Lionsgate's New Holiday Family Classic: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever will be released in the USA on November 8, 2024 at locations everywhere.
by Thygerson Vaun
Contributing writer and mother of three
Oct 31, 2024
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Photo Courtesy Lionsgate.com
When the rowdy siblings of the Herdman family, who have a reputation as the worst kids in the world, take over the local church nativity play, their unconventional interpretation ends up teaching the townspeople the true meaning of Christmas: compassion and acceptance. Opening in theaters on November 8, this family-favorite movie, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, will be one to add to your annual Holiday viewing parties! Based on the wildly successful 1972 book of the same name, written by Barbara Robinson, this endearing tale has been a favorite for many readers, including one of the movie's producers and writers Darin McDaniel.

“This movie has all the makings of a classic,” says McDaniel. “Hopefully it would ground everybody every year at Christmas time to check themselves to make sure they weren’t being one of the townspeople and being closed off and judgmental to others in need or less fortunate, especially children.”

KCFM editor LJ Radon went to Skyline High School with McDaniel in Salt Lake City, Utah.  She is so happy to see her friend’s movie make it to the big screen and has been cheering him on during the entire process.

            For McDaniel, seeing his movie become a national theatrical release through Lionsgate has been the product of his lifelong passion. In 1988, he owned a theater company in Utah and began producing and directing this play. Immediately, he felt a real connection to the story and could especially relate to the Herdman children. 

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Photo Courtesy Lionsgate.com
            “I fell absolutely in love with the story,” he says. “I love that in this story you start off perceiving that the kids are the antagonists, the bad ones in the community with the townspeople being the victims of their horrible wrath; but as the onion layers are peeled back, you come to realize the kids were a product of their environment and had a lot in common with Mary and Joseph being seen and treated as outsiders and outcasts. And, by hijacking the coveted ‘same old’ Christmas Pageant they end up bringing an unexpected realness and heart and soul to the Pageant that opens the eyes and softens the heart of this small town.”

            In 1989, he moved to Los Angeles and began the arduous process of securing rights to the book.  Finally in 2001, he secured the rights and began working with Jerry Molen and Chet Thomas to find a studio.  The next year, he and his writing partner Platte Clark, with input from the book’s author, Robinson, wrote the first adaptation.

In 2003, he signed on with Walden media to produce the movie, but it wasn’t working out how he envisioned it so when the rights lapsed in 2020, McDaniel snatched them back up. “In hindsight, this was such a massive blessing,” McDaniel says.  

            Around 2010, an up-and-coming director, Dallas Jenkins, reached out to McDaniel to direct the film. Jenkins was a new director without an established track record, so McDaniel told him to keep in touch. Jenkins even set a reminder in his phone to pray weekly for this opportunity. Timing and persistence worked out because when the time came for the movie to be made, Jenkins, now directing The Chosen, was the right person for the job.

Through Jenkins, they signed on with Kingdom Story Company and that’s when they locked in with Lionsgate. “It’s absolutely the A-team without question,” McDaniel says. “This movie was divinely guided and Dallas did an amazing job.”

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Photo Courtesy Lionsgate.com
Featuring actors Judy Greer, Lauren Graham, Elizabeth Tabish, and Pete Holmes, McDaniel thinks all the actors, including the Herdman children, were a perfect fit for his vision. “From day one with Judy Greer as the mom, I just could not see anyone else in that role,” he says. “Pete just nailed it. He ad-libbed multiple lines that were kept in the film that he delivered himself that were just perfect.”

His own three children, now 33, 29, and 22 years old, grew up watching their father pursue his dream, so for them to see it happen on the large screen makes him really happy. He especially loves how he now he gets to write with his eldest daughter. “It’s been super fun to see this come to fruition,” he says. “They know that we hung in there and it’s paying off.”

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Photo Courtesy Lionsgate.com
            McDaniel encourages people to read the book before the movie but says you don’t need to as the story stands on its own. He says it is fun to see how the movie has expanded the Herdman’s journey from the book. Because the book’s author had passed in 2013, McDaniel had her daughter and son come to the production set in Canada. He said Robinson’s daughter is a huge fan of The Chosen and is thrilled to have Jenkins directing it.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever will be released on November 8, 2024, in theaters everywhere.

For more information on the Christmas classic, visit www.bestchristmaspageantever.movie.
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