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Apple Original Films to bring beloved children's book "Little Santa" to the screen with new animated feature film
Academy Award winner Peter Baynton to direct the adaptation with original songs from Flight of the Conchords' Bret McKenzie and screenplay by Martin Hynes
Apple Original Films today announced it has landed "Little Santa," a new animated feature based on the popular and beloved children's book from award-winning author and illustrator Jon Agee. The project will reunite Apple Original Films with Academy Award and Annie Award-winning director Peter Baynton, who recently landed the Academy Award for Apple's animated short "The Boy the Mole, the Fox and the Horse." Julia Pistor ("Nacho Libre," "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie," "The Magician's Elephant") will serve as producer.
How did Santa become Santa? The answer is in the evergreen musical comedy adventure, "Little Santa." Featuring original songs that will hail from Academy Award and Grammy Award-winning songwriter, comedian, actor and writer Bret McKenzie (Flight of the Conchords), and a script from Martin Hynes, who co-wrote the Academy Award-winning "Toy Story 4," the story will follow young Santa Claus on an Oz-like trek through the North Pole, meeting and inspiring the offbeat friends who will create Christmas and remind the world to believe.
"Little Santa" will be animated by WildBrain, including pre-production by WildBrain's House of Cool. The film will be directed by Baynton and produced by Pistor. Hynes will also serve as executive producer alongside McKenzie.
Apple Original Films' expanding offering of animated original films for kids and families also includes "Snoopy Unleashed," its first original Peanuts feature film coming soon, as well as the Academy Award-winning animated short "The Boy the Mole, the Fox and the Horse," Academy Award nominee and Annie Award-winning "Wolfwalkers," both now streaming on Apple TV.
Momentum around the Apple Original Films slate continues to grow since the launch of Apple TV six years ago. Following its debut last year, "F1 The Movie," set records as the highest grossing sports feature of all time and landed an Academy Award for Best Sound, as well as a nomination for Best Picture. Apple Original Films also recently released "The Lost Bus," an Academy Award nominated emotional, action-packed rescue drama directed by Academy Award nominee Paul Greengrass and starring Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera; "Highest 2 Lowest," the latest feature reuniting Spike Lee with Denzel Washington for the fifth time; and Emmy Award-nominated feature "The Gorge," starring Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy. Soon-to-premiere Apple Original Films include "The Dink," "Mayday," "Matchbox the Movie," "Way of the Warrior Kid" and "Being Heumann."
Apple TV offers premium, compelling drama and comedy series, feature films, groundbreaking documentaries, and kids and family entertainment, and is available to watch across all of a user's favorite screens. After its launch on November 1, 2019, Apple TV became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service in its debut. To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series have been honored with 843 wins and 3,608 award nominations and counting including multi-Emmy Award-winning and history-making comedies "The Studio" and "Ted Lasso," global cultural phenomenon "Severance," Apple's most-viewed drama "Pluribus," Academy Award Best Picture winner "CODA" and Academy Award winner "F1," the highest-grossing sports feature of all time.
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