Christman spirit is already in the air, even though December is quite a few days off now. Mariah Carey and her “All I Want for Christmas is You” has begun defrosting.
People are dusting off their Christmas ornaments and putting on the lights. Soon, it will be time to watch some Christman films, like 2004’s The Polar Express.
Now, it looks like a sequel/ prequel to the Tom Hanks film is coming soon. Or is it?
No, the Christmas Express isn’t a real movie. Also, no sequel or prequel to 2004’s Tom Hanks starring animated film Polar Express is in development. The fake Christmas Express poster was created and circulated by a Facebook satire page called Yoda BBY ABY on November 22, 2023.
Is the Christmas Express a Real Movie?
2004’s computer-animated film Polar Express, starring Tom Hanks as five separate characters, including that of Santa Claus himself, was directed by Robert Zemeckis.
The film is about a tired and disappointed guy who gets on the titular train that barrels into his house in the middle of the night. Where does the train take him?
“To the North Pole, of course!”
The film was a hit, earning $300 million at the box office. Moreover, its home releases raked in around $150 million more. Almost two decades later, it’s still memed.
After all, who can forget the operator making the train drift on the ice sheet like a car drifting on the road?
So when news hit of a possible prequel called Christmas Express coming soon, everyone was understandably excited. Posters of the film were shared online, and everything was going well until something happened.
Some people online said that the movie didn’t exist. So, are they right?
Yes. There isn’t a film called Christmas Express that’s a prequel or sequel to Polar Express. Nothing related to Polar Express is in development as well.
The entire online commotion was caused by a Facebook satire page called YODA BBY ABY, which posted an AI-generated fake poster of the non-existent Christmas Express film.
The page claimed the film will be exclusively released on the Max streaming service next month. They also wrote a convincing synopsis that said:
“Get ready for a heartwarming holiday adventure in The Christmas Express starring Tom Hanks as Woodford Newton. When a fateful accident occurs during his town’s Christmas train ride, Woodford is chosen by an angel to become the Christmas Spirit, spreading joy and belief to children on The Polar Express.”
But all of it is a lie.
However, many people believed it because it was shared more than 110k times and had upwards of 57k comments, with people excitedly tagging their friends.
This kind of AI-generated trolling isn’t new. Recently, people were duped by a TikToker who said that Pixar had made Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and that the film was available on Disney+.
People hurried to check out the film on the app only to find that nothing as such existed. Many accounts are warning people to check thoroughly before getting their hopes up.
After all, if a sequel or prequel to a beloved classic Christmas movie were going to come out near the holidays with Tom Hanks in a leading role, a company like Warner Bros (who own Max) would have promoted it.
So, were you duped by the fake poster too? Did you ever fall for any such fake AI-generated poster before?
Let us know about your experiences in the comments below.
Source: Yoda BBY ABY
