The Best Christmas Pageant Ever(2024)

PG
1h 39m

Release Date: Nov 8, 2024 | Wide

Nobody is ready for the mayhem and surprises that ensue when six of the worst youngsters disrupt the town's yearly Christmas performance.

Official Website

Releases

Original Release | Nov 8, 2024

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Box Office Results

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$10,773,559
Total US & Canada:
$40,048,808
Total International
$213,359
Total Worldwide:
$40,262,167

Current Showtimes

Your Location or

(U.S. Only)

Director & Top Cast

Dallas Jenkins
Director

Kynlee Heiman
Gladys

Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez
Charlie

Judy Greer
Grace

Stanlee Arches
Ticket Taker

Vanessa Benavente
First-Grade Teacher

Mariam Bernstein

Mrs. Armstrong

Jenni Burke

Miss Graebner

Kamal Chioua

Joseph

Lauren Cochrane

Nurse Pond

Sarah Constible

Mrs. Slocum

Wyatt Dewar

David

Joshua Downes

Kid in Class

Zoe Fish

Choir Kid #1

Donna Fletcher

Piano Player

Sara Angelica

Mary Mother

Davison Gee

Robby

Lauren Graham

Adult Beth

Technical Specifications

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States,Canada

Language: English

Summaries

Plot Summary

The six Herdman children-Imogene, Ralph, Claude, Leroy, Ollie, and Gladys-are infamous for their wild behavior, which includes smoking cigars, cussing, drinking jug wine, shoplifting, and even committing arson. They've never faced discipline because their father abandoned the family when Gladys was a baby, and their mother is constantly working multiple jobs to make ends meet. Despite their poor academic performance, the Herdmans manage to pass through elementary school because holding any of them back would result in having multiple Herdmans in the same grade, which teachers want to avoid at all costs.They attend Sunday school for the first time after hearing that the church offers snacks. The narrator's mother is shocked when they all volunteer for the lead roles in the Christmas pageant: Imogene as Mary, Ralph as Joseph, Claude, Ollie, and Leroy as the Three Wise Men, and Gladys as the Angel of the Lord, whom she compares to a character from Amazing Comics. Having bullied the usual cast members into silence, the director has no choice but to cast them. Additionally, since the Herdmans took over the major roles, local mothers refuse to let their babies participate, fearing for their safety. As a result, Beth's mother uses a doll for the baby Jesus instead.Not having heard the Christmas story before, the Herdmans develop an unusual interest in it, prompting the narrator and her parents to reflect more deeply on the story's more challenging elements, such as the innkeeper forcing a pregnant woman to sleep in a barn and the Holy Family fleeing from King Herod, who wanted to kill the baby Jesus.The entire town expects the Christmas pageant to be a disaster, but the Herdmans' unconventional approach makes the performance surprisingly authentic and touching. Instead of moving on and off stage like actors, the Herdmans are hesitant and unsure, much like the real Holy Family and Wise Men might have been. Imogene, playing Mary, insists on holding the doll representing Jesus as if it were her own child, while the Wise Men bring a ham from the Herdmans' gift basket instead of the traditional frankincense and myrrh. The shepherds appear genuinely awed by Gladys's announcement of Jesus' birth, and during the final scene, the narrator is astonished to see Imogene softly crying while holding the "baby." By unanimous agreement, it is considered the best Christmas pageant the town has ever seen.

Storyline

Beth tells a story from her childhood of one of the most important annual events of her small town, Emmanuel, namely the church's Christmas pageant presenting the nativity story. At the time, however, Beth and most of the other children viewed the pageant as the boring proverbial "same old, same old" year after year, which is probably why it appealed to the adults. The pageant seemingly directed forever by Mrs. Armstrong, Beth tells of the important and highly publicized seventy-fifth anniversary edition when Mrs. Armstrong became incapacitated and Beth's "average" mom, Grace, looked down upon by the town's alpha moms including Mrs. Armstrong, volunteered to direct it. Beth's hope that her mom would do a good job, the best pageant ever, so as not to be ridiculed by the townsfolk and especially the alpha moms hit a bump when the six violent, thieving, lying, cigar-smoking, Christian-illiterate Herdman children, feared by everyone in town, including the adults, in largely being considered the worst children who ever lived, and led by the meanest and oldest, Imogene Herdman, decided not only to start attending church for reasons having nothing to do with religion, but to take over the pageant by inserting themselves into the six primary roles of Mary, Joseph, the Three Wise Men, and the Angel of the Lord. — Huggo