Arthur Christmas

"Ever wonder how 2 Billion presents get delivered all in 1 night?"

2011 1h 37m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

★6.8TMDB · 1,685

DramaAnimationFamilyComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

For hundreds of years, the Claus family has delegated the title "Santa" to a chosen few of its members, which can be passed down upon retirement. Each Christmas, Santa and his vast army of highly trained elves produce gifts and distribute them around the world in a one-night high-tech operation. However, when one of 600 million children to receive a gift from Santa on Christmas Eve is missed, it is deemed ‘acceptable’ to all but one—Arthur Claus, the current Santa’s misfit son deemed ineligible for the title, who executes an unauthorised rookie mission to get the last present halfway around the globe before dawn on Christmas morning.

“Ever wonder how 2 Billion presents get delivered all in 1 night?”

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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)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Sarah Smith
Writers: Paul Bolger, Jess Jackson, Kris Pearn
Languages: English, Spanish
Countries: United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $151M — a 15.1× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 15 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

218+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Harry Gregson-Williams. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor John Carnochan shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

James McAvoy and Hugh Laurie and Bill Nighy carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Sarah Smith directs. Harry Gregson-Williams scores. John Carnochan cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in English, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Grossed $151M — a 15.1× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
2Released 15 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.
4International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.
5218+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Original score by Harry Gregson-Williams. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor John Carnochan shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8James McAvoy and Hugh Laurie and Bill Nighy carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Ever wonder how 2 Billion presents get delivered all in 1 night?".
10IMDB entry: tt1430607 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 19 themes, including "sleigh", "elves", "holiday", "assistant".
12Released under 14 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Original score: Harry Gregson-Williams
Editing: John Carnochan
Production design: Evgeni Tomov
Costume design: Yves Barre
Makeup / hair: Mark DeSousa
VFX supervisor: Doug Ikeler
Sound: Simon Ellegaard
Runtime: 97 min · 1h 37m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $10,000,000
Box office: $151,300,000
Return: 1513% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Arthur Christmas (2011)

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Community reviews

What people are saying

r96sk2020-12-18
★ 7/10
A good watch. I had a fine time watching <em>'Arthur Christmas'</em>. The plot is a little light, with a fairly simple event taking a relative while to resolve itself, but it's still a pleasant festive animated film - with neat animation. There are a number of familiar names on the voice cast, too many to name in actual fact. My personal standout is Hugh Laurie as Steven, though James McAvoy, Bill Nighy and Jim Broadbent are all enjoyable too.
CinemaSerf2022-12-24
★ 7/10
It is actually quite hard to find innovative ways to tell Santa stories now, but this one does do quite well on that score. It all centres on Santa's now almost entirely automated delivery process using a sleigh clearly inspired by the starship "Enterprise". Horror of horrors, though, when the youngest member of the Claus family - the eponymous "Arthur" - discovers that one young girl isn't going to get her expertly wrapped bicycle! His dad "Steve" is content to put it down to a technical glitch, and his grandad (the sitting Santa) is too tired to bother, too. It falls to "Grand Santa", "Arthur" and his old fairy-dust powered, reindeer-pulled, sled to get the bike to the little "Gwen" before the sun comes up on Christmas morning. What now ensues are a series of fun escapades as the old man (he rather reminded me of Wilfred Bramble's "Steptoe" character) and his enthusiastic young dreamer have to navigate the world - at high speed - and find a small Cornish village that shares it's name with one or two other places around the world, whilst avoiding the authorities who are rapidly concluding that space aliens are on the loose. A solid and entertaining voice cast - especially Bill Nighy and James McAvoy as our intrepid delivery boys deliver an entertainingly paced script well, with some enjoyably crafted animation and a suitably jolly score from Harry Gregson-Williams. It's fun, this - and offers plenty for younger and older alike.