Netflix Snaps Up Richard Curtis Adaptation ‘That Christmas,’ Unveils European Animated Slate

variety.com:

K.J. Yossman In the run up to Annecy festival, Netflix has unveiled a powerful slate of talent-driven animated films and series, including “That Christmas” based on BAFTA winner Richard Curtis’s children’s books, and “Ember,” Sergio Pablos’ follow-up to the Oscar-nominated “Klaus.” Netflix’s roster of animated features also boasts the musical “Scrooge: A Christmas Carol” which features songs by Leslie Bricusse; an untitled animated film by Steve Box, the Oscar-winning “Wallace & Gromit” alumni.

Netflix has also boarded new original series productions including “Bad Dinosaurs” from Snafu Pictures and Able & Baker; “Mermaid Magic” from Rainbow, “The Seven Bears” from Folivari, as well as “Wereworld” which is based on the series of fantasy novels by Curtis Jobling and is produced by from Lime Pictures. “Ember” is a hand-drawn epic adventure tale of humankind’s quest for fire told through the eyes of young Dikika who embarks on an impossible race to a distant volcano to retrieve the precious spark that will save her tribe.

The SPA Studios is producing. “Scrooge: A Christmas Carol,” produced by Timeless Films and directed by Stephen Donnelly, is a CG animated feature delivering a supernatural, time-travelling, musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’s cult Christmas story.

The film, which will boast re-imagined songs from Leslie Bricusse, will launch on Netflix in December. “That Christmas,” based on the successful series of children’s books by Richard Curtis (“Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Love Actually”), marks the feature film directorial debut of Simon Otto, the renowned character animation and story artist veteran whose credits include “How to Train Your Dragon” trilogy.