43 Fun Facts About The Christmas Chronicles

Who plays Santa Claus in The Christmas Chronicles?

Kurt Russell plays Santa as a leather-jacketed, rock-and-rolling charmer who objects to the 'ho ho ho' cliché and insists he is not fat; he reprised the role in the sequel.

Who directed the first Christmas Chronicles film?

Clay Kaytis, a former Disney animator who co-directed The Angry Birds Movie (2016), made his live-action debut with the film; Matt Lieberman wrote the screenplay.

Which Home Alone director produced the first film and directed the sequel?

Chris Columbus produced the first film through his company 1492 Pictures, then directed the sequel himself and co-wrote its script with Matt Lieberman.

On what date did The Christmas Chronicles premiere on Netflix?

November 22, 2018 was Thanksgiving Day in the United States, and Netflix released the film that morning, timed to open the holiday season.

Who plays Teddy Pierce?

Judah Lewis plays Teddy, the sullen older brother drifting into trouble; he had starred as Cole in Netflix's horror comedy The Babysitter the year before.

How old is Kate Pierce in the first film?

She is the one who still believes, and the one with the camcorder.

Which actress plays Kate Pierce?

Darby Camp plays Kate, the camcorder-wielding believer; she had already played Chloe, Madeline's daughter, in HBO's Big Little Lies.

Who plays Claire Pierce, the children's widowed mother?

Kimberly Williams-Paisley, best known as the bride in Father of the Bride (1991), plays Claire Pierce, the nurse called to work on Christmas Eve; she is married to country singer Brad Paisley.

What was the job of Doug Pierce, the children's late father?

Firefighter Doug Pierce died in a fire, and the family's home videos of him open the film; his absence is why Teddy has soured on Christmas.

Which actor plays Doug Pierce?

Oliver Hudson, seen mostly in the family's home videos as the late Doug, is better known for the sitcom Rules of Engagement and the series Nashville.

Who makes a cameo as Mrs. Claus at the end of the first film?

Goldie Hawn, the real-life partner of the film's Santa since 1983, appears in the closing scene as Mrs. Claus and returned with a full role in the sequel.

Which New Girl actor plays Officer Mikey Jameson?

Lamorne Morris, New Girl's Winston Bishop, plays Officer Jameson, the cop who spends Christmas Eve trying to work out how his jailed prisoner in red knows everything about him.

Where does the Pierce family live in the first film?

Lowell, Massachusetts is the Pierces' hometown, shown in years of home videos that open the film; the sleigh crash later strands Santa and the kids hundreds of miles away.

What does Teddy get up to that Kate catches on video?

Stealing a car with his friends is what Kate's camcorder catches, and she uses the footage to blackmail Teddy into helping her stake out Santa on Christmas Eve.

In which city does Santa's sleigh crash after the kids stow away?

Chicago is where the sleigh comes down after Santa, startled by the stowaways, loses control mid-teleport; the rest of the night unfolds across the city.

Which three things does Santa say he lost in the crash?

His reindeer, his hat and his bag of presents all scatter across the city in the crash, and the hat matters most, since without it Santa cannot use his magic to finish the deliveries.

What happens after Teddy and the man in red distract the police with a car chase?

He is arrested: the police catch Santa after the chase and put him in a holding cell, where he spends part of Christmas Eve and stages the film's musical number.

Which Elvis-associated song gets performed in the jail cell?

Santa Claus Is Back in Town, written by Leiber and Stoller for Elvis Presley's 1957 Christmas album, is the number Santa belts out with the cell-block band.

Which E Street Band member's group backs Santa on the jailhouse number?

Little Steven, the E Street Band guitarist, brings his Disciples of Soul to play the cell-block band, with the group's members appearing as fellow prisoners.

Which of these is NOT one of Santa's elves named in the first film?

The crew are Lars, Jojo, Hugg, Fleck, Bjorn and Mina, and they speak their own subtitled elf language.

Why is it so urgent for Santa to finish deliveries before dawn?

Christmas spirit will decline if presents go undelivered, Santa explains, and the film treats that spirit as a measurable resource whose collapse would bring misery around the world.

Where does Kate end up after she climbs into Santa's magic bag of presents?

Santa's workshop at the North Pole is where the bag deposits Kate, and she returns from it with the elves to help rescue Santa.

What present does Teddy receive at the end of the first film?

It is the same one his father was given as a boy.

How many households did Netflix say streamed the first film in its opening week?

20 million accounts streamed it in its first week, Netflix said, which made it one of the streamer's biggest original-film launches to that point.

Where was the first film shot?

Toronto, Ontario and its suburbs stood in for both the Pierces' hometown and the crash city, so the wintry street scenes were shot in Canada.

When was The Christmas Chronicles 2 released?

November 25, 2020, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, was the Netflix release date; the sequel reunited the original's Santa and the Pierce siblings.

Where is Kate unhappily spending Christmas at the start of the sequel?

Cancun, Mexico is where Claire has taken the kids for Christmas with her new boyfriend and his son; Kate, a cynical teen by now, wants snow and her old traditions, so she plots to run away.

Who plays the sequel's villain, Belsnickel?

Julian Dennison, the New Zealand star of Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Deadpool 2, plays Belsnickel, whose name comes from a fur-clad Christmas figure of German folklore.

Why is Belsnickel human rather than an elf?

He was cursed for becoming unruly: after years of feeling neglected by Santa he rebelled and broke the elves' rules, and the curse turned him human; that resentment is the wound the whole sequel is built on.

To what year are Kate and Jack sent when Belsnickel's wormhole misfires?

1990 is where the misfiring wormhole drops Kate and Jack, at Boston's Logan Airport on Christmas Eve, with no way home until they can reach Santa.

Which creature does Belsnickel release into the reindeer pen?

The yule cat, Jola is loosed on the reindeer to cripple Santa's sleigh; the Yule Cat is a real Icelandic folk monster said to eat people who get no new clothes for Christmas.

What does Belsnickel do to the elves of Santa's village?

Doses them with a potion that makes them crazy: the gentle helpers turn into a horde of feral, gremlin-like creatures that wreck the village until an antidote restores them.

Which Fast & Furious actor plays Bob Booker, Claire's new boyfriend?

Tyrese Gibson, Roman Pearce in the Fast & Furious films, plays Bob Booker, whose son Jack becomes Kate's reluctant companion through the wormhole.

Which A Clockwork Orange star plays Hakan, leader of the forest elves?

Malcolm McDowell, Alex in A Clockwork Orange, plays Hakan in the flashback showing how the boy Nicholas came to live among the forest elves.

Which legendary singer plays Grace, the airport worker Kate meets in the past?

Darlene Love, famous for the 1963 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)', plays Grace and leads the airport crowd in a musical number.

According to the sequel, where was Santa born?

The film folds in the real Saint Nicholas of Myra, born before AD 312 in what is now Turkey.

What happens to Belsnickel at the end of the sequel?

He becomes an elf again once he reconciles with Santa and Mrs. Claus, which lifts the curse that had made him human.

Who plays Jack Booker, the boy who travels with Kate in the sequel?

Jahzir Bruno plays Jack, the timid boy who becomes Kate's companion through the wormhole; that same year he starred as the boy hero in Robert Zemeckis's remake of The Witches.

Kate needs to buy what at the airport to power Belsnickel's time-travel device?

AAA batteries are what the device needs, and Kate's attempt to buy a pack at an airport shop is what lands her in trouble with security.

Which voice actress plays the elf Jojo in both Christmas Chronicles films?

Debra Wilson voices Lars, Debi Derryberry voices Fleck and Speck, and Jessica Lowe plays Mina.

Why is Kate detained by airport security in the past in The Christmas Chronicles 2?

Her modern dollar bill is deemed counterfeit because its design was decades away from being printed, so the shop clerk calls security and Kate is held for questioning.

What hybrid animals pull Belsnickel's sleigh in the sequel?

Jackalotes, jackal-coyote crosses that Belsnickel bred himself, pull his rival sleigh in place of reindeer, a snarling counterpart to Santa's team.

What first for Netflix did The Christmas Chronicles 2 achieve the week before its streaming release?

It played in a chain theatre: Cinemark screened it for a week in a handful of cities ahead of streaming, the first time a Netflix original had played at a major US theater chain.