When Jesper (Jason Schwartzman) distinguishes himself as the postal academy's worst student, he is stationed on a frozen island above the Arctic Circle, where the feuding locals hardly exchange words let alone letters. Jesper is about to give up when he finds an ally in local teacher Alva (Rashida Jones), and discovers Klaus (Oscar® winner J.K. Simmons), a mysterious carpenter who lives alone in a cabin full of handmade toys. These unlikely friendships return laughter to Smeerensburg, forging a new legacy of generous neighbors, magical lore and stockings hung by the chimney with care. An animated Christmas comedy directed by Despicable Me co-creator Sergio Pablos, KLAUS co-stars Rashida Jones, Jason Schwartzman and JK Simmons.

Production Budget Analysis

The production budget for Klaus (2019) has not been publicly disclosed.

CAST: Jason Schwartzman, J.K. Simmons, Rashida Jones, Joan Cusack, Norm Macdonald, Will Sasso DIRECTOR: Sergio Pablos MUSIC: Alfonso G. Aguilar PRODUCTION: Atresmedia, The SPA Studios

Box Office Performance

Theatrical box office data is not publicly available for Klaus (2019). This may indicate a limited release, direct-to-streaming, or a release predating modern box office tracking.

Profitability Assessment

Insufficient publicly available data to assess profitability.

INDUSTRY IMPACT

PRODUCTION NOTES

▸ Development

Pablos said the story was indirectly inspired by the Christopher Nolan film Batman Begins. "What a great storytelling exercise, to take a character that's already well established … and bring it to today's audience". Pablos workshopped origin story retellings for several characters, including real-life figures like Napoleon Bonaparte and magical figures including Dracula before settling on Santa Claus. "He has many origin stories, but in the end I thought that there was not one canon-accepted origin story," according to Pablos, whose travels to Norway inspired much of the direction of the film, including the inclusion of the Sami people. It was this decision that led to Netflix green-lighting the project, as the streaming giant had not been interested in original feature-length animation but made an exception due to an interest in releasing new Christmas stories.

▸ Production

After setting up his animation studio in Madrid, Spain, director Sergio Pablos, who had worked on Disney Renaissance films such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, and Tarzan, decided to develop a new traditionally-animated feature film. Pablos wanted to explore how the medium would have evolved had western animation film studios not switched to producing mostly computer animated films since the 1990s. For the film's look, the studio sought to overcome some of the technical limitations that traditional animation had, focusing on organic and volumetric lighting and texturing to give the film a unique look, while maintaining a hand-crafted feel. Proprietary tools from Les films du Poisson Rouge, a French company in Angoulême, were used to allow the team to produce a variety of visual development styles, with the aim of getting away from the standardized style of "characters looking like stickers put on painted backgrounds." Fellow Disney animators James Baxter, known for Beauty and the Beast, and Andrew Chesworth also worked on the film.

The first teaser for the project was released in April 2012; at the time, the studio was seeking investment, co-production, and distribution partners. It was shopped around to various studios, but most studios — including Netflix at first — rejected the movie viewing it as "too risky." In November 2017, Netflix announced that they had acquired the global rights to Klaus; at the same time, the casting of Schwartzman, Jones, Simmons, and Cusack was announced along with a Christmas 2019 release date. In March 2019, it was reported that Netflix was planning an Oscar-qualifying run for Klaus in theaters, and it was listed as one of ten films Netflix was negotiating with chains to give limited releases prior to their online debuts that August.

The film is dedicated to animator and scene checker Mary Lescher who died on 2 June 2019 of cancer.

▸ Music & Score

"Invisible" by Zara Larsson and "How You Like Me Now?" by The Heavy are featured in the film. The song "High Hopes" by Panic! at the Disco is featured in the trailer.