Get your popcorn ready Greater Newburyport; you’re going to be a little more famous. A-list celebrities Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, and Robert De Niro have made their way to the North Shore for the filming of ‘Joy’, a story about inventor and entrepreneur Joy Mangano- who will be played by Jennifer Lawrence. So far, we know that scenes have been filmed in Newburyport, Newbury, West Newbury, and other North Shore locations. This is the third film director David O. Russell has brought to Massachusetts, and if ‘Joy’ is as successful as his first two, ‘The Fighter’ and ‘American Hustle’, the film could draw significant attention to our historic and charming city.

We don’t yet know how much of the film will be set in Greater Newburyport, but even a few minutes in the limelight will perhaps be the most attention the city will have seen to date. As one of the most thriving cities and real estate markets in the Northeast, Newburyport is familiar to most New Englanders but it is small enough of a city where it doesn’t register on a national scale. All of that could change when Hollywood’s mega superstars come to down.

In 2014, the highest grossing films in the United States were ‘American Sniper’ and ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 1’, which starred Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, respectively. When film legend Robert De Niro is the third wheel, you can anticipate it to be a major blockbuster. We can also expect it to be a very good movie; each time Lawrence, Cooper, and Russell have made a film together, it has resulted in a Best Picture nomination. ‘Joy’, also titled ‘Kay’s Baptism’, is set to hit the box office on Christmas Day, a perfect gift for our flourishing community.