Santa Claus: The Movie (known on-screen as simply Santa Claus) is a 1985 British/American Christmas film starring David Huddleston, Dudley Moore and John Lithgow. It is the last major fantasy film produced by the Paris-based father-and-son production team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind. The film was directed by Jeannot Szwarc and released in North America on November 27, 1985 by TriStar Pictures. The 2005 DVD release was released by Anchor Bay Entertainment, now known as Starz Home Entertainment, under license from the film's current owner, StudioCanal; however, the current, 25th Anniversary home video release (which also now includes Blu-ray) is by Lionsgate Home Entertainment, again under StudioCanal's license.
Santa Claus: The Movie is a straightforward attempt to explore the mysteries of Santa Claus with the key objective being to answer some of the basic questions many children have about the Santa Claus mythos, such as how Santa's reindeer fly, how he and his wife made it to the North Pole, how Santa ascends chimneys, among other things.
The film chronicles the origins of Santa Claus (David Huddleston), who, along with his wife Anya (Judy Cornwell), goes from being a simple working man to becoming an international icon of Christmas. At the same time, the film also tells a contemporary story in which one of Santa's elves (alternately referred to as the "Vendequm" onscreen), a visionary named Patch (Dudley Moore), sets out to employ Santa's toymaking methods on his own, unaware that he might be ruining the magic of Christmas in the process.
Read more about Santa Claus: The Movie: Plot, Cast, Reception, Soundtracks, Comic Book Adaptation
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