TORONTO - With the arrival of Boxing Day come long lines at department store, excited shoppers stocking up on goodies and others who view the holiday as one more chance to spend time with family.
It also represents another goldmine for Hollywood, which has embraced holiday ensemble movies that feature a roster of celebrities and a mishmash of clichéd storylines in which lovelorn stereotypes learn the value of the holiday and an important lesson about themselves.
Last year, Valentine's Day received the Hollywood treatment; then there was New Year's Eve, which promised as much and delivered as little as the day does itself.
Well now it is Boxing Day's turn in the holiday film spotlight. CTVNews.ca's Matthew Coutts has unearthed an actual* treatment for the upcoming Boxing Day movie and shares the details below.
(*NOTE: This is not an actual treatment. There is no actual Boxing Day movie set for release. Or if there is, there shouldn't be.)
Movie: Boxing Day
Release Date: Dec. 21, 2012
Budget: $55 million
Anticipated Box Office Revenue: A Billion Dollars
Synopsis:
Boxing Day celebrates love, hope, commercialism, second chances and returned gifts, in a series of intertwining stories told amidst the hectic pace and promise of the Toronto Eaton Centre on the most dizzying shopping day of the year.
Cast of Characters
The Particular Shopper
Her perfect Christmas dinner was ruined by the announcement that her son would soon marry a woman of whom she disapproves. After an argument tears her family apart she searches the mall for a gift to win her son back, and maybe learns a very valuable lesson along the way.
Cast: Jane Fonda
The Department Store Clerks
These two clerks are cynical about the commercialism of the holiday season until they are dragged unwittingly into The Particular Shopper's search for the perfect gift. And they just might learn that the bond they have with each other is more than friendship.
Cast: Ellen Page and Andrew Garfield
The Gift Returner and Daughter
After an argument with her soon to be mother-in-law on Christmas Day, she heads to the shopping mall to return a rejected gift when her daughter (from her first marriage) goes missing and her family priorities change.
Cast: Charlize Theron and Maria Aragon
The Boxing Day Hater
He vowed to avoid the shopping centre on Boxing Day, but when his fiancée's daughter goes missing and his mother has a crisis of her own, he braves the busy aisles to put the pieces of his family back together.
Cast: Bradley Cooper
The Last-Minute Shopper
This young bachelor wakes up from a Bacchanalian slumber to the realization that he has a hoard of past-due Christmas gifts to buy before heading to his brother's house for a Boxing Day family dinner.
Cast: John Cho
The Frenzied Shopper
He spent weeks preparing his Boxing Day "assault" and plans to make the most of the bargains. But his materialism has driven a wedge between himself and his girlfriend and he must learn a personal lesson and make an elaborate gesture to get her back.
Cast: Ashton Kutcher
The Wandering Shopper
She loves the Christmas season but has grown frustrated by her boyfriend's materialism. She spends the day with her gal pal complaining about his inability to commit, until she is pursued by a charming television reporter and learns a thing or two about true love.
Cast: Ginnifer Goodwin
The TV Reporter
He is frustrated about having to do a fluff piece about Boxing Day bargain hunting, until he falls for a woman who seems unreceptive to his charm. He learns no valuable lesson.
Cast: Jamie Foxx
The Scam Artist
A lowlife pickpocket who calls Boxing Day his "Super Bowl" pulls a series of purse snatchings and scams on shoppers and stores alike. He learns a valuable lesson when he helps a beautiful charity worker recover her stolen donation box.
Cast: Ryan Gosling
The Charitable Volunteer
She spends Boxing Day collecting donations for a charity until her donation box is stolen and she teams up with an unlikely ally to get it back.
Cast: Katherine Heigl
Matthew Coutts usually writes fact-based news for CTVNews.ca and can be found on Twitter at @mrcoutts
