That Christmas
Netflix release poster
Directed by	Simon Otto
Screenplay by	Richard Curtis Peter Souter
Additional dialogue by	Dawson Bros.
Story by	Richard Curtis
Based on	That Christmas and Other Stories by Richard Curtis
Produced by	Nicole P. Hearon Adam Tandy
Starring	Brian Cox Fiona Shaw Jodie Whittaker Bill Nighy
Edited by	Sim Evan-Jones
Music by	John Powell
Layouts by	Brad Blackbourn Alex Potts
Production companies	Netflix Netflix Animation Locksmith Animation DNEG Animation
Distributed by	Netflix[1]
Release dates	October 19, 2024 (2024-10-19) (68th BFI London Film Festival) December 4, 2024 (2024-12-04) (Netflix)
Running time	95 minutes
Countries	United Kingdom United States
Language	English
Budget	$100 million

That Christmas is a 2024 British animated Christmas fantasy comedy film^[2] produced by Locksmith Animation and DNEG Animation, and distributed by Netflix. Directed by Simon Otto, in his directorial debut, from a script by Richard Curtis and Peter Souter, it follows entwined storylines based on short stories from That Christmas and Other Stories by Curtis and illustrator Rebecca Cobb. The voice cast features Brian Cox, Fiona Shaw, Jodie Whittaker and Bill Nighy.

That Christmas premiered at the BFI London Film Festival on 19 October 2024, and was released on 4 December 2024.^[3] It received mixed reviews from critics.

In the seaside Suffolk town of Wellington-on-Sea, everyone is getting ready to celebrate the holiday. The story follows three groups- new boy in town Danny Williams trying to adjust to his parents recent divorce, identical twin sisters nervously Sam and mischievous Charlie Beccles, and Bernadette McNutt wanting to change things up for the holiday- as they each experience the holiday in different lights. The town's traditional activities, organized by Lighthouse Bill, are put on hold because of the snow.

At the school's Christmas play, Bernadette puts a more liberal spin on the Nativity scene that not many of the parents enjoy. Danny almost misses his cue as he is starting at Sam and Charlie arrives last minute and torments Nisha Muliji during the show. Danny is upset that his mother had to leave for work but not surprised.

At home, Danny has a conversation with his mother through sticky notes about the play and his crush on Sam. The following day, his mother fails to notice the school closure as he preps her breakfast. When he gets to school, he sees his teacher, Mrs, Trapper, put up a sign that says school is closed and tries to leave, but she notices Danny and has him catch up on his work due to his poor marks. During a break, Mrs. Trapper notices Danny struggling to make a snowman and shows him how and they spend the rest of the day playing in the snow. On the way home, he notices how miserable Mrs. Trapper looks.

The following day, Christmas Eve, Danny's mother tells him to drop by Sam's family's store to get something for his father. Danny nervously prepares a speech but freezes upon seeing her. He notices the shop is closed and Sam gives him some candy for his father and invites him in, but Danny refuses, scolding himself for doing so and falls into the snow. Sam asks if he is okay and, unbeknownst to Danny, Charlie teases Sam about her crush on Danny. When Danny arrives home, he is called by his father, who tells him that he is unable to come due to the snow. His mother comforts him when she gets home.

As Danny sleeps, Santa visits and upon, upon learning of the current events in Danny's life, leaves him something special. In the morning, Danny wakes up to a full stocking and finds a quad bike in front of his house. Danny is overjoyed, but becomes disheartened when he learns his mother has to work as the lighthouse keeper's mother is sick. They have a small fight before she leaves. Upon seeing Mrs. Trapper alone, Danny offers to have lunch with her, but she refuses and convinces him to see things from his mother's perspective. After Mrs. Trapper is alerted of stranded motorists, she enlists Danny's help to get Farmer Yirrell to get the motorists to safety and helps Danny make an igloo for his his mother. When his mother gets home she is overjoyed. They offer Mrs. Trapper a place at their table, but she refuses and looks through a box of mementos belonging to her late husband Jamie.

As the Beccles bicycle home from the play, Charlie teases Sam about her fears. Then they get home, the twins race to their room. Sam tries to convince Charlie to behave for Santa, but she ignores her sister. The following snow day, the twins play in the snow and Sam watches as Charlie pulls a prank on their neighbor who is mean to her dog. Their mother scolds Charlie and has the twins read. As their mother plays the piano, Sam notices Charlie check something off a piece of paper. The following day, Christmas Eve, the family is forced to go to Farmer Yirrell for turkeys, who kills them just before selling them, as the butcher could not get a shipment in due to the snow. Sam protests as he is cruel but they go anyway. At the farm, Charlie sneaks away to try and free the turkeys. Sam detracts Farmer Yirrell while Charlie frees the turkeys.

As everyone chases the birds, Sam chastises Charlie for her actions as she fears it will reflect on her, upsetting Charlie. That night, Sam cleans her sister's side of the room. When Santa comes, he knows one twin has been good while the other has been naughty. He confuses the twins and leaves Charlie the presents. She wakes up, overjoyed to find presents, but sadly sees Sam's empty stocking and realizes they are meant for her sister. Charlie moves everything to her sister's stocking and goes to bed. Santa gets a reading that Charlie is in fact nice and returns. Charlie wakes up hearing her sister's cries of joy. As she congratulates Sam, she points towards Charlie's stocking to find it full. The twins show their parents and Charlie finds a button saying “officially nice” in her stock, but keeps it from her family. Later, she accidentally destroys an ornament and Sam questions how her sister got her gifts. As Charlie is untidying her side of the room, Sam finds Charlie's notes and realizes she did all those things to help Sam, even developing a plan to get her and Danny together.

After the play, the McNutts drive home with their neighbors. The following day is a snow day, Bernadette and her younger sister Evie play with their neighbors- Nisha and the Forrest siblings Teddy and Scarlett- as their parents talk about Bernadette watching the kids as they go to a wedding the following day. On Christmas Eve, the McNutts, the Forrests, and Nisha's mother go to a wedding as the kids get a barn near their houses ready for their annual Christmas traditions. When the adults leave the reception, it has heavily snowed and they are forced to take the long way home. After avoiding a turkey, they go off the road and slide down a slope. They inform their children that they will be home later than expected and have them stay together for the night. As the kids get ready for bed, Evie expresses her disappointment that her parents are not home as everyone falls asleep. After learning of their situation, Santa leaves them peculiar gifts.

When they wake up on Christmas morning, they find their gifts and Bernadette leads them in having the Christmas they want. During a game of hide and seek, Evie gets out. Meanwhile, the parents struggle to get up the slope and Mr. McNutt gives his wife a gift, a fully charged phone. After berating him for keeping it to himself, they call their children and emergency services. After neither pick up, Mr. Forrest calls Mrs. Trapper as the others are too terrified of her. Soon enough Farmer Yirrell arrives and helps them. He hulls them back to their houses and they are greeted by their children. However they notice that Evie is missing and they search for her, getting the entire town involved.

Mrs. Trapper enlists the help of Danny and he takes her to the McNutt house where she takes command. As the Beccles search, the twin's parents berate Charlie for her method of searching, but Sam defends her sister by saying she is simply doing things her own way. The girls go on a head and run into Danny on his quad bike. They join him and, after noticing the light, Danny heads to the lighthouse. They enlist the help of Bill and they find something in the snow and keep the light on it, seeing that Bernadette is close to the object. Bernadette sees it and realizes it is Evie's favorite toy. She followed footprints to the water and, believing her sister has drowned, falls to her knees and cries as Danny and the twins arrive.

While Sam and Charlie comfort Bernadette, Danny notices Lighthouse Bill flashing the light on a set of footprints. They follow them to a row of beach huts and find Evie sheltering with several turkeys. Bernadette hugs her sister as the others inform the town that Evie has been found. After Bernadette and Evie's parents arrive, Bernadette apologizes to her mother for losing Evie as her mother forgives her. After learning Danny thought of using the lighthouse, Bernadette hails him as a hero. In the moment Danny asks out who he thinks is Sam, but is really Charlie. Sam agrees and, after Danny gets over a moments shock, they all laugh.

The following day, Boxing Day, Lighthouse Bill goes to the beach to swim in the cold ocean. Thinking he will do it alone, he is overjoyed upon seeing half the town arrive. Sam leads Danny into the surf by the hand and, as they look into each other's eyes, are knocked over by a wave. Charlie joins them soon after. Bernadette holds Evie as they go in. Nisha has her mother hold her phone as she and the Forrests go in. Mrs. Trapper and Danny's mother are some of the last to go in. Once everyone is in the water, they enjoy themselves.

• Brian Cox as Santa Claus
• Fiona Shaw as Mrs. Trapper
• Jodie Whittaker as Mrs. Williams
• Lolly Adefope as Mrs. McNutt^[4]
• Alex Macqueen as Mr. Forrest^[4]
• Katherine Parkinson as Mrs. Forrest^[4]
• Sindhu Vee as Mrs. Mulji^[4]
• India Brown as Bernadette McNutt^[4]
• Zazie Hayhurst as Sam Beccles^[4]
• Sienna Sayer as Charlie Beccles^[4]
• Jack Wisniewski as Danny Williams^[4]
• Rosie Cavaliero as Mrs. Beccles^[4]
• Paul Kaye as Farmer Yirrell^[4]
• Guz Khan as Dasher^[4]
• Andy Nyman as Mr. Beccles^[4]
• Kuhu Agarwal as Nisha Mulji^[4]
• Bronte Smith as Evie McNutt^[4]
• Freddie Spry as Teddy Forrest^[4]
• Ava Talbot as Scarlett Forrest^[4]
• Bill Nighy as Lighthouse Bill
• Rhys Darby as Mr. McNutt^[4]
• Deborah Findlay as Mrs. Horton
• Alicia Davies as a weather person
• Jordan North and Dermot O'Leary as Mr. Hack and Mr. Chop in cameo appearances^[5]
  • Jordan North and Dermot O'Leary also do all the additional voices in the film with Isabella Hopkins, Luke Jameson, Mary Moss and the film's director Simon Otto

In November 2019, it was announced that Locksmith Animation was developing The Empty Stocking, an animated feature film based on the children's Christmas book trilogy That Christmas and Other Stories written by Richard Curtis and illustrated by Rebecca Cobb.^[6] On 14 June 2021, Locksmith announced that Simon Otto would be directing the film, in his directorial debut, which had been retitled That Christmas.^{[7][8][9][10]} In May 2022, Locksmith confirmed that it awarded the digital production of the film to DNEG Animation, following their collaboration on Locksmith's first animated feature film Ron's Gone Wrong (2021).^[11] In June 2022, Netflix acquired distribution rights for the film under the Netflix Animation label after originally announcing a new deal with Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Animation Group in October 2019.^[12] In November 2023, it was announced that John Powell would compose the film's musical score.^[13][14] On 20 March 2024, Brian Cox, Fiona Shaw, Jodie Whittaker and Bill Nighy were announced to star in the film.^[15] In August 2024, it was announced that English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran would write and contribute a song for the film, titled "Under the Tree".^[16][17]

That Christmas (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film) is the film's soundtrack album, featuring John Powell's musical score with some additional music by Batu Sener, Anthony Willis, Ed Sheeran, John McDaid and Markus Siegel. The soundtrack was mixed at 5 Cat Studios in Los Angeles, California, recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London, England and was digitally released on December 4, 2024, on Netflix Music.^[18] Sheeran and McDaid's song "Under the Tree", which was written for That Christmas and not featured on its soundtrack, was released as a non-album digital single in the United Kingdom on November 26, 2024, by Gingerbread Man Records.^[19] The song's music video, which stars Sheeran as himself and Claudia Jessie as Anna and also features some scenes from the film, was directed by Richard Curtis, produced by Ramshackle Productions, cinematographed by Danny Cohen and edited by Sim Evan-Jones.

In addition to John Powell's music, the fourteen songs that are featured in That Christmas and not featured on its soundtrack are:

• "Boom Shack-A-Lak" – Apache Indian
• "Wannabe" – Michael Roberts
• "Happy Birthday" – Michael Roberts and The Cast of That Christmas
• "Levitating" – Michael Roberts and The Cast of That Christmas
• "Papa Don't Preach" – Michael Roberts and The Cast of That Christmas
• "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" – Michael Roberts and The Cast of That Christmas
• "Nessun dorma" (from Giacomo Puccini's Turandot) – Performed by The Cast of That Christmas
• "Boom Shack-A-Lak" – The Cast of That Christmas
• "Boom Shakalaka" – The Cast of That Christmas
• "Silent Night" – The Pre-Teens
• "Under the Tree" – Ed Sheeran
• "Underneath the Tree" – Kelly Clarkson
• "Snowflakes" – Emmy the Great and Tim Wheeler
• "Christmas Lights" – Coldplay

The Rhian Sheehan song "Thin Ice" was originally going to be featured in the film.

That Christmas had its world premiere on October 19, 2024, at the 68th BFI London Film Festival at the Southbank Centre in London, England. The film's official trailer was uploaded on YouTube on October 29, 2024. The film was released on Netflix on December 4, 2024.^[3][20]

That Christmas received mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 66% of 41 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.0/10.^[21] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 60 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[22]

• List of Christmas films
• Santa Claus in film

• That Christmas on Netflix
• That Christmas at IMDb