Trailer released for A Boy Called Christmas, a Sky Original

Tuesday 14 September 2021

On Sky Cinema and in cinemas across the UK & Ireland from 26 November 

New stills available here

Christmas comes early with the launch of the main trailer for Gil Kenan’s (Monster House, Ghostbusters: Afterlife) live-action magical adventure A Boy Called Christmas, a Sky Original.

The film boasts an incredible ensemble cast including newcomer Henry Lawfull as protagonist, Nikolas, Toby Jones (Infamous, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water, Paddington 1 & 2), Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids, Wonder Woman 1984), Michiel Huisman (The Haunting of Hill House, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society), Zoe Colletti (Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark), Stephen Merchant (Jojo Rabbit, Fighting With My Family, Logan) Jim Broadbent (Paddington 1 & 2, The Iron Lady) and Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey, Harry Potter) and Indica Watson (Gold Digger, Radioactive).

In A Boy Called Christmas, an ordinary young boy called Nikolas sets out on an extraordinary adventure into the snowy north in search of his father who is on a quest to discover the fabled village of the elves, Elfhelm. Taking with him a headstrong reindeer called Blitzen and a loyal pet mouse, Nikolas soon meets his destiny in this magical, comic and endearing story that proves nothing is impossible…

Ol Parker (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) and Gil Kenan adapted the screenplay from the bestselling book by Matt Haig, the first of 5 books in the acclaimed series, all of which are published by Canongate Books. The film is produced by STUDIOCANAL with Graham Broadbent and Pete Czernin of BAFTA and Academy Award® winning Blueprint Pictures.

The film will be released on Sky Cinema, on streaming service NOW and in cinemas on 26 November.

For further information please contact:

Organic Publicity

abcc@organic-publicity.co.uk

About Sky

Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of Comcast Corporation. Across six countries, we connect our 23.4 million customers to the best entertainment, sports, news and arts including our own award-winning original content.

Our technology, including the market leading Sky Q, connects people to everything they love – with entertainment from Sky TV, Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and BBC iPlayer, and apps like Spotify, YouTube, BBC Sounds, Highbrow, Peloton, Fiit, and more, in one place, easy. Our streaming service NOW brings viewers all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract-free service. Through our new B2B broadband provider, Sky Connect, we offer superfast broadband with business-grade 4G back-up to small businesses in the UK.

Building on the success of Sky Originals like Chernobyl, Gangs of London and Brassic, we are doubling our investment in original content by 2024 through Sky Studios. Sky News provides impartial and trustworthy journalism for free, Sky Arts is the UK’s only dedicated free-to-air arts channel making the arts accessible for everyone and Sky Sports, our leading sports broadcasting service, brings customers some of the biggest and best global sporting events from the Premier League to Formula 1 and everything in-between. Our new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, which will open in 2022, is expected to create over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK over the first five years.

We believe that we can be a force for good in the communities in which we operate. We’re committed to being Europe’s first net zero carbon entertainment company by 2030 and we’re proud to be a Principal Partner and Media Partner of COP26. We take pride in our approach to diversity and inclusion: we’ve been recognised by The Times and Stonewall for our commitment to diversity and we’ve set ambitious 2025 targets to continue to increase diversity and representation. We’re also committed to investing £30million across our markets over three years to improve our approach to diversity and inclusion, and to tackle racial injustice.

About NOW

NOW is the home of brilliant entertainment. We’re one of the UK’s leading streaming services with critically acclaimed shows, new and exclusive movies, unmissable sport and epic kids TV – all with no contract. Join in with an Entertainment, Cinema, Sports, or hayu Membership to stream instantly across TV, mobile, desktop and over 60 other devices. Watch on the go and even offline with our app by downloading shows and movies.

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About STUDIOCANAL

STUDIOCANAL, a 100% affiliate of CANAL+ Group held by Vivendi, is Europe’s leader in production, distribution and international sales of feature films and TV series, operating directly in all three major European markets - France, the United Kingdom and Germany - as well as in Australia and New Zealand.

STUDIOCANAL owns one of the most important film libraries in the world, boasting nearly, 6,000 titles from 60 countries. Spanning 100 years of film history, this vast and unique catalogue includes among others the iconic Terminator 2, Rambo, Breathless, Mulholland Drive, The Pianist, The Graduate, The Third Man, and Belle de jour.

STUDIOCANAL has fully financed box office hits Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Paddington 1 and 2, Non Stop, and Shaun the Sheep Movie. Upcoming films backed by STUDIOCANAL include Will Sharpe’s The Electrical Life of Louis Wain starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy, Augustine Frizzell’s The Last Letter from your Lover adapted from Jojo Moyes’ best-selling novel, Navot Papushado’s female action thriller Gunpowder Milkshake and Gil Kenan’s live action A Boy called Christmas.

STUDIOCANAL is actively producing and developing a slate of premium international TV series in-house, as well as through its network of award-winning subsidiary production companies, which includes Germany’s TANDEM Productions (Shadowplay), the UK’s RED Production Company (Years and Years, It’s a Sin, Finding Alice), URBAN MYTH FILMS (War of the Worlds) and Spain's BAMBÚ PRODUCCIONES (Instinto). The company is also an associate of Danish-based SAM Productions founded by Søren Sveistrup, Adam Price, and Meta Louise Foldager (Ride Upon the Storm) and Benedict Cumberbatch’s SUNNYMARCH TV (Patrick Melrose).

STUDIOCANAL produces more than 200 hours of TV series each year distributing productions and CANAL+ Creation Originale worldwide with 1,000 hours of current and library content in distribution.

About Blueprint Pictures

London based Blueprint Pictures was founded in 2005 by Pete Czernin and Graham Broadbent. Blueprint is best known for films including Academy Award® winner Martin McDonagh’s multi award-winning THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI - which won five BAFTA awards including Best Film, four Golden Globes awards, including Best Motion Picture, Drama, and two Academy Awards®, for Best Actress for Frances McDormand and Best Supporting Actor for Sam Rockwell – and THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL in 2015, which was the follow up to the 2012 BAFTA and Golden Globe -nominated THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL. Three Billboards was Blueprint’s third collaboration with McDonagh after the Academy®, BAFTA and Golden Globe- nominated IN BRUGES and McDonagh’s BAFTA-nominated SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS.

Blueprint is currently in production on THE BEAUTIFUL GAME, based on the annual Homeless World Cup. It stars Bill Nighy and Micheal Ward, directed by Thea Sharrock and written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce. Martin McDonagh’s fourth feature THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN is set to begin shooting at the end of August 2021, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. The newest adaptation of LADY CHATTERLEY’S LOVER is also set to film at the end of summer 2021, directed by Laure De Clermont Tonnerre and starring Emma Corrin as Lady Chatterley.

Upcoming releases include A BOY CALLED CHRISTMAS, based on the best-selling book by Matt Haig, and directed by Gil Kenan, with cast including Jim Broadbent, Maggie Smith, Sally Hawkins and Kristen Wiig, and LAST LETTER FROM YOUR LOVER, which stars Felicity Jones and Shailene Woodley, and is directed by Augustine Frizzell. Both films will be released worldwide by STUDIOCANAL and Netflix in 2021. In 2020, Blueprint released EMMA, the Jane Austen classic starring Anya Taylor-Joy (Queen’s Gambit), Mia Goth, Callum Turner, Josh O’Connor, Johnny Flynn, Miranda Hart and Bill Nighy, directed by Autumn de Wilde.

In May 2018, Blueprint produced A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL for television, which was broadcast on the BBC and Amazon, starring Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw, and directed by Stephen Frears. It has won multiple awards including four BAFTAs, an Emmy, a Golden Globe and Critics Choice award. The follow-up, A VERY BRITISH SCANDAL, has just wrapped production, starring Claire Foy and Paul Bettany. It is directed by Anne Sewitsky and written by Sarah Phelps and set to air at the end of 2021.