Photo Credit: Netflix
Ed Sheeran has penned an original song for Netflix’s new animated Christmas movie coming December 6.
More Christmas plans get underway in August as Netflix announces a new animated Christmas movie, That Christmas, to release on December 6. The film features an original song by Ed Sheran, “Under the Tree.”
Love Actually director Richard Curtis returns to filmmaking with an animated movie based on his own trilogy of children’s books. That Christmas tells a series of holiday stories that promise to ease viewers into the season of giving. The movie features an impressive list of celebrity voices, including Brian Cox, Fiona Shaw, Rhys Darby, and Bill Nighy.
“Regardless of whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I hope that audiences will laugh at the family dynamics and identify with the universal truth behind most traditions: it’s ultimately not about the rules and the expectations we put on these events — we tend to forget that what really matters is that we can be together with our loved ones,” said director Simon Otto.
“I hope it’s going to be a film that makes people happy — perhaps more than once,” Curtis said. “I hope it’ll remind people of the joy and complexity of Christmas, and some of the joys and comedy and heartbreak of childhood. And then there’s a very special thing for me, that the film takes place in a town very much like my own in Suffolk. I hope they’ll love the sense of the place — and go away with a new, delightful, simple English world in their heads.”
Ed Sheeran was moved to collaborate with Richard Curtis, his longtime friend, when the latter approached him with a rough version of the film.
“It was just sketches and voices, but it blew me away,” said Sheeran. “So emotional, yet so heartwarmingly funny, like all Richard Curtis movies. I find since having kids, there’s a real lack of great animated children’s Christmas movies, so I thought this was such an amazing thing to make and put into the world. The scene that we wrote for this song is so heartbreaking, but so real for many people at Christmas — spending time without the ones they love, for so many reasons.”
“I got to work with my older brother on this, which is such a rarity and a gift to work so closely with my only sibling,” Sheeran continued. “It felt so good to create something my children would watch, with their uncle, based in the country they live in. This is going to become a holiday staple, at least in our household. Hope everyone loves it and enjoys the song — we had such a great time creating it.”
Richard Curtis, who is best known for the films Love Actually, Notting Hill, and Four Weddings and a Funeral, based That Christmas on his own trilogy of children’s books, which follows a series of entwined tales about family and friends around Christmas.
A comedy from Locksmith Animation, the film marks Curtis’ first experience in animation, serving as the film’s writer and executive producer. That Christmas is also the feature directorial debut of animation veteran Simon Otto (How to Train Your Dragon; Love, Death & Robots.)
