November 22, 2023
Provided Image/Mixtape Media
Eagles linemen Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata and Jason Kelce star in the stop-motion short film 'A Philly Special Christmas Special,' which features songs from their upcoming holiday album of the same name.
Move over "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" — there's a new stop-motion holiday film this year, and it features less reindeer and more Eagles.
Ahead of the release of the second holiday album by Eagles players Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata, "A Philly Special Christmas Special," the trio will star in an accompanying animated short film of the same name. The movie premieres Thursday, Nov. 23 at 8 p.m. on YouTube.
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In the stop-motion video, Kelce, Mailata and Johnson attempt to gather their friends to put on a legendary holiday performance. Along the way, the linemen may just learn the true meaning of Christmas.
There are guest appearances from Philly-native singer Patti LaBelle, the Eagles' play-by-play announcer Merrill Reese and the Kansas City Chiefs' tight end (and Jason's little brother) Travis Kelce.
Philadelphia-based animation studio unPOP created the eight-minute film. The project was completed in 5,000 hours over five months and used 20 handcrafted puppets and 5,000 photographs displayed at 24 frames per second.
The film's soundtrack includes songs from the "A Philly Special Christmas Special" album, which is a follow-up to the highly successful 2022 album "A Philly Special Christmas." The new album is available now for vinyl preorder and will be available on all digital platforms on Friday, Dec. 1. Produced by Charlie Hall and Connor Barwin, it features 10 holiday classics sung by the trio of linemen — who call themselves The Philly Specials — and an original tune, "Santa's Night," written by Jason Kelce.
So far, three singles from this year's album have been released, including “All I Want for Christmas,” “This Christmas” featuring LaBelle and “Fairytale of Philadelphia” featuring Travis Kelce. The Kelce brothers' duet, a reimagining of a classic song by The Pogues, has been streamed over 2 million times since its release last week.
The trailer for the short film can be viewed on Instagram and below:
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