Santa Calls (lost test animation for cancelled Blue Sky film adaptation of children's book; late 1990s)
Book cover for Santa Calls.
Status: Lost
Santa Calls is a 1993 children's book written and illustrated by William Edward Joyce, it revolves around a group of kids who team up with Santa to defeat dark elves. In the late 1990s, it was revealed that Blue Sky Studios was going to make an animated film adaptation of the book,[1] while the project never saw the light of day due to it being cancelled by Fox for unknown reasons,[2] a test animation was made during the period were the film was starting production.
The Test
In a 2021 article written by Chris Meledandri about the closure of Blue Sky, he details some elements of the test, stating:
We all agreed to take a section from his book, Santa Calls, and create a visual reel that combined storyboards, color and some rendered imagery. It was a beautiful test, but we could never crack the adaptation of the book’s story.[3]
Availability
As of now, no footage or images from the test have been made publicly available, whether or not it still exists in some capacity is unknown.
References
- ↑ Variety article on 20th Century Fox restructuring and expanding its animation operations, which mentions the film adaptation of Santa Calls. Retreived 16 Jul '24
- ↑ Interview with Chris Wedge and Bill Joyce, where they discuss the Santa Calls film and its cancellation. Retrieved 16 Jul '24
- ↑ Deadline article by Chris Meledandri about the closure of Blue Sky Studios, which mentions the test animation. Retrieved 16 Jul '24