Arthur Christmas

***Arthur Christmas*** is a 2011 British-American 3D computer-animated fantasy film produced by Aardman Animations and Sony Pictures Animation as their first collaborative project. Directed by Sarah Smith and co-directed by Barry Cook, the film stars the voices of James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, and Ashley Jensen.

Set on Christmas night, the film tells a story about Arthur Claus, the clumsy but goodhearted son of Father Christmas, who discovers that Santa's high-tech ship has failed to deliver one girl's present. In response, he embarks on a mission to save her Christmas, accompanied only by his free-spirited and reckless grandfather, a rebellious yet enthusiastic young Christmas elf obsessed with wrapping gifts for children, and a team of eight strong, magical yet untrained reindeer.

*Arthur Christmas* was released on November 11, 2011 in the United Kingdom, and on November 23, 2011 in the United States. It was well received by critics and earned $147 million at the box office on a budget of $100 million.

## Storyline

### Plot

Santa's clumsy son Arthur sets out on a mission with Grandsanta to give out a present they misplaced to a young girl in less than two hours.

### Genres

* Animation
* Adventure
* Comedy
* Family
* Fantasy

### Motion Picture Rating

* **Atp** (Argentina)
* **G** (Australia)
* **Livre** (Brazil)
* **G** (Canada)
* **TE** (Chile)
* **T** (Colombia)
* **K-7** (Finland)
* **Tous publics** (France)
* **0** (Germany)
* **I** (Hong Kong)
* **U** (India)
* **G** (Ireland)
* **T** (Italy)
* **G** (Japan)
* **U** (Malaysia)
* **A** (Mexico)
* **AL** (Netherlands)
* **G** (Philippines)
* **M/6** (Portugal)
* **6+** (Russia)
* **G** (Singapore)
* **All** (South Korea)
* **A** (Spain)
* **7** (Sweden)
* **0** (Switzerland)
* **U** (UK)
* **PG** (USA)

## Images

USA DVD cover (2012)USA Blu-Ray coverUSA Blu-Ray 3D coverUK DVD cover (2012)UK Blu-Ray coverUK Blu-Ray 3D coverUSA DVD cover (2016)UK DVD cover (2017)
## Cast and Crew

### Directors

* Sarah Smith
* Barry Cook

### Writing Credits (in alphabetical order)

* Peter Baynham (screenplay)
* Sarah Smith (screenplay)

### Cast

* James McAvoy - Arthur (voice)
* Hugh Laurie - Steve (voice)
* Bill Nighy - Grandsanta (voice)
* Jim Broadbent - Santa (voice)
* Imelda Staunton - Mrs. Santa (voice)
* Ashley Jensen - Bryony (voice)
* Marc Wootton - Peter (voice)
* Laura Linney - North Pole Computer (voice)
* Eva Longoria - Chief De Silva (voice)
* Ramona Marquez - Gwen (voice)
* Michael Plain - Ernie Clicker (voice)
* Jerry Lambert - N.O.R.A.D. (voice)
* Ryan Patrick Donahoe - Pedro (voice) (as Miggie Donahoe)
* Sanjeev Bhaskar - Lead Elf (voice)
* Robbie Coltrane - Lead Elf (voice)
* Joan Cusack - Lead Elf (voice)
* Rhys Darby - Lead Elf (voice)
* Jane Horrocks - Lead Elf (voice)
* Iain McKee - Lead Elf (voice)
* Andy Serkis - Lead Elf (voice)
* Dominic West - Lead Elf (voice)
* Pete Jack - Elf (voice)
* Sarah Smith - Elf (voice)
* Rich Fulcher - Elf (voice)
* Kris Pearn - Elf (voice)
* Kevin Cecil - Elf (voice)
* Stewart Lee - Elf (voice)
* Peter Baynham - Elf (voice)
* Danny John-Jules - Elf (voice)
* Adam Tandy - Elf (voice)
* Bronagh Gallagher - Elf (voice)
* Alan Short - Elf (voice)
* Kevin Eldon - Elf (voice)
* Seamus Malone - Elf (voice)
* Cody Cameron - Elf (voice)
* Emma Kennedy - Elf (voice)

### Producers

* Cheryl Abood (co-executive producer)
* Peter Baynham (co-executive producer)
* Chris Juen (co-producer)
* Peter Lord (producer)
* Steve Pegram (producer)
* Carla Shelley (producer)
* Osnat Shurer (consulting producer)
* David Sproxton (producer)

## Details

### Countries

* UK
* USA

### Release Dates

* November 11, 2011 (UK)
* November 11, 2011 (Ireland)
* November 17, 2011 (Germany)
* November 17, 2011 (Montenegro)
* November 17, 2011 (Serbia)
* November 18, 2011 (Austria)
* November 23, 2011 (Belgium)
* November 23, 2011 (Canada)
* November 23, 2011 (France)
* November 23, 2011 (Japan)
* November 23, 2011 (USA)
* November 24, 2011 (Australia)
* November 24, 2011 (Denmark)
* November 24, 2011 (Hong Kong)
* November 24, 2011 (Croatia)
* November 24, 2011 (Hungary)
* November 24, 2011 (New Zealand)
* November 24, 2011 (Portugal)
* November 25, 2011 (Bulgaria)
* November 25, 2011 (Finland)
* November 25, 2011 (South Korea)
* November 25, 2011 (Poland)
* November 25, 2011 (Romania)
* November 30, 2011 (Malta)
* November 30, 2011 (Netherlands)
* December 1, 2011 (Argentina)
* December 1, 2011 (Chile)
* December 1, 2011 (Singapore)
* December 2, 2011 (Brazil)
* December 2, 2011 (Colombia)
* December 2, 2011 (Estonia)
* December 2, 2011 (Indonesia)
* December 2, 2011 (Panama)
* December 2, 2011 (Sweden)
* December 2, 2011 (Turkey)
* December 2, 2011 (Taiwan)
* December 7, 2011 (Philippines)
* December 8, 2011 (Czech Republic)
* December 8, 2011 (Greece)
* December 8, 2011 (Israel)
* December 8, 2011 (Kazakhstan)
* December 8, 2011 (Russia)
* December 9, 2011 (Spain)
* December 9, 2011 (Lithuania)
* December 9, 2011 (Latvia)
* December 9, 2011 (Mexico)
* December 9, 2011 (Norway)
* December 10, 2011 (United Arab Emirates) (Dubai International Film Festival)
* December 22, 2011 (Kuwait)
* December 22, 2011 (Lebanon)
* December 22, 2011 (Ukraine)
* December 23, 2011 (Italy)
* January 13, 2012 (India)
* April 23, 2016 (Argentina) (BAFICI - Buenos Aires Film Festival)

### Trailer Release Dates

* Trailer 1 - December 7, 2010
* Trailer 2 - July 12, 2011
* Trailer 3 - October 3, 2011
* Trailer 4 - October 5, 2011

### Home Media Release Dates

* November 6, 2012 (USA) (DVD)
* November 6, 2012 (USA) (Blu-Ray)
* November 6, 2012 (USA) (Blu-Ray 3D)
* November 19, 2012 (UK) (DVD)
* November 19, 2012 (UK) (Blu-Ray)
* November 19, 2012 (UK) (Blu-Ray 3D)
* October 18, 2016 (USA) (DVD re-release)
* October 30, 2017 (UK) (DVD re-release)

## Production

*Arthur Christmas* was first announced in 2007, under the name *Operation Rudolph*. It was the first film made by Aardman in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment and its subsidiaries.

Aardman spent 18 months on pre-production on the story and design in the UK before relocating to Sony's Culver City, US, for another 18 months of production. On April 27, 2009, it was reported that production had begun with Aardman and Sony Pictures Imageworks working together on animation.

## Reception

### Box office

*Arthur Christmas* grossed $147,421,719 worldwide on a $100 million budget.

In the United Kingdom, the film opened in second place with a £2.5 million weekend gross, behind *Immortals*. It topped the box office in its fourth week, by which time the cumulative gross was £11.5 million. The film returned to the top of the box office on week seven, during Christmas week, grossing £2.05 million and a total of £19.7 million.

In the United States and Canada, the film earned $2.4 million on its opening day and $1.8 million on Thanksgiving Day. It would go on to gross $12.1 million over the three-day weekend and $16.3 million over the five-day period. This was on par with studio expectations. The film went on to gross nearly $50 million domestically against a $100 million budget.

### Critical response

*Arthur Christmas* holds an approval rating of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 169 reviews, with an average score of 7.20/10. The consensus reads, "Aardman Animations broadens their humor a bit for *Arthur Christmas*, a clever and earnest holiday film with surprising emotional strength." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 69 out of 100 based on 32 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". John Anderson of *Newsday* praised the film as "not only funny and fresh, but... a new way of tackling the whole yuletide paradigm: Santa as a high-tech hereditary monarchy." Michael O'Sullivan of *The Washington Post* described it as "unexpectedly fresh, despite the familiar-sounding premise". Neil Genzlinger of *The New York Times* wrote that "the plot may be a little too cluttered for the toddler crowd to follow, but the next age group up should be amused, and the script by Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith has plenty of sly jokes for grown-ups." Rene Rodriguez of the *Miami Herald* stated that "the movie fails utterly at coming up with a story that merits all the eye candy."

## Company Credits

### Production Companies

* Columbia Pictures
* Sony Pictures Animation
* Aardman Animations

### Distributors

* Columbia Pictures (2011) (USA) (theatrical)
* Columbia TriStar Warner Filmes de Portugal (2011) (Portugal) (theatrical)
* InterComFilm (2011) (Romania) (theatrical)
* Sony Pictures Releasing (2011) (Japan) (theatrical)
* Sony Pictures Releasing (2011) (Austria) (theatrical)
* Sony Pictures Releasing (2011) (Argentina) (theatrical)
* Sony Pictures Releasing (2011) (Canada) (theatrical)
* Sony Pictures Releasing (2011) (France) (theatrical)
* Sony Pictures Releasing (2011) (Germany) (theatrical)
* Sony Pictures Releasing (2011) (Hong Kong) (theatrical)
* Sony Pictures Releasing (2011) (Serbia) (theatrical)
* Sony Pictures Releasing (2011) (Singapore) (theatrical)
* Sony Pictures Releasing (2011) (UK) (theatrical)
* Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (2011) (Finland) (theatrical)
* Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (2011) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
* Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (2011) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
* Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (2011) (Russia) (theatrical)
* Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2012) (USA) (DVD)
* Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2012) (USA) (Blu-Ray)
* Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2012) (USA) (Blu-Ray 3D)
* Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2012) (UK) (DVD)
* Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2012) (UK) (Blu-Ray)
* Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2012) (UK) (Blu-Ray 3D)
* Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2016) (USA) (DVD)
* Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2017) (UK) (DVD)

### Special Effects

* Painting Practice (concept design)
* The Third Floor (previsualization)
* Twenty One (previsualization)

## Technical Specs

### Aspect Ratio

* 1.85:1
* 4:3 (Full screen prints)

## Trivia

* David Tennant was the original choice for Arthur Christmas.
* This is the second consecutive film written by Peter Baynham to have the name "Arthur" in its title, the first being *Arthur* (2011) starring Russell Brand, which was released the same year.
* Jim Broadbent also played Santa Claus in *Get Santa* (2014).
* This is the first film to be directed by Barry Cook since *Mulan* (1998).
* This is the second animated film collaboration between James McAvoy and Ashley Jensen, after *Gnomeo & Juliet* (2011), which was released the same year.
* This is the first Aardman Animations film of the 2010s.

## Connections

### References

* *Bambi* (1942)
* *Forbidden Planet* (1956)
* *Mission: Impossible* (1996)
* *Open Season* (2006)