The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland gives two classics a festive movie mash-up!
Christmastime always sees St Nick travel around the world to spread some yuletide cheer but this year he’s also taking a special trip to Wonderland.
This beautifully animated tale sees St Nick (voiced by Gerard Butler), otherwise known as Santa or Father Christmas, venture into the crazy world of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland in order to teach the mean and miserable Queen of Hearts (voiced by Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke) about the true meaning of Christmas. And to do so he teams up with Lewis Carroll’s classic characters Alice (Bridgerton’s Simone Ashley), The Mad Hatter and March Hare for an all-singing, all-dancing animated adventure.
This film features original music and songs written by long-time Robbie Williams collaborator Guy Chambers and Grammy Award-winning songwriter Amy Wadge.
Here’s everything you need to know about the animated movie The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland…
The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland – release date
In the US, The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland was released on Prime Video on Friday, November 15 2024. In the UK, the movie launches on Sky Cinema on Friday, December 13 2024.
Is there a trailer for The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland?
Yes, and you can watch it below. The trailer for The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland shows Santa take a detour to Wonderland but he’s faced with the angry Queen of Hearts who declares there’s to be no celebrating on Christmas Day. Can he change her mind or will it be ‘off with his head’? There's a bit of a South Park vibe to it as well as you'll see if you take a look at the trailer below...
The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland plot
The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland is based on the book written by Carys Bexington and illustrated by Kate Hindley, which mashes up the stories of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and Clement Clarke Moore’s poem ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, the animation features characters from both tales.
It sees St Nick receive a long-delayed letter on Christmas Eve from the Princess of Hearts, so he and his reindeer set off to Wonderland to meet her. But he’s met by the mean and miserly Queen of Hearts who hates everything about Christmas, especially presents. That leaves Santa, Alice and her pals having to change her mind before it’s too late.
The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland voice cast —Gerard Butler as St Nick
Gerard Butler, who voices St Nick, has starred in the films 300, P.S. I Love You, The Bounty Hunter, London Has Fallen and The Vanishing. He also lent his voice to the How To Train Your Dragon franchise, voicing Stoick.
* See our exclusive interview with Gerard Butler below....
Emilia Clarke as the Queen of Hearts
Emilia Clarke voices the fearsome and quite mad Queen of Hearts. Emilia is best known for playing Daenerys Targaryen in the hit series Game of Thrones. She has also been in Me Before You, Terminator Genisys, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Last Christmas and the series Secret Invasion.
Who else is in the voice cast of The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland?
The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland also features Sex Education and Bridgerton season 2 star Simone Ashley voices Alice while Mawaan Rizwan is the Mad Hatter and Eliza Riley is The Princess of Hearts.
The Office and Detectorists star Mackenzie Crook is voicing the White Rabbit, People Just Do Nothing star Asim Chaudhry is the March Hare, singer, songwriter and Eurovision contestant Mae Muller voices the reindeer Prancer, actor and comedian Simon Day is the Dodo, comedian Tom Allen is the Fish Barrister, Lenny Rush (Am I Being Unreasonable?, Doctor Who) is Robin the Reindeer while racing driver Nicolas Hamilton, brother of Lewis Hamilton, is the Card Guard.
Exclusive interview with Gerard Butler for The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland
Here's our exclusive interview with Gerard Butler for The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland...
How does it feel to voice a character as iconic as Santa?
Gerard Butler says: "It feels amazing, I’m over the moon about it. I’ve looked up to Santa since I was a kid and I thought one day I’d like to make a biopic of the man, his struggles, his hopes, did he achieve them and what he has to go through at Christmastime. I think he’s happy with it. We’ve tried to contact him to have him screen the movie but he’s a hard man to get hold of. But I was happy to portray St. Nick. It was a blast."
Did you enjoy singing the musical numbers?
Gerard Butler says: "I did. The songs are fantastic and they are all so different. They are all unique, they are all catchy. I feel they could all become number one Christmas songs. I’ve got a rap in there and I feel like Eminem and Jay-Z had better watch out. My Santa rap explains how everything works at Christmas. All the prep we have to do and meanwhile Santa’s getting in the way of all the elves and they are like ‘get out the way’ and he’s like ‘hey, look at me, this is what we do’. It’s hilarious. There are showtime numbers, cabaret songs, pop songs, weird trippy songs and The Twelve Crimes of Christmas. They are all great songs so I had a chance to have a little fun. I haven’t sang for a while so I had to brush up on that. But I didn’t have to brush up too much because he’s Santa and he didn’t have to have the best singing voice. It was great to be in a booth doing these rhyming couplets, this great dialogue with this lovely feeling and to have the chance to let go, be silly and goofy and at times emotional. Peter Baynton is the most phenomenal director and animator and it was written so well that I knew I was part of something special. It was actually very hard to get this off the ground because there was a lot going on at that time but I couldn’t let it go because I knew there was a little bit of magic in there and I knew it was going to appeal to people."
What do you think makes the story so magical?
Gerard Butler says: "Peter’s last film, the short story The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse won an Oscar and a BAFTA so you can clearly see he’s very talented. So when I thought ‘oh my god, I’m getting the opportunity to play Santa in his next movie’ I knew he was going to take it places. Then I read the script and it’s a great script. It’s a great idea. These two fairytales kind of live in us from when we were kids and it’s a chance to revisit that. The 2D animation means the book has literally opened up and come to life. And it has a bunch of fun actors in it who did such a great job playing these characters. The performances are great, the music is fantastic and you just get caught up with it as you fall into this world. You see the world of Santa and then you’re down the rabbit hole going ‘what just happened?’ It’s trippy, it’s weird but it’s very captivating. Some movies you can just enjoy and others just get you inside somewhere. They sit with you for a while and that’s a beautiful thing because the lessons behind this movie are lovely and they are not in your face. It takes you on a ride but you walk out of there and you feel that it really brings people together at the perfect time because that’s the sentiment of Christmas. Bringing everybody together and being kind, that’s what Christmas is."
What was it like to work with Emilia Clarke?
Gerard Butler says: "There’s not a lot I can say about that because I didn’t. I didn’t work with any of the actors. I love Emilia, she’s the nicest girl ever and she is fantastic in this movie. I loved what she did and I’m very, very happy to be in this movie with her. But that’s the weird thing, you think ‘I haven’t seen these other actors’. Normally, when you make a movie you kind of know who really hit it and then with others you go, ‘well I hope that one turns out ok’ but I had no idea until I saw the movie. Normally when I’m in the editing suite I see a lot but I only saw this film the once and it was fun because I was like an audience member. But the whole cast - Emilia, Simone Ashley, Mackenzie Crook and all the guys were all so much fun."
So, when you’re in your booth you don’t know if everyone else is matching your energy?
Gerard Butler says: "No, you have no idea. You are just hoping it doesn’t look like you’re in a different movie. Kill me right now! Imagine if everyone else is playing it down and natural and real and you’re left in outer space? But I trusted everyone in that room that I was working with. Guy Chambers, the composer, he’s amazing. He knows exactly what he wants. I’m coming in with ideas about Santa and a few times we butted heads but in the best way because I loved working with him. This stuff is a little more difficult to do than you imagine. It seems easy but the easier it seems in some ways, the harder it is to get that free-flowing thing. You’re still trying to hit all the right beats, you still want to stay with the musicality as well as getting as much colour into the songs. Guy knows his rules about what you’ve got to hit in the songs. I’m more like, ‘let me free, I want to go over here’, and the balance worked perfectly. Peter knew how to keep me and the other actors in the same world of Alice in Wonderland and ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, Santa and all those people. All weird and getting as much out of them as possible but all in the same world."
Do you have a favourite Christmas film?
Gerard Butler says: "No, just this one! There are a lot of great Christmas movies, like It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street but weirdly the Christmas movie I grew up with and remember watching every Christmas was a little bit dark because it was The Wizard of Oz. It was amazing. The first time I saw tornadoes and the first time I realised if you put on red shiny shoes and clicked your heels, you could go home. I do that now which is a little strange but it’s got me out of a lot of trouble and got me into a lot of trouble. But oh my god, wow – talk about a movie that just transports you somewhere else and takes you on the highs and lows and what you learn from that. That will always be what I see as my Christmas movie. But there’s been a lot of great ones. I loved the Ryan Reynolds movie Spirited, that was fun. That was a fun modern take on Christmas. But our movie is really in the Christmas spirit in all the right ways. It reminds you of what Christmas is without being too on-the-nose and flat. It’s the best, weirdest and most fun take on the holiday season."
* Gerard spoke exclusively to Natasha Holt.
Behind the scenes and more on The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland
The movie is based on the bestselling book The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland written by Carys Bexington, illustrated by Kate Hindley and published by Macmillan, which mashes up two classic tales: Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Clement Clarke Moore’s poem, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (also known as A Visit from St Nicholas).
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film as well as the BAFTA for Best British Short Animation in 2023. Sara Daddy has adapted the book into a screenplay, written entirely in rhyming couplets. There's original music and songs written by long-time Robbie Williams collaborator Guy Chambers and Grammy Award-winning songwriter Amy Wadge.
The production reunites Universal Pictures Content Group and Lupus Films following recent successful collaborations on Mog’s Christmas and The Tiger Who Came to Tea. It is produced by the multi-award-winning Ruth Fielding and Camilla Deakin for Lupus Films and Executive Produced by Helen Parker, EVP, Universal Pictures Content Group, Gerard Butler and Alan Siegel for G-BASE Productions and Emilia Clarke for Magical Thinking Pictures.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
