Ralphie tries to orchestrate another A Christmas Story in this trailer for HBO Max’s sequel

But that’s probably a feature and not a bug. A Christmas Story is comfort food, which is why it just plays constantly on TV during the Christmas season, so HBO Max putting out a movie that is explicitly saying “here’s some Christmas Story stuff” is a good idea. Plus, you could argue that the plot itself is a somewhat clever nod to that.

Set 30 years after the original movie, the sequel takes place shortly after the death of Ralphie’s father (“the Old Man”) when he and his own family return to his hometown to spend Christmas with his mother (now played by Julie Hagerty). Tasked with making this Christmas a Very Special And Important one, adult Ralphie decides to recreate some of the Very Special And Important moments from one specific Christmas he had as a kid. Thus… A Christmas Story Christmas.

Other than the return of Billingsley as Ralphie, one of the other big hooks is that Ian Petrella, Scott Schwartz, R.D. Robb, and Zack Ward are all also returning to reprise their roles as Ralphie’s brother, his childhood friends, and his bully. It’s like seeing Kyle Richards come back for Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends, except those movies were dumb and maybe this movie won’t be dumb. (Though this movie is also ignoring the Christmas Story sequels that were made in the years since the original, so maybe this has more in common with David Gordon Green’s reboot trilogy than anyone would care to admit.)