Posted by Yes, the band Pentatonix is part of the cast and the soundtrack of the 2023 Christmas movie Candy Cane Lane: here is what happened.
There was quite a significant wait for Candy Cane Lane, the 2023 Christmas movie starring Eddie Murphy. The film was released on Amazon Prime Video on December 1, 2023, following the adventure of a man, Chris Carver, who gets involved in a dangerous curse while trying to win the competition for the best-decorated home in the area. Among the many curiosities viewers had, one spins around the presence of the famous a cappella band Pentatonix, both in the soundtrack and the movie cast.
Pentatonix has a massive following in the United States, especially when it comes to Christmas songs. The group was formed in 2011 and gained widespread recognition through their appearances on the reality television show The Sing-Off, where they ultimately won the third season. After that, Pentatonix continued to build a fan base through their YouTube channel, where they covered popular songs and showcased their vocal talents: as of 2023, they have 20 million subscribers to their Youtube channel, and their Christmas songs are still among the most streamed tracks of their career.
That’s what led the director of Candy Cane Lane, Reginald Hudlin, to involve them in the movie production. In the plot, we see the protagonist, Chris Carver, often talking to the little villagers who live in the reproduction of the Christmas village at Kringle’s. Among them, there is a group of carolers who talk only by singing Christmas carols. Well, when Hudlin discovered the presence of this group of carolers in the movie script, he immediately knew who to cast, and that’s how Pentatonix entered the cast of Candy Cane Lane: the carolers’ voices belong to the members of the band, Scott Hoying, Kirstin Maldonado, Mitch Grassi, Kevin Olusola and Matt Sallee.
As director Reginald Hudlin said in this interview with Amazon:
“When I read the script and saw reoccurring singing parts, I knew there was only one casting choice: Pentatonix! Working with them was so much fun and to experience their vocal mastery in person was pure joy. People are going to love them in this movie.”
And that wasn’t enough: Pentatonix also appears for real at the end of the movie, after the curse is broken: you can see them coming to life when the film comes close to its ending. Moreover, they are also part of the movie soundtrack, with many of their Christmas songs, like Deck The Halls, Jingle Bells, or Here We Come a Caroling. As we said, every time the carolers communicate, they do it through music, so there was no better choice than picking the Christmas songs produced by Pentatonix over the years. One particular song appears recurrently in the plot: it’s Pentatonix’s version of 12 Days of Christmas, as you can listen to it below.
It’s their last milestone in a career that often made Pentatonix join the holiday mood in the United States: with their appearance in the cast and the soundtrack of Candy Cane Lane, the band will now be remembered as a symbol of Christmas, probably for a long time.
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