How many Ralph Parker / A Christmas Story movies are there?

In 1976, the television movie The Phantom of the Open Hearth made its debut in the US. The family-comedy – written by Jean Shepherd and loosely based on his book, In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash – followed the story of middle-aged Ralph Parker, and told events from his childhood.

The Phantom of the Open Hearth proved popular with audiences and in 1982 it was followed by a sequel, The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters. As with its predecessor, this television movie focused on Ralph Parker, telling yet another story from his childhood.

With this second film proving moderately popular to TV viewers, the next film in the series – A Christmas Story – was released theatrically. This was then followed by a collection of TV movies, as well as direct-to-video /streaming titles, which continued to tell stories about Ralph Parker.

But how many Ralph Parker movies are there and have you watched them all? For all the details and more, keep reading!

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The Ralph Parker movies in order

To date there are eight entries in the Ralph Parker movie series. The movies appear in the following order:

• The Phantom of the Open Hearth (1976)
• The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters (1982)
• A Christmas Story (1983)
• The Star-Crossed Romance of Josephine Cosnowski (1985)
• Ollie Hopnoodle’s Haven of Bliss (1988)
• My Summer Story (1994) (aka It Runs in the Family)
• A Christmas Story 2 (2012)
• A Christmas Story Christmas (2022)

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Are all of the Ralph Parker movies part of the same series?

The Ralph Parker movies are part of the same collection, but not all of them are directly connected.

• The Phantom of the Open Hearth (1976) and The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters (1982) are loosely-connected television movies, which feature some of the same cast members.
• A Christmas Story (1983) is a theatrically-released movie, set before the events of the two TV movies. It is loosely part of the same series, but features a different cast.
• The Star-Crossed Romance of Josephine Cosnowski (1985) and Ollie Hopnoodle’s Haven of Bliss (1988) are loosely connected TV movies. Again, these films feature different cast members.
• My Summer Story (1994) is a theatrical movie, which was conceived as the first direct sequel to A Christmas Story (i.e. it makes direct reference to that movie). However, it features a new cast, rather than the cast who appeared in A Christmas Story.
• A Christmas Story 2 (2012) is a direct-to-DVD movie, which is also a direct sequel to A Christmas Story. Once again, this movie features a new cast, but most important of all, it IGNORES the events of My Summer Story.
• A Christmas Story Christmas (2022) is a direct-to-streaming movie, which is yet again another direct sequel to A Christmas Story, IGNORING the events of both My Summer Story and A Christmas Story 2. This movie is regarded as the ‘true’ sequel to A Christmas Story, as it features the same cast members.

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Who plays Ralph Parker in all the movies?

• David Elliot played Ralph in The Phantom of the Open Hearth (with Jean Shepherd narrating as an adult Ralph).
• Matt Dillon played Ralph in The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters (with Jean Shepherd once again narrating as an adult Ralph).
• Peter Billingsley played Ralph in A Christmas Story (with Jean Shepherd back for a third time narrating as an adult Ralph).
• Pete Kowanko played Ralph in The Star-Crossed Romance of Josephine Cosnowski (with Jean Shepherd narrating as an adult Ralph for the fourth time).
• Jerry O’Connell played young Ralph in Ollie Hopnoodle’s Haven of Bliss (with Jean Shepherd as an adult Ralph).
• Kieran Culkin played Ralph in My Summer Story (with Jean Shepherd narrating as Ralph for the final time).
• Braeden Lemasters played Ralph in A Christmas Story 2.
• Peter Billingsley played Ralph in A Christmas Story Christmas, reprising the role for the first time since 1983’s A Christmas Story.

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Thank you for stopping by It’s A Stampede! to read this post about the Ralph Parker / A Christmas Story movie series – I hope it has made this slightly confusing movie series a little-less confusing. For more movie posts, be sure to check out the recommended reads below.

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