Arthur Christmas

For the 2000 Christmas special associated with the animated series Arthur, see Arthur's Perfect Christmas.

Arthur Christmas
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySarah Smith
Written byPeter Baynham
Sarah Smith
Produced byPeter Lord
David Sproxton
Carla Shelley
Steve Pegram
Starring
CinematographyJericca Cleland
Edited byJames Cooper
John Carnochan
Music byHarry Gregson-Williams
Production
companies
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing
Release dates
  • 11 November 2011 (2011-11-11) (United Kingdom)
  • 23 November 2011 (2011-11-23) (United States)
Running time
97 minutes[1]
CountriesUnited Kingdom
United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$100 million[2]
Box office$147.4 million[3]

Arthur Christmas is a 2011 animated Christmas comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation in association with Aardman Animations, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. The film is Aardman's second mostly computer-animated feature film after 2006's Flushed Away. It was directed by Sarah Smith (in her feature directorial debut), co-directed by Barry Cook, and written by Smith and Peter Baynham. Featuring the voices of James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, and Ashley Jensen, the film centres on Arthur Claus, the younger son of Santa Claus, who discovers that his father's high-tech ship has failed to deliver one girl's present. Accompanied only by his grandfather, a Christmas elf and a team of reindeer, he embarks on a mission to deliver the girl's present personally in the early morning hours of Christmas Day before sunrise.

Following the underperformance of Flushed Away, DreamWorks Animation did not renew its partnership with Aardman. In April 2007, Aardman signed a three-year deal with Sony. Originally titled Operation Rudolph, the project was first announced in 2007. Aardman spent 18 months on pre-production on the story and design in the UK before relocating to Sony's animation studio in Culver City, California, for another 18 months of production. On 27 April 2009, it was reported that production had begun with Aardman and Sony Pictures Imageworks working together on animation.

Arthur Christmas was released on 11 November 2011 in the United Kingdom, and on 23 November in the United States, by Sony Pictures Releasing through its Columbia Pictures label.[4] The film received positive reviews from critics,[5] and earned $147 million at the box office.[3][6][7]

  1. ^ "Arthur Christmas". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
  2. ^ Kaufman, Amy (24 November 2011). "Movie Projector: 'Breaking Dawn' to devour three new family films". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  3. ^ a b "Arthur Christmas". Box Office Mojo. IMDb.com, Inc. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference AWN1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference RT was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "The 25 Highest-Grossing Christmas Movies Of All Time At The U.S. Box Office". Forbes. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  7. ^ "Arthur Christmas: 5 Reasons It's An Underrated Holiday Classic (& 5 Reasons It Isn't)". ScreenRant. 23 December 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2021.