“Disney’s A Christmas Carol” serves up quality holiday schmaltz

Jim Hill

15 years ago

Those of you who were so quick to dismiss Robert Zemeckis’ “A Christmas Carol” as a cinematic lump of coal in Disney’s corporate stocking may want to take another look at the grosses for this performance capture picture.

As Bob Iger admitted during last week’s quarterly earnings conference call:

We would be remiss if we said that we were elated with (how “Disney’s A Christmas Carol”
did domestically over its opening weekend). But it’s early in the season. We are very encouraged by (how much this movie made on November 11^th). It did $5.3 million in the United States. (That) was Veteran’s Day, but it’s an interesting sign.

Indeed, lots of industry insiders are now pointing to how well “Disney’s A Christmas Carol”
held up over its second weekend. Avoiding the 40 – 50% drop-off in ticket sales that now typically befalls wide releases from the majors, business for this new ImageMovers Digital production fell off by only 26%. Which suggests that this CG version of Charles Dickens’ holiday classic might actually have legs.

I have to admit that some of Disney’s promotional efforts
for “A Christmas Carol” have been pretty amusing. Like the Santas-only screening of this Disney Digital 3D movie that was held at the Mall Of America earlier this month. Photo by Cory Ryan. Copyright 2009 ImageMovers Digital LLC. All Rights Reserved

At least Mr. Iger seems to feel that way. Again quoting from last Thursday’s conference
call:

There are many examples of Christmas films coming out in that early November period that
played extremely well for longer periods of time as you near the Christmas holiday. And we hope that (“Disney’s A Christmas Carol”) follows that pattern.

Of course, the real test comes on December 18^th when “Avatar” makes its debut.
Given that this new James Cameron movie will effectively push “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” off of most – if not all – of the 3D screens in North America … Well, that’s a tough break for the Mouse. Especially since interest in seeing this particular performance capture picture will obviously peak on or about December 25^th. And the only places that people will then be able to see “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” at that point will be second-run 2D houses.

Which begs the question: Should you go out now and catch this oft-told holiday tale
while it’s still playing in Disney Digital 3D? Is this new version of “A Christmas Carol” really worth premium ticket prices?

I also enjoyed the juxtaposition of these billboards above
the entrance to NYC’s New Amsterdam Theatre. Which show two beloved literary figures flying over London Photo by Nancy Stadler

Well, Nancy and I saw this ImageMovers Digital production at a Radio Disney promo screening
in Dedham, MA about two weeks back. And while I could have done without that 5 minutes or so of footage where Zemeckis sends his camera careening through 1840s London (That section of this film seemed far better suited for a “Star Tours”-like simulator attraction than it did for a theatrical release) … Overall, I found “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” to be very entertaining. A
surprisingly solid & faithful adaptation of this holiday classic.

The folks at ImageMovers Digital clearly put a lot of time & effort into translating the
characters, environments and events that Dickens described in his book to 3D CG. And you can get a real sense of all that behind-the-scenes work by picking up a copy of Diana Landau’s “The Art of Disney’s A Christmas Carol” (Disney Editions, October 2009).

Zemeckis evidently insisted that his production team stay as true to their source material as possible. So using the woodcuts & hand-tinted illustrations that John Leech created for “A Christmas Carol” ‘s first edition as their inspiration …

… the artists & technicians at ImageMovers Digital tried to bring this story to life in startling new ways. Creating – for example – a version of Marley’s Ghost that was just as terrifying for the audience as it was for poor Ebenezer.

Landau walks you through all phases of production. Offering up illustrations that show Zemeckis planned out camera moves through this film’s virtual sets.

“The Art of Disney’s A Christmas Carol” also reveals how hard the creative team worked to make sure that the younger versions of Scrooge that appear in this picture actually looked like Jim Carrey.

Diana does what she can to bring you the real inside scoop on this new holiday release. Even going so far as to show you what the interior of the CG version of Big Ben looks like.

The end result is that … Well, this book gives you a real sense of how hard Zemeckis struggled to create a new movie version of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” that would be extremely faithful to his source material while – at the same time – making a motion picture that would be considered entertaining by modern audiences.

For the most part, I believe that Zemeckis succeeded. In fact, I made a point of turning around and watching the rest of the audience at the point in “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” where – after years of refusing his nephew’s invitations to come to Christmas dinner – Ebenezer finally shows up at Fred’s house. Desperate to reconnect with what’s left of his family.

Now what was kind of cool about taking in this view of the audience was that – as Scrooge’s nephew (after a dramatic pause, of course) warmly invites his uncle to come join the festivities – there was this wildly divergent reaction among audience members. The kid in the theater just smiled, as to say “Aw. That’s nice.” Whereas among the adults … Great numbers of them
wiped away tears and/or snuffled into Kleenex. This version of “A Christmas Carol” seemed to really connect with the over-30 set.

Which is why I wasn’t all that surprised when I heard about how well this Disney Digital 3D film had held up during its second week in domestic release. Though critics & animation purists may continue to carp about performance capture, endlessly talking about the uncanny valley and/or those dead eyes that you typically see on CG characters in films like this … The fact of the matter is that – this time of year – there’s a real hunger out there for seasonal
schmaltz. For a well-told holiday story that touches the heart.

And disregarding those five minutes or so where Scrooge suddenly seems to have stumbled into “Back to the Future – The Ride,” “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” is a well-told holiday story that does touch your heart. Which is why – if you do get the chance over the next few weeks – you should definitely go check out this ImageMovers Digital production.

And then – if you want to know how this new Disney Digital 3D film actually came together – you should go pick up a copy of Diana Landau’s “The Art of Disney’s A Christmas Carol.”

Your thoughts?

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