That Christmas
DirectorSimon Otto
Screenplay
Based on[1][2]
Producer
Starring
EditingSim Evan-Jones
MusicJohn Powell
Production companiesLocksmith Animation
DistributorNetflix[3]
Released19 October 2024 (68th BFI London Film Festival); 4 December 2024 (Netflix)
Runtime92 minutes[4]
Country
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
LanguageEnglish

That Christmas is a 2024 animated Christmas fantasy comedy film[5] directed by Simon Otto (in his directorial debut) and written by Richard Curtis and Peter Souter. Produced by Locksmith Animation, 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 Netflix on 4 December 2024.[6] The film received a mixed response from critics.

Plot

In the seaside Suffolk town of Wellington-on-Sea, the townsfolk are preparing to celebrate Christmas, with the activities being organised by Bill, the lighthouse keeper. The story follows three groups: Danny Williams, a shy new boy in town who tries to adjust to his parents' divorce, Sam and Charlie Beccles, identical twin sisters who are respectively anxious and mischievous, and Bernadette McNutt, a spirited local rebel who wants to change things up for the holiday. At the school's Christmas play, Bernadette puts on a more liberal spin, which not many of the parents enjoy. Danny almost misses his cue because he was staring at Sam. Charlie arrives last minute. Danny is upset, but not surprised that his mother has to leave for work. At home, he converses with her through sticky notes about the play and his crush on Sam.

The next morning, the school is closed due to a weather-related cancellation, but Danny is forced to catch up on his studies by his teacher, Ms. Trapper, after his mother fails to notice the alert. During a ten-minute recess, Ms. Trapper teaches Danny how to properly build a snowman and Danny notices that Ms. Trapper is miserable on the way home. On Christmas Eve, Bernadette stays with her younger sister Evie and their friends in a barn near their houses and prepare their annual Christmas traditions while their parents attend a wedding out of town. When the parents leave the reception, they are forced to take the long way home thanks to a snowstorm, but they go off the road and slide down a slope from off a bridge. They inform their children that they will be home in the morning and have them stay together for the night. Danny is called by his father who informs him he is unable to come due to the blizzard.

As Danny sleeps with his mother who comforts him, Santa Claus arrives at Wellington with his sidekick and talking reindeer 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 Bernadette and her friends’s current events, Santa leaves them with peculiar gifts. Noting that Sam has been nice while Charlie has been naughty, Santa reluctantly leaves Charlie with the presents. Charlie awakes and is overjoyed to find presents but sadly sees Sam's empty stocking and realises they are meant for her sister. When Charlie moves everything to Sam's stocking, Santa gets a reading that Charlie is in fact nice and returns to Wellington. On Christmas Day, Charlie wakes up to find her stocking is full, and finds a button saying "officially nice" inside, but decides to keep it away from her family. Sam later discovers that all of Charlie's mischief was to help her, even developing a plan to get her and Danny together. After discovering their gifts, Bernadette leads them in having the Christmas they want, while Evie follows a flock of turkeys during a game of hide and seek. An overjoyed Danny becomes disheartened when he learns that his mother has to work as Bill's mother is sick. Danny, seeing Ms. Trapper alone, offers to have lunch with her, but she declines and convinces him to see things from his mother's perspective. Meanwhile, the parents struggle to get up from the slope, so they call Ms. Trapper, who enlists Danny's help to convince Farmer Yirrell to get the parents to safety simply by hauling them back to their houses, where they are ultimately greeted by their children and helps Danny make an igloo for his mother. Danny and his mother reconcile and offer Ms. Trapper a place at their table, but she declines and instead looks through a book of pictures from the early 1980s of Ms. Trapper with Jamie, her late husband who died in the Falklands War in 1982.

The parents notice that Evie is missing and they search for her, getting the town involved in their search. Ms. Trapper enlists Danny to take her to the McNutt house where she takes up the command. As Sam and Charlie run into Danny and join in on his quad bike, the trio enlists Bill to help find Evie. Fortunately, Bill flashes the light on a set of footprints and the group follow them to a row of beach huts, where they find Evie sheltering with several turkeys. After Bernadette and Evie's parents arrive, Bernadette apologizes to her mother for losing Evie, but she forgives her. Upon learning that Danny thought of using the lighthouse, Bernadette hails him a hero and Danny asks out Sam. On Boxing Day, Bill goes to the beach to swim in the cold ocean with half the town arriving to enjoy themselves.

Cast

Production

In November 2019, it was announced that Locksmith Animation was developing and producing an animated feature film adaptation of the children's Christmas book trilogy That Christmas and Other Stories by Richard Curtis and Rebecca Cobb.[8] On 14 June 2021, Locksmith announced that Simon Otto would be directing the film (in his feature film directorial debut) which had been retitled from The Empty Stocking to That Christmas.[9][10][11][12] In May 2022, Locksmith confirmed that it awarded the film's digital production to DNEG, following their collaboration on their first animated feature film Ron's Gone Wrong (2021).[13] Also in May 2022, Nicole P. Hearon and Adam Tandy were announced as lead producers for That Christmas with Curtis, Cobb, Bonnie Arnold, Lara Breay, Mary Coleman, Natalie Fischer, Colin Hopkins, Julie Lockhart, Elisabeth Murdoch and Sarah Smith as lead executive producers. In November 2023, it was announced that John Powell would compose and produce the film's musical score.[14][15] On 20 March 2024, Brian Cox, Fiona Shaw, Jodie Whittaker and Bill Nighy were announced to star in the film with Lolly Adefope, Alex Macqueen, Katherine Parkinson, Sindhu Vee, India Brown, Zazie Hayhurst (in her feature film debut), Sienna Sayer, Jack Wisniewski (in his feature film debut), Rosie Cavaliero, Paul Kaye, Guz Khan, Andy Nyman, Kuhu Agarwal (in her feature film debut), Bronte Smith (in her feature film debut), Freddie Spry, Ava Talbot (in her feature film debut) and Rhys Darby.[16] In August 2024, it was announced that English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran and Snow Patrol member Johnny McDaid would write and produce a song for the film, titled "Under the Tree".[17][18]

Soundtrack

Main article: That Christmas (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 4 December 2024.[19] 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 on 26 November 2024 by Gingerbread Man Records.[20]

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.[21] That Christmas premiered at the 68th BFI London Film Festival on 19 October 2024 and was released on Netflix on 4 December 2024.[6][22]

Reception

Critical response

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."[2] 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

AwardYearCategoryAward nomination(s)Result
15th Hollywood Music in Media Awards2024Best Original Score in an Animated FilmJohn Powell[23]
IFMCA Awards2025Best Original Score for an Animated Film
52nd Annie AwardsBest Animated FeatureThat Christmas[24]
Outstanding Achievement for Character Design in an Animated FeatureUwe Heidschötter
Outstanding Achievement for Directing in an Animated FeatureSimon Otto
Outstanding Achievement for Music in an Animated FeatureJohn Powell, Ed Sheeran and Johnny McDaid
Outstanding Achievement for Production Design on an Animated FeatureJustin Hutchinson-Chatburn and Mike Redman
Outstanding Achievement for Storyboarding in an Animated FeatureLorenzo Fresta, Ashley Boddy and Helen Schroeder
4th Children's and Family Emmy Awards2026Outstanding Animated SpecialThat Christmas[25]
Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for an Animated ProgramJohn Powell
Outstanding Editing for an Animated ProgramSim Evan-Jones

References

  1. ^ DiLillo, John (2024-12-18). "In That Christmas, Brian Cox Is a Very Special Santa". Netflix Tudum. Archived 17 December 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-02-02. Based on Curtis' own trilogy of children's books, That Christmas tells a series of animated holiday stories that are sure to ease you into the season of giving. Curtis co-wrote the script with Peter Souter [...]
  2. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (2024-11-27). "That Christmas review – seasonal Richard Curtis yarn is kid-friendly but short on ho-ho-hos". The Guardian. Retrieved 2025-02-02. Curtis's new film (as a co-writer) is this Netflix animation, based on his bestselling illustrated children's books.
  3. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (2022-06-09). "Netflix Sets Bold Slate of Animation from Europe Ahead of Annecy". Animation Magazine. Archived 2022-08-19 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  4. ^ "That Christmas (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. August 12, 2024. Retrieved January 21, 2025.
  5. ^ "That Christmas (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. August 12, 2024. Retrieved November 28, 2024.
  6. ^ Schimautz, Julia (August 28, 2024). "The New Netflix Movies You Can Watch This Fall". Netflix. Archived 7 October 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 28, 2024.
  7. ^ "Jordan North issues huge career update and will star in festive Netflix film". Lancashire Telegraph. 2024-10-23. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
  8. ^ Clarke, Stewart (November 6, 2019). "Richard Curtis Kids' Books Being Adapted as Animated Feature 'The Empty Stocking'". Variety. Archived November 6, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  9. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (June 8, 2021). "Locksmith's Debut 'Ron's Gone Wrong' Boots Up with Trailer, Cast Reveal". Animation Magazine. Archived June 14, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  10. ^ Motayor, Rafael (June 14, 2021). "Simon Otto to Helm Animated 'That Christmas' Adaptation, Based on Books by 'Love Actually' Writer". Collider. Archived June 14, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  11. ^ Yossman, K. J. (14 June 2021). "Locksmith Animation Taps Simon Otto to Direct Adaptation of Richard Curtis' 'That Christmas'". Variety. Archived 12 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  12. ^ "That Christmas | Locksmith Animation". locksmithanimation.com. Archived 5 December 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  13. ^ Sarto, Debbie (May 19, 2022). "Locksmith Taps DNEG Animation for 'That Christmas'". Animation World Network. Archived June 10, 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  14. ^ Powell, John (November 30, 2023). "Scoring my 25th animated film and my first Xmas movie at Abbey Road Studios this week 🎶 Coming next winter! ❄️ #JohnPowell #soundtrack...". Instagram. Archived 10 June 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
  15. ^ "John Powell Scoring Locksmith Animation's 'That Christmas'". Film Music Reporter. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
  16. ^ Ntim, Zac (March 20, 2024). "'That Christmas': Brian Cox, Fiona Shaw, Jodie Whittaker & Bill Nighy To Voice Netflix Animated Feature Penned By Richard Curtis". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  17. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (August 7, 2024). "Animated Feature 'That Christmas' Unwraps Ed Sheeran Original on Dec. 6". Animation Magazine. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  18. ^ Ramachandran, Naman (August 7, 2024). "Ed Sheeran Records Original Song for Netflix's Richard Curtis Film 'That Christmas' – Global Bulletin". Variety. Archived 22 September 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  19. ^ "'That Christmas' Soundtrack Album Details | Film Music Reporter". Archived 8 December 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
  20. ^ "Ed Sheeran's Original Song 'Under the Tree' from Netflix Animated Film 'That Christmas' Released | Film Music Reporter". Archived 2 December 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
  21. ^ Clarke, Stewart (October 31, 2019). "Warner Signs Multi-Picture Deal With Elisabeth Murdoch's Locksmith Animation". Variety. Archived November 25, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  22. ^ Tasha Robinson (April 25, 2023). "Netflix reveals every original animated movie set for release in the next two years". Polygon. Archived April 25, 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved April 25, 2023.
  23. ^ Pedersen, Erik (November 7, 2024). "'Emilia Pérez' & 'Blitz' Top Hollywood Music in Media Awards Nominations". Deadline. Archived 18 November 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  24. ^ Giardina, Carolyn (2024-12-20). "The Wild Robot Leads 2025 Annie Awards Nominations With 10 Nods". Variety. Retrieved 2025-01-20.
  25. ^ Pedersen, Erik (November 18, 2025). "Children's & Family Emmy Nominations Revealed – Full List". Deadline. Retrieved November 20, 2025.