Disney's A Christmas Carol (or simply A Christmas Carol) is a 2009 American animated Christmas dark fantasy film produced, written for the screen and directed by Robert Zemeckis. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Zemeckis' ImageMovers Digital, and released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is based on Charles Dickens's 1843 novel A Christmas Carol. The film was animated through the process of motion capture, a technique used in ImageMovers' previous animated films including The Polar Express (2004), Monster House (2006), and Beowulf (2007), and stars the voices of Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Robin Wright Penn and Cary Elwes. It is Disney's third adaptation of the novel, following Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) and The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992).
Disney's A Christmas Carol | |
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Directed by | Robert Zemeckis |
Screenplay by | Robert Zemeckis |
Based on | A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Robert Presley |
Edited by | Jeremiah O'Driscoll |
Music by | Alan Silvestri |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 96 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $175–200 million[2][3] |
Box office | $325.3 million[4] |
A Christmas Carol was officially released in Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D on November 6, 2009.[5] Its world premiere in London coincided with the switching-on of the annual Oxford Street and Regent Street Christmas lights.[6][7] The film grossed $325 million on a $175–200 million budget and received mixed reviews from critics, who criticized its dark tone and script, but praised its visuals, Alan Silvestri's musical score, and the performances of Carrey and Oldman. The film and Mars Needs Moms (2011) were the only ImageMovers Digital projects made, before the studio was shut down by the Walt Disney Company for unsatisfactory box office results. Despite this it was nominated for Favorite Animated Movie and won Favorite Voice From an Animated Movie at the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards.[8]
On Christmas Eve 1843, in London, miser Ebenezer Scrooge hates the merriment of Christmas, declining his nephew Fred's invitation to a Christmas dinner party and refusing to make a donation to two charity workers. His loyal, underpaid employee, Bob Cratchit, asks Scrooge to give him a day off on Christmas Day; Scrooge reluctantly agrees. At home, Scrooge encounters the ghost of Jacob Marley, his seven-year dead business partner, bound in chains. Marley warns Scrooge to change his wicked ways or be condemned to the same fate. According to Marley, Scrooge will be haunted by three spirits over three nights.
Scrooge is visited by the candle-like Ghost of Christmas Past, who takes him back in time to his lonely childhood in a boarding school. Scrooge eventually was brought home by his beloved sister Fan, the long dead mother of Fred. Scrooge became an employee under the kind Fezziwig, and became engaged to Belle, a woman who later left him as he developed an obsession with wealth. Overwhelmed, Scrooge extinguishes the spirit with his candle snuffer cap and is rocketed back to his house.
Scrooge meets the Ghost of Christmas Present, who shows him the joys of Christmas. Scrooge and the Ghost visit Bob's house, where his family is content with their small dinner, and Scrooge takes pity on Bob's ill son Tiny Tim, whom the Ghost comments will die unless the course of events change. The Ghost begins to age as they next visit Fred's Christmas party, where Fred insists that they raise a toast to Scrooge in spite of his cold demeanor. At a clock tower, the Ghost warns Scrooge of the evils of "Ignorance" and "Want" before dying when the clock tolls midnight. "Ignorance" and "Want" manifest themselves before Scrooge as two wretched children who grow into violent, insane individuals, leaving the spirit laughing as he withers away into a skeleton and vanishing.
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, takes Scrooge into the future. Scrooge witnesses businessmen discussing a colleague's death, with one saying he would only attend the funeral if lunch is provided. After being chased across London by a ghostly version of the hearse that carried Marley’s body, first by a ghostly coachman and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, Scrooge is shrunk to a tiny size and ends up in the shop of Old Joe, a fence. Scrooge's charwoman, Mrs. Dilber, is selling the stolen possessions of the deceased. At his bedchamber, Scrooge sees the man's body on his own bed, but is fearful to see his face. Scrooge asks to see emotion connected to the death, and is shown a couple who is relieved that the man died, as they gained time to pay off their debt. After asking to see tenderness connected to death, Scrooge is shown the Cratchit family, who mourn over the death of Tiny Tim. After inquiring as to the identity of the dead man, Scrooge is taken to a cemetery, where the Ghost points out the man's neglected tombstone. The snow wipes away from the tombstone, bearing the name of Scrooge, and indicating that he will die on Christmas Day at some point in the next six years or perhaps even the next morning. Scrooge vows to change his ways, just as the ground opens up into a deep grave, revealing a coffin above a glowing light which opens up to be empty. The ghost shows its eyes and turns a branch Scrooge is holding onto into its finger. Scrooge feels peacefulness as the ghost’s eyes narrow before he is forced to let go and falls into the grave. Before striking the coffin, Scrooge finds himself back in his own room.
Finding it is Christmas Day, an overjoyed Scrooge anonymously sends Bob's family a turkey, donates to one of the charity workers and spreads cheers to his fellow citizens, then attends Fred's dinner, where he is welcomed. The next day, Scrooge plays a prank on Bob, pretending to be about to fire him for being late, but instead raising his salary and pledging his support for Bob's family. Scrooge becomes the embodiment of Christmas and a "second father" to Tiny Tim, who recovers.
After making The Polar Express (2004), Robert Zemeckis stated that he "fell in love with digital theater" and tried finding an avenue in order to use the format again.[9] He eventually decided that an adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas would be an opportunity to achieve this.[9] Upon rereading the story, he realized that "the story has never been realized in a way that it was actually imagined by Charles Dickens as he wrote it," as well as that "it's as if he wrote this story to be a movie because it's so visual and so cinematic."[9] Zemeckis has stated previously that A Christmas Carol is one of his favorite stories dealing with time travel.[10] Ebenezer Scrooge actor Jim Carrey has described the film as "a classical version of A Christmas Carol […] There are a lot of vocal things, a lot of physical things, I have to do. Not to mention doing the accents properly, the English, Irish accents […] I want it to fly in the UK. I want it to be good and I want them to go, 'Yeah, that's for real.' We were very true to the book. It's beautiful. It's an incredible film."[11]
The Walt Disney Company partnered with Amtrak to promote the film with a special nationwide exhibition train tour, starting at Los Angeles in May 2009 and visiting 40 cities, finishing in New York City in November.[12][13]
A Christmas Carol | |
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Film score by | |
Released | November 3, 2009 |
Recorded | 2009 |
Genre | Classical |
Length | 45:28 |
Label | Walt Disney Records |
Track listing
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "A Christmas Carol Main Title" | 4:21 |
2. | "Scrooge Counts Money" | 0:48 |
3. | "Marley's Ghost Visits Scrooge" | 6:12 |
4. | "The Ghost of Christmas Past" | 4:58 |
5. | "Let Us See Another Christmas" | 1:18 |
6. | "Flight To Fezziwigs" | 1:27 |
7. | "First Waltz" | 0:59 |
8. | "Another Idol Has Replaced Me" | 1:40 |
9. | "Touch My Robe" | 3:41 |
10. | "The Clock Tower" | 1:50 |
11. | "Carriage Chase" | 3:24 |
12. | "Old Joe and Mrs. Dilber" | 2:28 |
13. | "This Dark Chamber" | 1:56 |
14. | "None Of Us Will Ever Forget" | 1:33 |
15. | "Who Was That Lying Dead?" | 3:08 |
16. | "I'm Still Here" | 1:26 |
17. | "Ride On My Good Man" | 1:04 |
18. | "God Bless Us Everyone" | 3:15 |
The music was composed by frequent Zemeckis collaborator Alan Silvestri, and orchestrated by William Ross, Conrad Pope, Silvestri, and John Ashton Thomas. The entire score was conducted by Silvestri and performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony alongside Page LA Studio Voices and London Voices.[14] Much of the music was based on actual carols, including "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen," "Deck the Halls," "O Come, All Ye Faithful," "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and "Joy to the World." The album was later issued physically through Intrada Records. The theme song, "God Bless Us Everyone," was written by Glen Ballard and Silverstri and performed by Italian classical crossover tenor Andrea Bocelli.
A Christmas Carol opened London on November 3, 2009, and was theatrically released on November 6, 2009, in the United States by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released the film on November 16, 2010[15] in a single-disc DVD, two-disc 2D Blu-ray/DVD combo and in a four-disc combo pack that includes a Blu-ray 3D, a regular Blu-ray, a DVD and a digital copy. This marked the first time that a film was available in Blu-ray 3D the same day as a standard Blu-ray,[citation needed] as well as Disney's first in the Blu-ray 3D market along with Alice in Wonderland (2010).[16] The DVD contains deleted scenes and two featurettes called "On Set with Sammi" and "Capturing A Christmas Carol". The Blu-ray also has a "Digital Advent Calendar" and the featurette "Behind the Carol: The Full Motion-Capture Experience". The Blu-ray 3D has an exclusive 3D game called "Mr. Scrooge's Wild Ride".
The film grossed $69 million in home sales.[17]
A Christmas Carol grossed $137.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $187.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $325.3 million.[3] Due to its high production and marketing costs, the film lost the studio an estimated $50–100 million, and forced Mark Zoradi, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group and the head of worldwide marketing, to resign.[18]
The film opened at #1 in 3,683 theaters, grossing $30.1 million its opening weekend, with an average of $8,159 per theater.[19]
In the United Kingdom, A Christmas Carol topped the box office on two occasions; the first was when it opened, the second was five weeks later when it leapfrogged box office chart toppers 2012, The Twilight Saga: New Moon and Paranormal Activity despite family competition from Nativity!, another Christmas-themed film.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 53% of 202 critics have given the film a positive review with an average rating of 6/10. The site's critical consensus read, "Robert Zemeckis' 3-D animated take on the Dickens classic tries hard, but its dazzling special effects distract from an array of fine performances from Jim Carrey and Gary Oldman."[20] On Metacritic, another aggregator, the film has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[21] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[22]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars out of four, calling it "an exhilarating visual experience".[23] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A, applauding the film as "a marvelous and touching yuletide toy of a movie".[24] Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News gave the film 3/5 stars and stated the film "is well-crafted but artless, detailed but lacking soul."[25] Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon.com gave the film a mixed review claiming the movie "is a triumph of something—but it's certainly not the Christmas spirit."[26] Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal wrote in his review that the film's "tone is joyless, despite an extended passage of bizarre laughter, several dazzling flights of digital fancy, a succession of striking images and Jim Carrey's voicing of Scrooge plus half a dozen other roles."[27] The Daily Telegraph reviewer Tim Robey wrote, "How much is gained by the half-real visual style for this story is open to question—the early scenes are laborious and never quite alive, and the explosion of jollity at the end lacks the virtue of being funny."[28] Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian also criticized the technology: "The hi-tech sheen is impressive but in an unexciting way. I wanted to see real human faces convey real human emotions."[29] Time Out London praised the film for sticking to Dickens' original dialogue but also questioned the technology by saying, "To an extent, this 'Christmas Carol' is a case of style—and stylisation—overwhelming substance."[30] Keith Uhlich of Time Out New York named A Christmas Carol the eighth-best film of 2009.[31]
Award | Category | Recipients | Result |
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2010 Kids' Choice Awards | Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie | Jim Carrey | Won |
Favorite Animated Movie | A Christmas Carol | Nominated | |
36th Saturn Awards | Best Animated Feature | Nominated |