t make any sense to make the movie seem faster than it probably will be. Another weak point to this trailer is the number of potential plots. I haven’t read the book yet, but just by judging the trailer, there seems to be six plots within this movie. This makes The Beach House appear like it doesn’t have a clear focus on its story. I know what the basic premise is because I own a copy of the book, but the average Hallmark audience member might not know that when they’re watching the trailer. Something that I noticed while watching the trailer for The Beach House was almost none of the characters having a Southern accent despite the fact that the book takes place in the South. Because I haven’t read the book yet, I don’t know whether or not the characters are supposed to have accents. But again, judging the trailer, it just disappointed me.
Come to think of it, I’m not impressed with the overall marketing campaign for The Beach House. As much as I want to read the book and as much as I want this movie to be good, the advertisements for this movie have not gotten me excited about this film. However, I will still see this movie, especially with an open mind. I will try to read the book and maybe I’ll review this movie for 18 Cinema Lane.
If you want to watch the trailer, here is the link: http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/the-beach-house/videos/preview-the-beach-house
Have you seen The Beach House trailer? What did you think of it? Share your thoughts in the comment section!
One of my favorite sites for movie updates is What’s Filming. Recently, there have been several Hallmark movies that are listed on the website. I noticed that most of these films are wedding themed movies, meaning that Hallmark’s “June Weddings” line-up is coming soon! All of the movies that I’ll be talking about are filming in the Vancouver and British Columbia area. Here is the list:
Marrying Mr. Darcy – Currently in production until April 19th
The Perfect Bride 2 – Starts production on April 9th and ends on April 27th
The Wedding March 4: Something Old, Something New — Starts production on April 16th and ends on May 4th
Garage Sale Mystery: A Picture of Murder — Starts production on April 9th and ends on April 26th
I have a lot of thoughts about this news. For one thing, I’m not a fan of having all of the “June Weddings” movies be sequels. To me, it just feels like Hallmark is putting creativity on hold for the sake of trying to create another movie series. However, I do plan on watching these movies with an open mind. Out of the three “June Weddings” movies listed on What’s Filming, I’m looking forward to The Perfect Bride 2 and The Wedding March 4: Something Old, Something New the most!
I will admit that I was not demanding a sequel to Unleashing Mr. Darcy because, at best, I thought the movie was just decent. My hope for Marrying Mr. Darcy is that it is a better movie than the first one was. On What’s Filming, some of the original cast members from the first movie are attached to the sequel. I really liked seeing this because it shows that Hallmark cares about keeping continuity with the previous film. An article on the website mentioned that Marrying Mr. Darcy will air on Hallmark on June 2nd, but Hallmark has not made any official announcements yet.
Seeing a new Garage Sale Mystery listed made me happy because I really enjoy watching this series! Out of all of the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries movie series, Garage Sale Mystery is one of the strongest on the network. I did enjoy Garage Sale Mystery month last year, so I’m definitely looking forward to it this August!
What do you think about this news? Looking forward to any of these movies? Share your thoughts in the comments section!
Have fun at the movies!
Sally Silverscreen
Link to the article about Marrying Mr. Darcy on What’s Filming: http://www.whatsfilming.ca/2018/04/03/marrying-mr-darcy-filming-vancouver/?referer=plist-655
Link to the What’s Filming “Upcoming” page: http://www.whatsfilming.ca/upcoming/ (if you visit this page after April 9th and 16th, The Perfect Bride 2, The Wedding March 4: Something Old, Something New, and Garage Sale Mystery: A Picture of Murder will be moved to the “In Production” page for the Vancouver and British Columbia area)
Link to the What’s Filming “In Production” page: http://www.whatsfilming.ca/inproduction/ (if you visit this page after April 19th, Marrying Mr. Darcy will be taken off of this page)
Yesterday, Hallmark aired their preview show to advertise their “Spring Fever” line-up. Like most people, I just recorded it on my DVR and fast-forwarded through the majority of the program just to see what the “sneak peek” was for Hallmark’s Christmas movies. Toward the end of the preview show, Danica McKellar (who hosted the show) announced that Hallmark Channel would premiere 22 new Christmas movies and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries would air 12 new Christmas movies, adding up to a grand total of 34 movies! This is around the number of movies that Hallmark released last year amongst both networks.
“Spring Fever” poster image created by Crown Media Family Networks and Hallmark Channel. Poster image found at http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/spring-fever
After watching that specific part of the preview show, I can honestly say that I was disappointed by Hallmark’s “sneak peek”. First of all, it wasn’t really a “sneak peek” to anything, it was more of an announcement. Also, the timing of this announcement was rather odd. Why talk about the Christmas movie line-ups during a preview show for the spring movie line-up? I think Hallmark should have waited until, at least, July to share this news during their “Christmas Keepsake” week or during their Summer TCA event. The other thing I’m disappointed about is the amount of movies Hallmark is choosing to, once again, release. Trying to watch the majority of Hallmark’s Christmas movies is going to be impossible, with Christmas offerings from other networks and real-life Christmas festivities trying to share your time and attention. Out of the 30+ Christmas movies Hallmark released last year, I only saw 15 of them. This leads me to my next point. I remember reading other Hallmark viewers express their concerns about Hallmark paying more attention to the quantity of their Christmas films, which I have to say I agree with. Going back to the amount of Christmas movies I saw between both Hallmark networks, I only liked 8 out of the 15 Christmas movies that I did see. Also, Hallmark put so much focus on attempting to be the brightest and best network during the Christmas season that even the quality of their movie posters suffered. I understand that Hallmark is a business and creates these movies to make a profit, but it seems like Hallmark isn’t putting the concerns of their fans into consideration. Because of their never-ending drive to maintain their power-house status that they’ve acquired over the years, I have a feeling this could hurt Hallmark in the long-run. There may come a time when fans become so exhausted by Hallmark’s ambitious efforts, that they scale back their Christmas movie viewing habits. This action by the fans might cause both Hallmark Christmas line-ups to lose ratings and viewership. For now, though, let’s just take in this news and anticipate the stories Hallmark will bring us later this year. I do appreciate Hallmark putting in the effort to get their audience excited about Christmas. When both of Hallmark’s Christmas line-ups do come around, I will try to watch as many movies as realistically possible and review them for 18 Cinema Lane.
I’m pretty sure you’ve heard by now that Avengers: Infinity War will now be released on April 27th (if you didn’t know, well, you do now). Instead of reporting on this significant piece of movie news (because that’s already been done), I’ve decided to share with you how I really feel about it.
I found out two days ago as I was looking at YouTube on my phone. When I was scrolling down the page, I stumbled across a video from ScreenJunkies News titled “Why Did Marvel Just Change Avengers Release Date? Our Theories – INFINITY WAR BREAKING NEWS”. Without having watched the video yet, I instantly became shocked by the video’s headline (mostly because Marvel has never changed movie release dates after they were officially announced). Then I came across a video from Beyond The Trailer titled “Avengers Infinity War April 27th NEW RELEASE DATE”. As I read this second headline, I couldn’t understand why Marvel would do something like this for their biggest, and arguably most important, film. Determined to get answers to my quickly growing lists of questions, I watched the videos from both ScreenJunkies News and Beyond The Trailer, as well as a video from ColliderVideos titled “Avengers: Infinity War Release Date Moves Up One Week”. While watching each of these videos, the words of Roth Cornet and Billy Business (from ScreenJunkies News), Grace Randolph (from Beyond The Trailer), and John Rocha and Mark Reilly (from ColliderVideos) eased my anxious mind-set as they explained the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the sudden news (which involved a very cute Twitter exchange between Robert Downey Jr. and Marvel Studios). Everything each of these respective hosts said in their videos sounded good, but I still have one concern. In all three videos, it was mentioned that Avengers: Infinity War will be released around the world on April 27th. The last time a superhero film had a release date correlating with other areas of the world was Justice League (and we all know how that worked out for Warner Brothers). With each of these videos reflecting very positive opinions about Marvel’s recent decision, I now feel confident that Marvel made a good decision! As someone who has Avengers: Infinity War as their most anticipated movie of this year, I know that April will be a very exciting month for not only me, but also 18 Cinema Lane!
If you want to watch any of the videos I talked about in this post, you can go to YouTube and either type the title of the video or the channel name into the search bar.
What are your thoughts about this release date? Are you excited to be seeing the film earlier than expected? Please share your thoughts in the comment section!
There are two pieces of movie news, found on What’s Filming, that I felt needed to be shared with you. The first is about an upcoming Hallmark film. In an article on Southern Living, it was mentioned that a sequel for the Hallmark film “Summer of Dreams” was coming as a part of the “June Weddings” line-up. The sequel, titled for now as “Dream On”, has been added to the list, on What’s Filming, of upcoming productions for the Vancouver and British Columbia area! Filming will start on March 5th and Debbie Gibson has already been attached to the project. As much as I’m looking forward to seeing this movie, especially after having seen the first one, I admit I’m surprised by the fact that out of all the “Summer Nights” movies to premiere in 2016, “Summer of Dreams” was the one to get a sequel. I will definitely watch the next installment with an open mind, as I’m curious to see how the next chapter unfolds.
The other piece of movie news is an upcoming project from Lifetime. What’s Filming reported that a remake to the film The Bad Seed is currently in production until March 30th. As someone who has seen the original film, the idea of this movie getting a remake doesn’t sit well with me. Based on the movie’s description provided on the What’s Filming website, it seems like whoever is in charge of this project doesn’t truly understand what made The Bad Seed so memorable and such a classic in the first place. The original film had the guts to ask a question that had only had a simple debate in the 1950s: could children be born “bad” without any external influences? Because of the film’s success and power to stand the test of time, this same question is still being asked 62 years after the film’s release. Rhoda, the infamous nightmare-inducer, was a character that not only served as a shocking possibility to the aforementioned question, but was also a character that had never been featured in cinema before. Sadly, I feel that this remake from Lifetime will add nothing new to this decades old discussion and will be shocking just for the sake of it.
What do think about these pieces of movie news? Are you looking forward to any of these movies? Let me know in the comment section!
Link to the What’s Filming “Upcoming” page: http://www.whatsfilming.ca/upcoming/ (If you visit this page after March 5th, “Dream On” will be moved to the “In Production” page for the areas of Vancouver and British Columbia)
It seems like news surrounding Christmas movies is really catching my attention lately. Another title, found again on What’s Filming, has made me immediately take notice. On the list of upcoming productions for the Vancouver/British Columbia area, the movie “Marrying Father Christmas” was posted. This means that Hallmark is going through with continuing their “Father Christmas” series that they established back in 2016! But based on that title, it looks like Hallmark is swaying away from the series’ original source material.
I have never read any of the “Father Christmas” books by Robin Jones Gunn, but I have heard of them as the movie series progressed. When I looked up the third book in this series (on Barnes & Noble’s website), I found that the book was called Kissing Father Christmas and that the story surrounding Erin Krakow and Niall Matter’s characters was not the main focus. Because the movie is called Marrying Father Christmas, it looks like the wedding of Ian and Miranda is going to take center-stage. The question is, what is Hallmark going to do with the original story from Kissing Father Christmas? Will it be omitted from the movie completely or could it be a subplot featuring a new character?
With this movie filming from March 6th to March 26th, Hallmark has plenty of time to announce its arrival! Both films in the “Father Christmas” series have proven to be a hit with the ratings, building a loyal audience in time for the third film. When Hallmark makes any announcements for Marrying Father Christmas, you’ll definitely read about it on 18 Cinema Lane!
Are you excited for this third installment? Have you seen the other two movies in the series? Let me know in the comment section!
Have fun at the movies!
Sally Silverscreen
Link to the What’s Filming “Upcoming” page: http://www.whatsfilming.ca/upcoming/ (If you visit this page after March 6th, “Marrying Father Christmas” will be moved to the “In Production” page for the areas of Vancouver and British Columbia)
18 Cinema Lane 