40 Fun Facts About Arthur Christmas

Which present for Gwen, a girl in Trelew, goes undelivered on Santa's big night in Arthur Christmas?

A bicycle slips off a conveyor belt into the shadows aboard Santa's craft, and nobody notices until the cleaning crew arrives. One gift out of billions sets the whole story moving.

Which Canadian pop star's festive cover plays over the end credits of Arthur Christmas?

Justin Bieber recorded Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town for his album Under the Mistletoe, and the music video was shown in cinemas before the film.

Arthur Christmas came from Aardman, the British studio best known for which clay-animated pair?

Wallace and Gromit made Aardman's name in hand-moulded plasticine, which is why a film made entirely inside computers was still a rarity for the studio.

Which former Blackadder regular voices Steve, the mission-control chief in Arthur Christmas?

Hugh Laurie voiced Steve while he was still playing Dr Gregory House on American television, a run that lasted from 2004 to 2012.

Grandsanta in Arthur Christmas was grounded after a joyride during which Cold War flashpoint?

Cuban Missile Crisis tensions almost boiled over into a world war when the retired Grandsanta took his sleigh out, so the family grounded him and tried to scrap it.

The old sleigh in Arthur Christmas misses Trelew, England, for a namesake town in which country?

Mexico is where the film puts its second Trelew, and the mix-up nearly sets off an international military incident. The real-world namesake city is in Argentina.

What is the first name of the reigning Santa, father of Steve and Arthur, in Arthur Christmas?

Malcolm is the twentieth Santa in an unbroken family line, and the delivery run that opens the film is his seventieth.

Mission-control chief Steve in Arthur Christmas wears a goatee trimmed into the shape of what?

A fir tree is the shape of Steve's beard, a festive flourish on an espresso-drinking technocrat who runs the big night like a military operation.

Which Scottish actor voices Arthur, the clumsy younger son of Santa, in the film Arthur Christmas?

James McAvoy voiced two animated title characters in the same year: Arthur here and the garden gnome in Gnomeo & Juliet.

An armed homeowner in Arthur Christmas fires at Arthur and Grandsanta, mistaking them for what?

Aliens are what the trio are taken for, and later in the journey the military fires missiles at the antique sleigh until it bursts into flames.

Which Love Actually star voices Grandsanta, the 136-year-old former Santa in Arthur Christmas?

Bill Nighy plays him as a stubborn, reckless traditionalist who is baffled by the modern world and keeps his trained reindeer hidden in a secret vault.

Which actor from the Paddington films voices Santa, the affable figurehead in Arthur Christmas?

Jim Broadbent, Mr Gruber in the Paddington series, plays a Santa who is in charge in name only while his elder son runs the real operation.

Which Harry Potter actress voices Mrs Claus, mother of Steve and Arthur, in Arthur Christmas?

Imelda Staunton, the wizarding films' Dolores Umbridge, plays a Mrs Claus who handles diplomatic relations and keeps the household running while the men bicker.

Which Scottish actress voices Bryony, the elf who stows away on the sleigh in Arthur Christmas?

Ashley Jensen gives Bryony a broad Scots voice, having made her name on television in Extras and Ugly Betty.

Which Monty Python member voices Ernie Clicker, an elf called back to duty in Arthur Christmas?

Michael Palin plays the North Pole's former communications chief, drafted in to help track down Grandsanta's antique sleigh.

What is the source of the magic dust that lifts Grandsanta's sleigh in Arthur Christmas?

The northern lights provide aurora dust, which gets a wooden sleigh airborne behind the great-great-grandchildren of the original eight reindeer.

What is the name of the vast high-tech craft that has replaced the sleigh in Arthur Christmas?

S-1 carries an army of elves who drop gifts with military precision, and a year after the story it is renamed in honour of Grandsanta's sleigh.

Mrs Claus in Arthur Christmas credits an online course for surviving an attack by which animal?

A polar bear was no match for her survival training, one of many courses she takes while quietly arranging international treaties behind the scenes.

Which North Pole job does the clumsy younger Claus brother hold at the start of Arthur Christmas?

Answering children's letters keeps Arthur in the mailroom, well away from mission control, and he believes every one of those children is special.

Gwen's home village of Trelew in Arthur Christmas lies in which English county?

Cornwall really does have a hamlet called Trelew, on the shore of Mylor Creek near Falmouth, and the film borrowed the name for a fictional version.

In Arthur Christmas, what do Arthur and his mother get the bickering Claus family to play together?

A board game is meant to help everyone enjoy the day, but it only brings the feud between Steve and Grandsanta over modern methods to the surface.

Which big cats menace Arthur and Grandsanta during the bungled sleigh ride in Arthur Christmas?

Lions corner the travellers in one of several mishaps on the trip, which also costs Grandsanta a few of his reindeer.

Bryony, the stowaway elf in Arthur Christmas, is a specialist in which festive task?

Gift wrapping is her obsession, bows included, and it is while cleaning Santa's craft that she comes across the forgotten parcel.

Which near-disaster in Arthur Christmas distracts the elves just as one gift goes astray?

A child almost sees Santa on his seventieth run, and while the elves rush to rescue him one parcel drops off the conveyor belt unnoticed.

From where does the Claus family secretly watch Gwen open her gift at the end of Arthur Christmas?

Inside a closet is where the family squeezes in to watch, moments after Grandsanta, Santa and Steve had argued over who should place the parcel.

Once Arthur is Santa in Arthur Christmas, which executive post does his brother Steve take?

Chief operating officer suits him: Steve gives up his own claim to the red suit after admitting that Arthur is the worthy one, then runs the operation for his brother.

Which star of The Truman Show and Mystic River voices the North Pole computer in Arthur Christmas?

Laura Linney voices the machine at the heart of Steve's control room; on television at the time she was starring in the series The Big C.

Which Desperate Housewives star voices Chief De Silva, head of UNFITA, in Arthur Christmas?

Eva Longoria, then in her final season as Gabrielle Solis on Desperate Housewives, voices the official who scrambles to track the mystery craft circling the Earth.

Ramona Marquez, the voice of Gwen in Arthur Christmas, played Karen in which BBC sitcom?

Outnumbered made her a child star as Karen Brockman, and the film role then earned her a Young Artist Award nomination.

Before making Arthur Christmas with Sony, Aardman had split from which Hollywood studio?

DreamWorks Animation and Aardman parted after two of their films underperformed, and in April 2007 Aardman signed a three-year deal with Sony instead.

Under which reindeer-themed working title was Arthur Christmas first announced in 2007?

Operation Rudolph was the name on Aardman's 2007 slate, and the film then spent about three years in pre-production and production on two continents.

Which director, new to animated features after a career in television comedy, made Arthur Christmas?

Sarah Smith had produced the first television series of The League of Gentlemen before Aardman hired her, and she co-wrote the film as well as directing it.

Which co-writer of Borat shares the screenplay credit for Arthur Christmas with its director?

Peter Baynham, a Welsh writer whose credits also include I'm Alan Partridge and Brass Eye, joined the Merchant Navy at 16 before he turned to comedy.

Which composer of the Shrek and Narnia scores wrote the music for Arthur Christmas at short notice?

Harry Gregson-Williams stepped in at the last minute after the announced composers left, and wrote a tune-led score for an 80-piece orchestra with no electronics.

Which film beat Arthur Christmas to the BAFTA for animated film and also won that season's Oscar?

Rango, a western about a pet chameleon stranded in a desert town that needs a sheriff, topped a BAFTA shortlist of just three animated films.

Which film beat Arthur Christmas to the animation Golden Globe, a first for a non-Pixar release?

The Adventures of Tintin, directed by Steven Spielberg, ended an unbroken Pixar run in the category and was also the first motion-capture film to win it.

Which stop-motion comedy was the next film Aardman made with Sony after Arthur Christmas?

The Pirates! followed in 2012, directed by Aardman co-founder Peter Lord, and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.

Which Canadian city is the butt of some unkind jokes during the sleigh ride in Arthur Christmas?

Toronto comes in for some warmly sarcastic ribbing from the film's two British writers during the round-the-world detour.

Aardman, the studio behind Arthur Christmas, has its home in which English port city?

Bristol is Aardman's base, although much of this film was made in California during an 18-month stay at Sony's studio.

Which co-director of Disney's Mulan joined the crew of Arthur Christmas as co-director?

Barry Cook, a Disney effects animator since Tron, helped with design, characters and storyboarding because the film's director came from live-action television.