Aardman, the Bristol-based animation studio best known for its Wallace and Gromit characters, has released a new trailer for its latest yuletide movie – Arthur Christmas (see video below).
The CGI-animated film, which will be in cinemas from November 11, features the voices of a who’s-who of British acting talent including James McAvoy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, Bill Nighy and Hugh Laurie.
It tells the story of Santa (Broadbent) and his vast army of highly-trained elves who produce gifts at their secret, technologically-advanced operation at the North Pole and distribute them around the world on Christmas Eve.
Yet every operation has a margin of error and when one of 600 million children who receive gifts from Santa is missed, Santa’s misfit son, Arthur (McAvoy), steps in.
He executes an unauthorised rookie mission to get the last present half way around the world before dawn breaks on Christmas morning.
Aardman has produced the movie as part of its distribution deal with Hollywood studio Sony, which it signed in 2007 following the end of its five-film arrangement with Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks. Despite their critical acclaim and success in winning industry awards, Aardman’s full-length films failed to pull in the kind of box-office takings major studios demand.
Watch the new Arthur Christmas trailer at:
