Apple Original Films will make an animated feature adaptation of the popular children’s book “Little Santa.” The project will be directed by Peter Baynton, who recently landed an Academy Award for Apple’s animated short “The Boy the Mole, the Fox and the Horse.”
The film will feature original songs from Oscar and Grammy-winning songwriter, comedian, actor and writer Bret McKenzie, who is best known for his work on “Flight of the Conchords,” and a script from Martin Hynes, who co-wrote the Academy Award-winning “Toy Story 4.” Julia Pistor (“The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie”) will serve as producer. “Little Santa” will be animated by WildBrain, including pre-production by WildBrain’s House of Cool. Hynes will also serve as executive producer alongside McKenzie.
The book by author and illustrator Jon Agee asks how did Santa become Santa? The film will follow young Santa Claus on an Oz-like trek through the North Pole, where he meets and inspires offbeat friends who will create Christmas.
Apple Original Films’ in investing in the animation space, with its upcoming slate including “Snoopy Unleashed,” its first original Peanuts feature. The company’s film ambitions have been harder to decipher. It scored at the box office with last year’s “F1: The Movie,” but the streamer hasn’t had a major theatrical release since that film opened last summer. Its forthcoming films include the Ben Stiller and Jake Johnson pickleball comedy “The Dink,” the Ryan Reynolds action comedy “Mayday,” and “Matchbox the Movie.” Apple has had more success with its series with the streamer releasing critically acclaimed shows such as “The Studio,” “Ted Lasso,” “Slow Horses” and “Widow’s Bay.”