Arthur Christmas turns 15 this week, and for families who revisit it every December, the film still feels like a quiet Christmas miracle. Aardman Animations’ 2011 festive comedy reached UK cinemas on 11 November 2011, and its making is packed with details even devoted fans may have missed.
1. It began life as Operation Rudolph
Arthur Christmas was first announced in 2007, under the name Operation Rudolph. It would later be released as Arthur Christmas in 2011.
2. It marked Aardman’s first Sony partnership
Arthur Christmas was the first film made by Aardman Animations in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment and its subsidiaries, mainly Sony Pictures Animation, after they parted ways with DreamWorks Animation. Production began with Aardman and Sony Pictures Imageworks working together on animation.
3. It was built across two countries
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 27 April 2009, it was reported that production had begun.
4. Barry Cook joined Sarah Smith to co-direct
In February 2009, Barry Cook joined Sarah Smith to co-direct Arthur Christmas. Cook described his involvement as helping along with the animation, from designing the film and its characters to all of the storyboarding process.
5. The music was a last-minute rescue
The film was originally set to be scored by Michael Giacchino and Adam Cohen, but both were replaced by Harry Gregson-Williams at the last minute, leaving a short span to score the film. Gregson-Williams described the score as devoid of electronics and led by tunes, melody and themes, and he used an ensemble orchestra containing 80 players. The album was released on 14 November 2011 by Sony Classical.
6. A Justin Bieber video ran in cinemas
The music video for Justin Bieber’s rendition of “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town”, which plays over the end credits, was exclusively shown in theatres before the film. Arthur Christmas itself was released on 11 November 2011 in the United Kingdom and on 23 November 2011 in the United States.
7. Critics saw a Christmas classic forming
Arthur Christmas holds an approval rating of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 168 reviews, with an average score of 7.2/10. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 69 out of 100 based on 32 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews, and audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of A−. Empire’s Olly Richards gave it four out of five stars and wrote that it “could very well come to be regarded as a Christmas classic”.
8. It found its audience over the season
Arthur Christmas earned $46,462,469 in North America, $33,334,089 in the UK, and $67,622,914 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $147,419,472. In the UK, the film opened in second place with a £2.5 million weekend gross, behind Immortals, and later topped the box office in its fourth week and again in week seven during Christmas week. It went on to gross nearly $50 million domestically against a $100 million budget.
That slow, week-seven climb is the kind of detail that makes the film feel earned. Which fact will you drop at your next Arthur Christmas rewatch? Tell us your favourite below.
Facts from Wikipedia: Arthur Christmas, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Film images from TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.
