# That Christmas

That Christmas is a 2024 animated Christmas fantasy comedy film produced by Locksmith Animation, animated by DNEG Animation, and distributed by Netflix. Directed by Simon Otto, in his directorial debut, from a script by Richard Curtis and Peter Souter, it follows entwined storylines based on short stories from That Christmas and Other Stories by Curtis and illustrator Rebecca Cobb. The voice cast features Brian Cox, Fiona Shaw, Jodie Whittaker and Bill Nighy.
That Christmas premiered at the BFI London Film Festival on 19 October 2024, and was released on 4 December 2024. It received mixed reviews from critics, the film received six nominations at the 52nd Annie Awards including Best Animated Feature, but lost all six to DreamWorks's The Wild Robot.

## Plot

In the seaside Suffolk town of Wellington-on-Sea, Suffolk Coast, England, the townsfolk prepare themselves to celebrate Christmas. Wanting to change things up for the Christmas season, free-spirited local rebel Bernadette McNutt puts on an more liberal spin at an annual school Christmas play's scene which not many of the parents enjoy. Danny Williams, a shy new boy in town who tries to adjust to his parents' divorce and is upset but not surprised that Mrs. Williams, his mother, has to leave for work, almost misses his cue due to staring at Sam Beccles, an anxious girl whom he secretly has a crush on, but Charlie, Sam's mischievous identical twin sister, arrives to humiliate Nisha Muliji, a bully who ridicules Sam, in front of the audience. Charlie teases Sam about her fears while riding on their bicycles back home with their parents as the McNutts drive with their neighbors. Danny converses with Mrs. Williams through sticky notes about the play and his crush on Sam. Racing to their room, Sam tries to convince Charlie to behave for Santa Claus, but Charlie ignores her. The next morning, Bernadette, Evie, her younger sister, Nisha, play with Nisha, Teddy and Scarlett, the Forrest siblings, while Sam and Charlie play in the snow. However, Mrs. Williams fails to notice that the school is closed due to an weather-related cancellation, and Danny is caught trying to leave by Mrs. Trapper, his teacher who has him catch up on his studies due to his poor marks. Meanwhile, the McNutts, the Forrests and Mrs. Mulji, Nisha's mother, plan to have Bernadette watch the kids as they attend a wedding the following day.
Sam watches Charlie put out a prank on their neighbor who is mean to her dog. As a result, Mrs. Beccles, their mother, scolds Charlie and has them read while she plays "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" on the piano and Sam notices Charlie check something off from a piece of paper. During a ten-minute recess, Mrs. Trapper teaches Williams how to properly build a snowman and Danny notices that Mrs. Trapper is miserable on the way home after spending the rest of the day playing in the snow with her. On Christmas Eve, the McNutts, the Forrests and Mrs. Mulji rush to the wedding while the kids get a barn near their houses ready for their annual Christmas traditions. The Beccles are forced to retrieve the turkeys from Farmer Yirrell who kills them before selling them as the butcher could not get a shipment in due to an blizzard. Sam protests as Farmer Yirrell is cruel, but they insist on going anyway. At the farm, Charlie sneaks away to try and free the turkeys while Sam distracts Farmer Yirrell. As everyone chases the birds, Sam chastises Charlie for her actions as she fears that it will reflect on her, upsetting Charlie. Mrs. Williams advises Danny to drop by Sam's family's store to acquire wine gums for his father. Danny nervously prepares a speech but freezes upon seeing her. After Danny notices the shop's closure, Sam invites him in to warm himself up for a minute, but Danny refuses. Unbeknownst to Danny, Charlie teases Sam about her secret crush on him. When the adults leave the reception, they are forced to take the long way home thanks to a snowstorm. After avoiding a turkey, they go off the road and slide down a slope from off a bridge. They inform their children that they'll be home later than expected and have them stay together for the night. Upon arriving home, Danny is called by his father who informs him he's unable to come due to the blizzard. Sam cleans Charlie's side of the room. While the kids get ready for bed and fall asleep, Evie expresses her disappointment that her parents are not home. As Danny sleeps with Mrs. Williams who comforts him, Santa arrives at Wellington with Dasher and, upon learning about the situations in Danny's life, leaves him behind with his stocking full and a quad bike in front of his house.
After learning of the kids' current events, Santa leaves them with their peculiar gifts. Noting that Sam has been nice while Charlie has been naughty, Santa accidentally confuses the twins and leaves Charlie behind with the presents. Charlie awakes and is overjoyed to find presents but sadly sees Sam's empty stocking and realizes they are meant for her sister, so she moves everything to her sister's stocking and goes to bed. Santa gets a reading that Charlie's in fact nice and returns to Wellington. On Christmas Day, Charlie wakes up to hear Sam's cries of joy and congratulates her. Sam points towards Charlie's stocking to find it full. The twins show their parents and Charlie finds a button saying "officially nice" in her stocking but decides to keep it away from her family. Upon waking up, the kids discover their gifts, and Bernadette leads them in having the Christmas they want. During a game of hide and seek, Evie gets out. An overjoyed Danny becomes disheartened when he learns that Mrs. Williams has to work as Lighthouse Bill's mother is sick. Mrs. Williams leaves after a small fight and Danny, seeing Mrs. Trapper alone, offers to have lunch with her, but Mrs. Trapper refuses and convinces him to see things from his mother's perspective. Charlie inadvertently destroys an ornament and Sam questions how her sister got her gifts. Meanwhile, the parents struggle to get up from the slope and Mr. McNutt gives his wife a fully charged phone as a gift. After berating him for keeping it to himself, they call their children and emergency services. After neither pick up their answer, Mr. Forrest decides to call Mrs. Trapper as the others are too terrified of her. Having been alerted of the stranded motorists, Mrs. Trapper enlists Danny's help to convince Farmer Yirrell to get the motorists to safety simply by hulling them back to their houses where they're ultimately greeted by their children and helps Danny make an igloo for Mrs. Williams. As Charlie is untidying her side of the room, Sam finds Charlie's notes and realizes she did all those things to help Sam, even developing a plan to get her and Danny together. Danny and Mrs. Williams reconcile and offer Mrs. Trapper a place at their table, but Mrs. Trapper refuses and looks through a box of mementos belonging to Jamie, her late husband.
The McNees, the Forrests and Mrs. Mulji notice that Evie's missing and they search for her, getting the town involved in their search. Mrs. Trapper enlists Danny to take her to the McNutt house where she takes up the command. As the Beccles search, the twin's parents berate Charlie for her method of searching, but Sam defends her sister by saying that she is only simply doing things in her own way. The girls go on ahead and run into Danny whom they then join in on his quad bike. After noticing the lighthouse, the trio enlists Bill to find something in the snow and keep the light on it, seeing that Bernadette is close to the object. Bernadette sees the object and, realizing that it's Evie's favorite toy, follows the footprints to the water where she falls on her knees and sobs at the thought of her sister drowning as Danny, Sam and Charlie arrive to comfort her. Fortunately, Danny notices that Lighthouse Bill has flashed the light on a set of footprints from the lighthouse and the group follow them to a row of beach huts where they find Evie sheltering with several turkeys. Bernadette hugs Eve as the others inform the town that Evie has been found. After Bernadette and Evie's parents arrive, Bernadette apologizes to her mother for losing Evie as Mrs. McNee forgives her. Upon learning that Danny thought of using the lighthouse, Bernadette hails him a hero and Danny, with Charlie's encouragement, asks out Sam. On Boxing Day, Lighthouse Bill goes to the beach to swim in the cold ocean with half the town including Danny, Sam, Charlie, Bernadette, Evie, Nisha, Teddy, Scarlett, the McNees, Mrs. Mulji, the Forrests, Mrs. Trapper and Mrs. Williams all arriving to enjoy themselves.

## Cast

* Brian Cox as Santa Claus
* Fiona Shaw as Mrs. Trapper
* Jodie Whittaker as Mrs. Williams
* Lolly Adefope as Mrs. McNutt
* Alex Macqueen as Mr. Forrest
* Katherine Parkinson as Mrs. Forrest
* Sindhu Vee as Mrs. Mulji
* Rosie Cavaliero as Mrs. Beccles
* Paul Kaye as Farmer Yirrell
* Guz Khan as Dasher
* Andy Nyman as Mr. Beccles
* Bill Nighy as Lighthouse Bill
* Rhys Darby as Mr. McNutt
* Deborah Findlay as Mrs. Horton
* Jack Wisniewski as Danny Williams
* Zazie Hayhurst as Sam Beccles
* India Brown as Bernadette McNutt
* Freddie Spry as Teddy Forrest
* Ava Talbot as Scarlett Forrest
* Kuhu Agarwal as Nisha Mulji
* Sienna Sayer as Charlie Beccles
* Bronte Smith as Evie McNutt
* Jordan North and Dermot O'Leary as Mr. Hack and Mr. Chop in cameo appearances

## Production

In November 2019, it was announced that Locksmith Animation was developing The Empty Stocking, an animated feature film based on the children's Christmas book trilogy That Christmas and Other Stories written by Richard Curtis and illustrated by Rebecca Cobb. On 14 June 2021, Locksmith announced that Simon Otto would be directing the film, in his directorial debut, which had been retitled That Christmas. In May 2022, Locksmith confirmed that it awarded the digital production of the film to DNEG Animation, following their collaboration on Locksmith's first animated feature film Ron's Gone Wrong (2021). Also in May 2022, Nicole P. Hearon and Adam Tandy were announced as producers for the film with Curtis, Cobb, Bonnie Arnold, Lara Breay, Javier Hernáez, Mary Coleman, Natalie Fischer, Colin Hopkins, Julie Lockhart, Elisabeth Murdoch and Sarah Smith as executive producers. In November 2023, it was announced that John Powell would compose the film's musical score. On 20 March 2024, Brian Cox, Fiona Shaw, Jodie Whittaker and Bill Nighy were announced to star in the film. In August 2024, it was announced that English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran would write and contribute a song for the film, titled "Under the Tree".

## Soundtrack

That Christmas (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film) is the film's soundtrack album, containing John Powell's musical score with some additional music composed by Batu Sener, Anthony Willis, Ed Sheeran, Johnny McDaid and Markus Siegel. The soundtrack was mixed at 5 Cat Studios in Los Angeles, California, recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London, England and was digitally released on Netflix Music on December 4, 2024. Sheeran and McDaid's song "Under the Tree", which is featured in the film and not featured on its soundtrack, was released as a non-album digital single in the United Kingdom on November 26, 2024 by Gingerbread Man Records.
That Christmas also features other songs that are also not featured on its soundtrack, including "Boom Shack-A-Lak" by Apache Indian, "Underneath the Tree" by Kelly Clarkson, "Snowflakes" by Emmy the Great and Tim Wheeler and "Christmas Lights" by Coldplay as well as renditions of The Spice Girls' "Wannabe", Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday", Dua Lipa's "Levitating", Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach", J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie's "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town", Franz Xaver Gruber's "Silent Night" and Giacomo Puccini's "Nessun dorma". "Thin Ice", a 2014 instrumental song by New Zealand composer and producer Rhian Sheehan, was originally going to be featured in the film as well.

### Track listing

All music is composed by John Powell

## Release

In June 2022, it was announced that Netflix would handle worldwide distribution rights for the film under the Netflix Animation label after originally announcing a new deal with Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Animation Group in October 2019. That Christmas premiered at the 68th BFI London Film Festival on 19 October 2024 and was released on Netflix on 4 December 2024.

## Reception
### Critical response

That Christmas received mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 67% of 43 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "More of a stocking stuffer than a proper gift from Santa, That Christmas is an amiable enough addition to the holiday canon." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 60 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.
Tim Cogshell of FilmWeek wrote: "I don't particularly care for the doll-like animation, but there's a couple notions in this movie that I like: one, that not everybody likes Christmas, and two, that "naughty" is subjective." Helen O'Hara of Empire gave the film three out of five stars and wrote: "The stories are all individually charming, but overly familiar animation and underwhelming character-design blunt the effect." Jacob Oller of The A.V. Club gave the film a grade "D", calling it "schmaltz-heavy and wishlist-thin" and saying that "That Christmas offers very little and doesn't even have the self-awareness to include the receipt." Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film two out of five stars and said "It's all more or less sufferable, and it may well keep young children quiet at Christmas... but we surely needed a higher joke content."
Ed Potton of The Times gave the film two out of five stars and said "That Christmas is like a neutered Motherland, or Pixar but lobotomised and dressed by Boden." Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph gave the film three out of five stars and wrote: "... The writing's sentimental and/or smirky longueurs are remedied by the animation itself, whose cosy charm has a distinctly British sensibility – from the architecture to the landscape and even the colour palettes, everything is satisfyingly just right." Wendy Ide of Screen International wrote: "The film looks terrific... And while the story itself might not hold any surprises, it's big-hearted and generous with its happy endings." Peter Debruge of Variety wrote: "Adapted from a trio of picture books by "Love Actually" scribe Richard Curtis, the feel-good family film is chock-full of kids second-guessing their worth — and not just in the naughty-or-nice department either." Lovia Gyarkye of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "For all its narrative preoccupations, That Christmas rarely feels like it's shortchanging any set of characters or their arcs." Kate Erbland of IndieWire gave the film a grade "B+" and wrote: "The old chestnuts hold true for this one, the goofy holiday puns: it's a gift well worth unwrapping and sharing with the ones you love most." William Bibbiani of TheWrap called That Christmas "an ordinary feature that could have been extraordinary as a series of three shorts."

### Award nominations

| Award | Year | Category | Nominees and recipients | Result |
| 15th Hollywood Music in Media Awards | 2024 | Best Original Score in an Animated Film | John Powell | Nominated |
| 52nd Annie Awards | 2025 | Best Animated Feature | That Christmas | Nominated |
| 52nd Annie Awards | 2025 | Outstanding Achievement for Character Design in an Animated Feature | Uwe Heidschötter | Nominated |
| 52nd Annie Awards | 2025 | Outstanding Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature | Simon Otto | Nominated |
| 52nd Annie Awards | 2025 | Outstanding Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature | John Powell, Ed Sheeran and Johnny McDaid | Nominated |
| 52nd Annie Awards | 2025 | Outstanding Achievement for Production Design on an Animated Feature | Justin Hutchinson-Chatburn and Mike Redman | Nominated |
| 52nd Annie Awards | 2025 | Outstanding Achievement for Storyboarding in an Animated Feature | Lorenzo Fresta, Ashley Boddy and Helen Schroeder | Nominated |