That Christmas Budget

What Is the Budget of That Christmas (2024)?

That Christmas (2024), directed by Simon Otto and distributed worldwide by Netflix, was produced on an estimated budget in the $50,000,000 to $70,000,000 range. Netflix did not officially publish a budget figure, in line with its standard policy on streaming originals, but the production was a fully CG animated feature from Locksmith Animation, the UK studio founded by former Aardman executive Sarah Smith and producer Julie Lockhart. Locksmith's prior feature Ron's Gone Wrong (2021) carried a reported $80,000,000 budget, providing a meaningful reference point for studio CG animation scaled below Pixar and DreamWorks tentpoles.

Richard Curtis, the writer behind Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and Love Actually, adapted his own trio of children's books into the screenplay. The investment reflected a calculated bet on holiday family animation as a recurring streaming subgenre, with Netflix increasingly competing against Disney+ for the seasonal animated event slot once dominated by theatrical releases like The Polar Express and Arthur Christmas.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

That Christmas's estimated budget was distributed across these production areas:

• Animation Production: Locksmith Animation, in partnership with DNEG Animation, handled the CG animation pipeline. CG holiday animation at this scale requires extensive character rigging, snow and weather simulation, and crowd systems, all of which consumed the largest single share of the budget across a multi-year production cycle.
• Above-the-Line Talent: An ensemble voice cast headlined by Brian Cox as Santa Claus, with Fiona Shaw, Jodie Whittaker, Bill Nighy, Lolly Adefope, Sindhu Vee, Rhys Darby, and Katherine Parkinson filling supporting roles. Each voice talent commanded compensation reflecting their UK and international recognition.
• Director and Writer Fees: Director Simon Otto, an animation veteran whose credits include the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy at DreamWorks, made his feature directorial debut. Richard Curtis brought screenplay and source-material fees commensurate with his Working Title legacy.
• Score and Music: British composer John Powell scored the film, with original songs by Ed Sheeran. The soundtrack budget covered Powell's composition fee, orchestra recording, and the licensing and recording of original Sheeran material.
• UK Tax Credit Production Base: Locksmith Animation operates out of London with the support of the UK Film Tax Relief, which provides a significant rebate on qualifying UK spend. This shaped both the financial structure and the workflow distribution across Locksmith's London studio and DNEG's global animation pipeline.
• Voice Direction and Recording: The ensemble required extensive voice recording sessions across multiple locations, with dedicated voice direction by animation veterans. The international cast also added travel and scheduling complexity.
• Netflix Marketing Slate: While Netflix absorbed marketing into its broader subscriber-acquisition spend, the platform positioned the film as a tentpole holiday release with a coordinated December 4, 2024 streaming date, trailers anchored by the Curtis brand recognition, and a corresponding promotional push across its UK and US user bases.

How Does That Christmas's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

That Christmas sits in the mid-tier of CG holiday animation, below Pixar-level tentpoles but well above lower-cost streaming animation acquisitions:

• Ron's Gone Wrong (2021): Budget $80,000,000 | Worldwide $44,800,000. Locksmith Animation's prior feature, distributed theatrically by 20th Century Studios, struggled at the post-pandemic box office and helped push the studio toward a streaming-first strategy for That Christmas.
• Arthur Christmas (2011): Budget $100,000,000 | Worldwide $147,389,002. The Aardman/Sony Pictures Animation holiday feature offers the closest creative comparison and reportedly cost roughly twice as much.
• Klaus (2019): Budget $40,000,000 | Worldwide N/A (Netflix exclusive). The Sergio Pablos hand-drawn Netflix holiday feature cost meaningfully less than That Christmas and won the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature, setting the modern bar for Netflix holiday animation.
• The Polar Express (2004): Budget $165,000,000 | Worldwide $314,962,162. The Robert Zemeckis motion-capture holiday film established the modern theatrical holiday tentpole at roughly three times the cost of That Christmas.
• Leo (2023): Budget N/A | Worldwide N/A (Netflix exclusive). The Adam Sandler-led Netflix animated musical from the prior holiday season is the closest direct platform precedent.

That Christmas Box Office Performance

That Christmas premiered on Netflix on December 4, 2024 as a streaming exclusive following a limited UK theatrical run in late November. The film entered the Netflix Global Top 10 Movies (English) chart in its debut week and held positions in multiple territory charts through the December holiday window, peaking among the platform's most-watched animated features of the 2024 fourth quarter. Netflix has not published formal viewership totals beyond the chart performance.

Because the release was streaming-first, the limited UK theatrical run did not produce a meaningful traditional box office figure. The financial breakdown below reflects the streaming-exclusive economic model:

• Production Budget: estimated $50,000,000 to $70,000,000
• Estimated Prints & Advertising (P&A): absorbed into Netflix marketing slate
• Total Estimated Investment: not separately disclosed
• Worldwide Gross: not applicable (Netflix exclusive, limited UK theatrical only)
• Net Return: measured by Netflix in viewing hours and seasonal engagement, not box office
• ROI: not publicly calculable; Top 10 chart performance and Curtis brand value suggest platform success

That Christmas served Netflix's strategic objective of owning a seasonal animated tentpole, competing against the Disney+ holiday slate and the legacy Aardman library. The film's combination of the Richard Curtis brand, the John Powell score, and the Ed Sheeran songs targeted the family-plus-adult audience that has historically anchored UK and Commonwealth Christmas viewing.

Locksmith Animation's shift from theatrical with Ron's Gone Wrong to streaming-exclusive with That Christmas reflects the broader industry repositioning of mid-budget animation, where Netflix's subscriber economics absorb risk that theatrical exhibition could not in the post-pandemic era.

That Christmas Production History

Richard Curtis published the three That Christmas children's books between 2017 and 2019, illustrated by Rebecca Cobb. Locksmith Animation acquired the screen rights as part of its multi-picture deal with Netflix following Ron's Gone Wrong, and Curtis adapted his own books into a single interlocking screenplay with co-writer Peter Souter.

Simon Otto was attached to direct after a career as head of character animation on the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy at DreamWorks. The production was anchored in London, United Kingdom, supported by UK Film Tax Relief on qualifying spend. Locksmith partnered with DNEG Animation, the visual-effects giant DNEG's animation division, to scale the CG pipeline across multiple sites.

The animation pipeline ran across a multi-year production cycle, with voice recording sessions for the ensemble cast spanning 2022 and 2023. John Powell composed the original score in 2024, and Ed Sheeran wrote and recorded original songs for the film, including a new Christmas single tied to the release. Netflix announced the December 4, 2024 streaming date in mid-2024 alongside the first trailer.

Awards and Recognition

That Christmas received Annie Award consideration in the Best Animated Feature category for the 2025 ceremony, alongside other 2024 animated features. The film did not break through into Oscar Best Animated Feature contention, which was dominated by Pixar's Inside Out 2, DreamWorks' The Wild Robot, and Aardman's Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.

Beyond the animation circuit, the film received UK press recognition for its Curtis-Powell-Sheeran collaboration and was profiled as part of Locksmith Animation's transition to streaming-exclusive features. No major BAFTA or BIFA recognition followed.

Critical Reception

That Christmas received generally positive reviews. The film holds an approval rating in the high 70s on Rotten Tomatoes based on a moderate critic sample, with a critical consensus that called it a warm, well-observed holiday ensemble that leans on Curtis's familiar strengths. On Metacritic, the film scored in the upper 50s out of 100, indicating mixed-to-positive reviews. Audience response on Rotten Tomatoes was stronger, suggesting the film played better with families than with professional critics.

Critics praised the John Powell score, the Brian Cox vocal performance as Santa, and the interlocking ensemble structure that mirrors Curtis's live-action work. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw described it as "an unashamedly sentimental but genuinely affecting Christmas confection," while Variety noted that the film "achieves the warm hand-knit feel of Curtis's best holiday writing without the cynicism that has crept into recent streaming animation."

Detractors objected to the predictable structure, the heavy reliance on Curtis's familiar voice, and an animation style that critics generally judged as competent rather than distinctive. The Hollywood Reporter's reviewer wrote that the film "rarely surprises but consistently delivers the cozy holiday register its audience came for," a characterization broadly echoed across the trade press.