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Starting with “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer” in 1964 and continuing into the late ’80s, Rankin-Bass produced a solid list of now-classics that, while festive, are also confusing, disturbing and, at times, deeply upsetting.
#Christmas animations tv#
With December rearing its giant festive head once again, there is one thing that TV audiences can count on, and that’s the endless running and re-running of Rankin-Bass stop-motion Christmas specials. Curtis will also EP, along with Colin Hopkins and the book’s illustrator Rebecca Cobb.įind out more about Locksmith Animation at: MORE: Indiewire’s 2015 Holiday Gift Guide: 17+ Goodies for the Film Lover in Your Life “I couldn’t be happier that Simon has opted to join the feature film directorial ranks with our film. He is such a superbly gifted visual storyteller and I can’t wait to see how he translates our characters and cluster of Christmas stories to the screen.” Richard Curtis CBE, Writer/DirectorĮlisabeth Murdoch, Sarah Smith, Julie Lockhart and Bonnie Arnold are executive producers. Curtis is writing the screenplay with Peter Souter. This marks the first animated feature project for Curtis whose hit films – including Yesterday, Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and About Time – have amassed a total box office of over $2.5bn worldwide. Most recently, he directed “The Tall Grass” episode of Love, Death & Robots, Volume 2 for Netflix.
#Christmas animations series#
After 21 years at DreamWorks Animation, Otto left the studio to pursue a variety of projects in shorts, series and features. While at DreamWorks, he directed multiple episodes of various Netflix animated series including Dragon – Race to the Edge and Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia.
#Christmas animations how to#
He won a Visual Effects Society (VES) award for Outstanding Animation in a Feature Film for the first How To Train Your Dragon in 2010 and was nominated again in 2015 for How to Train Your Dragon 2. He joined DreamWorks in 1997 to work on the acclaimed epic adventure The Prince of Egypt and worked as supervising animator both in hand-drawn and CG animation on many of the studio’s features including Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Over the Hedge and the Aardman co-production Flushed Away.īorn and raised in Switzerland, Otto studied at the prestigious Les Gobelins Animation School in Paris, France. In addition to overseeing the animation on the How to Train Your Dragon films, Otto was instrumental in designing and developing the look of the characters, their personalities, and the overall style of the animation as well as working in the story department. The opportunity to collaborate with the one and only Richard Curtis and bring his charming characters and stories to life through animation is a true gift.” Simon Otto, Director “I’m beyond thrilled to be given the chance to direct this heart-warming holiday film alongside the immensely talented team at Locksmith Animation. We are overjoyed that he will be making his feature directing debut on this Locksmith project.” Julie Lockhart, Locksmith Animation Co-Founder His superb taste and his ability to endow animated characters and stories with heart, humour and pathos is in a class by itself. “Simon Otto is one of the pre-eminent artists working in the feature film animation arena today. The Locksmith film places these stories in a small English beach town and interweaves the stories to create what the studio describes as “ Love Actually for kids.” The three Richard Curtis books in the series (published by Puffin) – The Empty Stocking, Snow Day and That Christmas– tell charming family stories which take place in the run-up to Christmas. Locksmith’s first feature film, Ron’s Gone Wrong, will be released worldwide by Disney on October 22, 2021. The film, based on a trio of Christmas children’s books by acclaimed writer/director Richard Curtis ( Four Weddings and a Funeral, Mr Bean, Love Actually, Yesterday) is currently in development at Locksmith Animation’s studios in London. Simon Otto, the VES Award-winning Head of Character Animation, story artist, character designer and director best known for the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy, will make his animated feature film directorial debut on Locksmith Animations That Christmas (previously known as The Empty Stocking). Pictured: Simon Otto, cover design of ‘That Christmas’. Renowned Head of Character Animation on How to Train Your Dragon Film Series To Direct Feature Based on Christmas Children’s Book Series by Writer/Director Richard Curtis.
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