Kurt Russell to Play Santa Claus in Netflix Christmas 2018 Flick
Netflix is developing a Christmas movie that's due for release in 2018, and "Escape From New York" and "The Thing" actor Kurt Russell is top-billing it as Santa Claus. The giant streaming site plans to kick off production for the project in January.
According to reports, joining Russell in the cast of the untitled Christmas movie are "The Babysitter" star Judah Lewis and "Big Little Lies" actress Darby Camp. Leading the creative team is "Home Alone" director and "Harry Potter" producer Chris Columbus, who will also serve as one of the movie's producers.
Columbus' track record as a film producer makes him a perfect fit for the upcoming film, which will reportedly be a live-action flick with a touch of CG elements and visual effects by Oscar winner Erik Jan De Boer. Columbus' previous projects include two "Home Alone" movies, "Pixels" and "Gremlins," while De Boer previously worked on "Life of Pi" and "Okja."
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Directed by "The Angry Birds Movie" director Clay Kaytis, the Netflix Christmas movie will start shooting early next year and will center on two siblings who want to prove the world that Santa Claus is real. Played by Lewis and Camp, the siblings will try to capture Santa on camera when they suddenly cause his sleigh to crash by accident somewhere in Chicago. The movie will center on their efforts to help Santa Claus and get Christmas back on track before it's too late.
According to reports, the script for the upcoming film is already done. It was written by "The Addams Family" writer Matt Lieberman and was based on an original idea by "Designated Survivor" creator David Guggenheim. Ocean Blue Entertainment, Monica Lago Kaytis, Lyn Lucibello, Adam Kolbrenner, Robyn Meisinger and Guggenheim will serve as executive producers.
Netflix will release the still-untitled original Christmas movie during the holidays next year.
