Jodie Whittaker's Netflix Christmas movie confirms release date (2024)

Santa Claus is coming to Netflix this December with Richard Curtis' new movie That Christmas.

Starring Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker and Succession's Brian Cox, the animated family adventure will be released on December 6, just in time for the holiday season.

Netflix has also announced that the movie will include an original song by Ed Sheeran titled 'Under The Tree'.

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Directed by animation veteran Simon Otto (How to Train Your Dragon trilogy) for Locksmith Animation, That Christmas is based on the trilogy of children's books by writer-director Richard Curtis (Love, Actually, Genie).

As the synopsis reads, the story focuses on "a series of entwined tales about family and friends, love and loneliness, and Santa Claus making a big mistake".

Described as a "heartwarming comedy", it follows the residents of a charming seaside town where things turn upside down just in time for Christmas.

Fiona Shaw and Bill Nighy complete the main cast, along with Ghosts' Lolly Adefope, Katherine Parkinson, Sindhu Vee, Guz Khan and Alex Macqueen.

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Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran has opened up about contributing to this Christmas film with an original song.

"I've been mates with Richard Curtis for years, and we've done a load of fun work for charity, and then we both were heavily involved in the movie Yesterday. He came to me two years ago to play me the rough of That Christmas. It was just sketches and voices, but it blew me away," he said in a statement.

"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.

"I find it mad that there isn't more animated Christmas films for kids, but 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 has talked about his first experience with an animated movie, calling it "the most amazing adventure".

"It's been especially exciting to see the whole world I imagined come to life beyond my wildest dreams - and populated by a dream bunch of actors, their wonderful voices turned into such rich and funny characters."

That Christmas is released on Netflix on December 6.