March 20th, 2024 
Jerry Beck 
Netflix has unveiled a stellar voice cast and brand new images from Locksmith Animation (Ron’s Gone Wrong) and director Simon Otto’s (How to Train Your Dragon trilogy) upcoming CG animated feature That Christmas. The film stars Brian Cox as Santa, Fiona Shaw (Ms. Trapper), Jodie Whittaker (Mrs. Williams), and Bill Nighy (Bill) as the residents of a charming seaside town where things turn upside down one Christmas. The film will debut on Netflix later this year.
That Christmas is an adaptation of the beloved children’s book series (The Empty Stocking, Snow Day and That Christmas) written by acclaimed BAFTA Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated writer and director, Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually, Yesterday). A film of firsts, it marks Curtis’ first animation project as well as the directorial debut for animation veteran Otto.
Also stars Lolly Adefope, Alex Macqueen, Katherine Parkinson, Sindhu Vee, India Brown, Zazie Hayhurst, Sienna Sayer, Jack Wisniewski, Rosie Cavaliero, Paul Kaye, Guz Khan, Andy Nyman, Kuhu Agarwal, Bronte Smith, Freddie Spry, Ava Talbot, and Rhys Darby.
The festive feature boasts a score from Academy Award and BAFTA-nominated composer John Powell (How To Train Your Dragon trilogy, Happy Feet, Shrek). Produced by Locksmith Animation with animation production from DNEG, the film will be released by Netflix.
Director: Simon Otto
Writers: Richard Curtis & Peter Souter
Producers: Nicole P. Hearon p.g.a, Adam Tandy p.g.a
Executive Producers: Mary Coleman, Natalie Fischer, Julie Lockhart, Elisabeth Murdoch, Bonnie Arnold, Lara Breay, Sarah Smith, Rebecca Cobb, Richard Curtis, Colin Hopkins
Composer: John Powell
Cast: Brian Cox, Fiona Shaw, Jodie Whittaker, Lolly Adefope, Alex Macqueen, Katherine Parkinson, Sindhu Vee, India Brown, Zazie Hayhurst, Sienna Sayer, Jack Wisniewski, Rosie Cavaliero, Paul Kaye, Guz Khan, Andy Nyman, Kuhu Agarwal, Bronte Smith, Freddie Spry, Ava Talbot, with Bill Nighy and Rhys Darby.
Logline: Based on the charming trilogy of children’s books by beloved multi award-winning writer/director Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually, Yesterday), That Christmas follows a series of entwined tales about family and friends, love and loneliness, and Santa Claus making a big mistake, not to mention an enormous number of turkeys! This heartwarming comedy from Locksmith Animation marks Curtis’ first foray into animation, serving as the film’s writer and executive producer, and also the feature directorial debut of renowned animation veteran Simon Otto (Love, Death & Robots, How to Train Your Dragon films). Nicole P. Hearon (Moana, Frozen) and Adam Tandy (The Thick of It, Detectorists) are producers.
Director Simon Otto said: “Becoming an animator had been on my Christmas wish list ever since I was a child and watching animated movies was one of the biggest Christmas traditions in my family. But never could I have imagined that one day I would get the chance to direct a Christmas film written by the one-and-only Richard Curtis and collaborate with some of the most iconic voice talents. Watching this cast bring life to these heart-warmingly funny tales and infuse them with the magic of animation is truly a dream come true. I hope That Christmas becomes a cherished tradition for audiences worldwide.”
Writer and Executive Producer Richard Curtis said: “This has been the most amazing adventure, my first animated film. It’s been especially exciting to see the whole world I imagined come to life beyond my wildest dreams – and populated by a dream bunch of actors, their wonderful voices turned into such rich and funny characters.”
That Christmas is part of Netflix’s original slate of animated features which includes Academy Award-winner Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, the Academy Award-nominated films Nimona, The Sea Beast, The Mitchells vs. The Machines, Over the Moon, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon and Klaus; the BAFTA-nominated Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget; and the comedy fan favourites Leo and Back to the Outback. Upcoming animated features also include Thelma the Unicorn, Ultraman: Rising, Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie, Spellbound, In Your Dreams, The Twits, Pookoo, and an untitled Wallace & Gromit film.
ABOUT SIMON OTTO
Simon Otto makes his feature directorial debut on That Christmas. Prior to joining the team at Locksmith Animation, he directed the Love, Death and Robots episode from Season 2. ‘The Tall Grass,’ and developed, executive produced and served as the Supervising Director on the successful Netflix series. A Tale Dark & Grimm. He also directed episodes on the Netflix animated series Dragons: Race to the Edge and Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia.
Otto spent over 20 years working at DreamWorks Animation, most notably as the Head of Character Animation on the Oscar®-nominated How to Train Your Dragon trilogy. In that role, Simon oversaw the character animation and was instrumental in designing and developing the look of the characters, their personalities, and the overall style of the animation, while also working in the story department as a story artist. He first joined DreamWorks in 1997 to work on the groundbreaking The Prince of Egypt and worked as a Supervising Animator both in hand-drawn and CG animation on many of the studio’s features including, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and the Aardman co-production Flushed Away.
Born and raised in Switzerland, Simon studied animation at the prestigious Les Gobelins Animation School in Paris, France.
ABOUT RICHARD CURTIS
Richard Curtis is a film writer and director, responsible for films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Mr Bean, Love Actually, The Boat That Rocked, Trash, About Time and Yesterday.
In the other half of Richard’s life he is co-founder and vice-chair of Comic Relief, which he started after visiting Ethiopia during the 1985 famine and led to the fundraising event, Red Nose Day. He has co-produced the 16 live nights for the BBC since 1988 and the charity has made over £1.3 Billion for projects in the UK and internationally during that time. In 2015, he helped bring Red Nose Day to the United States with the partnership of NBC and Walgreens – where it has so far raised nearly $150 million to help children in the USA and round the world.
Richard was a founding member of Make Poverty History, the campaign for the MDGs and worked both on that and on Live 8 in 2005. In 2015 he helped found Project Everyone to work to make the Global Goals famous and effective – and is now a UN Advocate for the SDGs.
Richard is also co-founder of Make My Money Matter, a brand new, people powered campaign fighting for a world where we all know where our money goes, and where we can demand it’s invested to
build a better future.
ABOUT LOCKSMITH ANIMATION
Locksmith Animation is an independent producer of high-quality animated features and series that entertain global audiences. From comedies and musicals to epic sci-fi, we tell contemporary stories that make people laugh, think, and feel. Based in London and Los Angeles, we bring together a team of accomplished industry leaders and world-class creative talent in a filmmaker-led studio.
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