A Mariah Carey Christmas Movie Is in the Works
New Line has pre-emptively bought an untitled Mariah Carey Christmas pitch from RatPac Entertainment, writers David Diamond and David Weissman and producer Jon Shestack, according to a Deadline exclusive. Carey is reportedly the one who came up with the idea for a Christmas movie and who brought it to her close friend Brett Ratner who is RatPac principal.
Shestack confirmed the news Tuesday that New Line Cinema is developing the untitled project, which he will co-produce alongside Ratner. "It's a little bit about how music can take you back in time. It will be everything you hope a Christmas movie with Mariah Carey would be," he told Entertainment Weekly. Music by Carey and other artists will be featured. And of course, Carey herself will play a major role in the movie. James Packer and John Cheng will executive produce the project, with Toby Emmerich and Walter Hamada overseeing for New Line Cinema.
Diamond and Weissman, the writers behind The Family Man which Ratner directed, will be co-penning the script for the untitled Mariah Carey Christmas movie.
Ratner, best known for his helming work on the Rush Hour film series, Red Dragon, X-Men: The Last Stand, Tower Heist, and Hercules, is a known close friend of Mariah whom he directed in the 1999 music video for her hit "Heartbreaker."
Mariah, who Shestack said "is like the empress of Christmas," has long been popularly associated with the yuletide season. She wrote and performed "All I Want for Christmas Is You" in 1994 which has become a classic that has sold more than 14 million copies globally to become the biggest holiday perennial in recent memory. The song remains the biggest international hit of Carey's career. The album it comes from, Merry Christmas, is reportedly the best-selling holiday record of all time. A follow up album released in 2010 title Merry Christmas II debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 with sales of 56,000 copies, becoming Carey's 16th top ten album.