100 Fun Facts About The Santa Clause Movie

After burning the Christmas Eve turkey in The Santa Clause, where does Scott take his son for dinner?

Denny's. The night gets no better there: the waitress is out of eggnog, out of chocolate milk, and the hot apple pie Scott was counting on has gone too.

At a company meeting in The Santa Clause, Scott objects to an advert that shows Santa riding what?

A toy tank. By now the Clause has hold of him: Scott insists Santa would only ever use his sleigh and reindeer, and his baffled boss sends him off to get help.

In The Santa Clause, what does Scott wake up wearing after his first night at the North Pole?

Monogrammed silk pajamas. He wakes in his own bed sure it was all a dream, but he is still wearing the elves' gift, stitched with the initials SC.

How do Scott and Carol travel to the faculty Christmas party in The Santa Clause 2?

In a horse-drawn sleigh. That night Carol admits she was the child who stood up for Santa against the doubters, so when Scott later says he is Santa she thinks he is mocking her and throws him out.

Early drafts of The Santa Clause had Scott shoot Santa, but what does Scott do instead in the finished film?

Shouts up at him. His 'Hey, you!' startles Santa into losing his footing on the roof; the shotgun was written out once Disney bought the script.

What is the profession of Neil, Laura's second husband, played by Judge Reinhold?

Psychiatrist is a title Scott refuses to respect: when Charlie calls Neil smart because he's a doctor, his father snaps back, 'He's not a doctor; he's a psychiatrist.'

Who plays Bernard, the sarcastic head elf, in the first two Santa Clause films?

David Krumholtz sat out the third film, then came back to the part almost thirty years after the first, in the sequel series.

By his own account, why did the actor playing Bernard skip The Santa Clause 3?

He felt the role was devalued in the script he was sent; the clash with his TV drama, long given as the reason, had in fact been worked out.

What physical change does Scott notice as the Santa Clause takes hold?

He gains weight and craves sweets so fast that his boss, Mr. Whittle, sends him to a doctor, who can find nothing to explain it.

Which telephone-number joke was cut from The Santa Clause on US home video from 1999 onward?

1-800-SPANK-ME turned out to be a working adult line, and children who dialled it ran up phone bills; TV broadcasts now say '1-800-POUND' instead.

Where was The Santa Clause filmed on location?

The Greater Toronto Area had to be dressed for winter: the cameras rolled through a warm spring and early summer, so the film's snow was artificial.

What do children at Charlie's soccer game in The Santa Clause do when they see the bearded Scott?

They queue to sit on his lap and tell him what they want, though he isn't dressed as Santa; Laura and Neil, watching, decide he is feeding Charlie's fantasy on purpose.

How is Scott freed after Laura and Neil, thinking he has kidnapped Charlie, have him arrested?

The elves break him out of jail as a squad called E.L.F.S., tying up the desk sergeant and slicing through the bars with tinsel: 'not just for decoration'.

What does Laura throw into the fireplace at the end of The Santa Clause?

The custody papers go into the fire once Laura accepts that Scott really is Santa, and she tells him he can see Charlie whenever he likes.

In The Santa Clause, Charlie mishears a line of 'The Night Before Christmas' as the name of what?

A ladder: Charlie hears 'arose such a clatter' as 'a Rose Suchak ladder', and Scott has to explain that a clatter is only a big noise. 'Such a Clatter' was the script's first title.

Who plays the centuries-old elves of the North Pole in The Santa Clause?

Child actors gave the elves ageless faces, the director's idea for a father cut off from his own son, and the star's saltier ad-libs sometimes earned him a time-out away from them.

In one week of November 1994, the star of The Santa Clause had America's number-one film, TV show and what else?

A bestselling book, Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man, joined the film and Home Improvement at number one, awkward for producers who had feared a TV star couldn't open a movie.

Which Saturday Night Live star plays Tracy, who serenades Scott in a restaurant in The Santa Clause 2?

Molly Shannon's Christmas-mad Tracy is charming Scott until she belts out a festive version of Shania Twain's 'Man! I Feel Like a Woman!' and storms off when he flinches.

Who plays Carol Newman, the school principal, in The Santa Clause 2?

Elizabeth Mitchell's Carol refuses to believe Scott's story until Charlie shows her proof; she then turns up at the North Pole in time to help rescue him.

In The Santa Clause 2, what does a tech-minded elf build to cover Scott's absence from the North Pole?

An animatronic Toy Santa reads the rulebook so literally that he declares every child naughty, takes over the workshop with giant toy soldiers and plans to deliver coal.

Which member of the Council of Legendary Figures flies Scott back to the North Pole in The Santa Clause 2?

The Tooth Fairy is summoned with a freshly lost baby tooth left under a pillow, because Scott's magic has run out and his reindeer is too full of chocolate to fly.

Why is Charlie on the naughty list in The Santa Clause 2?

He vandalised his school with graffiti to get attention: keeping quiet about his father's real job while other children talk about theirs has worn him down.

How do the elves win back the North Pole in the finale of The Santa Clause 2?

With a snowball fight: Carol and Charlie join an army of elves pelting the giant toy soldiers until the occupation collapses.

What happens to Scott's body in The Santa Clause 2 as his time as Santa runs out?

He reverts to his old self in what the film calls de-Santafication, and his magic drains with it: he spends the last of it at a Christmas party and cannot get back to the North Pole.

How does Scott liven up the dull faculty Christmas party in The Santa Clause 2?

With childhood dream gifts: each guest unwraps the toy they once longed for, and a special present for the principal uses up the last of Scott's magic.

Which member of the Council of Legendary Figures is played by Peter Boyle in The Santa Clause 2?

Father Time was Peter Boyle's second part in the series: in the first film he played Mr. Whittle, the boss who loses patience with a cookie-munching Scott.

Who plays Jack Frost, the villain of The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause?

Martin Short's Frost freezes Laura and Neil solid when they catch him stealing, then refuses to thaw them because it would mean unfreezing himself.

What does the Escape Clause do in the third film?

The holder wishes to have 'never been Santa at all'; Frost grabs the globe and rewrites the past.

Which veteran actors play Carol's parents, Bud and Sylvia Newman, in The Santa Clause 3?

Alan Arkin and Ann-Margret's Bud and Sylvia arrive as doubters and leave as grandparents: Carol's baby is named Buddy after her father.

What does Jack Frost rename Christmas in the alternate timeline of The Santa Clause 3?

Frostmas comes with a price list: his North Pole is a theme park for tourists, where wealthy parents can pay to put their children on the nice list.

Which elf is promoted to head elf in The Santa Clause 3 in Bernard's absence?

Curtis had been Bernard's deputy and keeper of the Handbook of Christmas; as head elf he is goaded by Jack Frost into giving away a secret he was meant to guard.

Which NFL great, playing himself, interviews to take over as Santa in The Santa Clauses?

Peyton Manning is the first candidate Scott interviews when he starts looking for a successor, and the quarterback is far surer he can do the job than Scott is.

In The Santa Clauses, whom does Scott pick as his successor when he decides to retire?

Simon Choksi, a game inventor and single father, wins Scott over when the two bond as dads while searching for their missing daughters.

Who plays Magnus Antas, the 'Mad Santa' of the second season of The Santa Clauses?

Eric Stonestreet's Mad Santa is a tyrant from centuries past who was shut away as a nutcracker until a theme-park owner set him free by accident.

What are the names of Scott and Carol's two children in The Santa Clauses?

Cal and Sandra grew up at the North Pole: Cal is Buddy, the baby born in the third film, and Sandra, with no children her own age nearby, makes friends with animals instead.

Who is Betty in The Santa Clauses?

The North Pole's chief of staff is a no-nonsense elf played by Matilda Lawler; when she starts questioning the new Santa's plans, he fires her.

Which reindeer flies Scott home in The Santa Clause 2, then eats too much chocolate to fly back?

Comet gorges on chocolate bars until he is too bloated to move, and sits out the Christmas Eve run while a trainee takes his place in the team.

What is the name of Laura and Neil's young daughter in The Santa Clause 2?

Lucy talks Charlie out of his anger at his father, and it is Charlie who then persuades the principal that Scott is telling the truth.

Why did the star of The Santa Clause have to re-record much of his Santa dialogue?

Bells on his coat kept ringing: the velvet Santa coat was sewn with tiny bells, and he recalled people asking, 'What's all that ringing?' when it was only him walking.

Which elf serves Scott a mug of hot cocoa on his first night at the North Pole in The Santa Clause?

Judy tells Scott how she makes it, 'not too hot, extra chocolate, shaken, not stirred', and leaves him with a thought to sleep on: seeing isn't believing, believing is seeing.

In Jack Frost's version of the North Pole in The Santa Clause 3, where do the reindeer end up?

In a petting zoo: Frost has turned the North Pole into a theme park where the elves are miserable and even Santa's team is an attraction.

In The Santa Clause, what does the card left in the vanished Santa's clothes tell its finder to do?

Put on the suit, the card says, and the reindeer will know what to do; its tiny print is the Santa Clause, binding whoever wears it to the job for good.

By which holiday does Bernard tell the new Santa to be back at the North Pole for good?

Thanksgiving is the deadline: Bernard gives Scott eleven months to put his affairs in order, and when the day comes he collects father and son himself.

In The Santa Clauses, Bernard says he gave up life as an elf for which Oscar-winning actress?

Vanessa Redgrave is the reason Bernard vanished between films: he fell for her while away from the North Pole and chose to stay on Earth.

In The Santa Clause, what happens when the changing Scott shaves off his new beard?

It grows straight back, full and white, before he has put the razor down, and dyeing his whitening hair works no better.

What tune does the doctor hear when he listens to Scott's heart in The Santa Clause?

Jingle Bells is what Scott's heart beats out through the stethoscope, and the doctor, already stumped by his patient's other symptoms, can explain none of it.

In The Santa Clause, what magical gift from the head elf lets Scott's son summon his father at any time?

A snow globe is all it takes: minutes after his father flies off, Charlie shakes it and Scott comes straight back, grumbling that he was on his way to Cleveland.

Where do the police arrest Scott on Christmas Eve in The Santa Clause?

Inside Laura and Neil's home he is seized while delivering their presents, because the couple have reported Charlie kidnapped; the boy is left waiting in the sleigh.

What does Santa finally give the sceptical Neil at the end of The Santa Clause?

A weenie whistle from Oscar Mayer is what Neil asked for when he was three; it never came, and that was the Christmas he stopped believing in Santa.

Which two comedy stars turned down the role of Scott Calvin in The Santa Clause?

Bill Murray and Chevy Chase both passed: Chase had a scheduling clash, and the director recalled that Murray wanted no more holiday films after Scrooged.

In The Santa Clause 3, what is Jack Frost accused of freezing in Hawaii?

A volcano in Hawaii, snow in the Amazon and a chill over Mexico are on the charge sheet when the Council of Legendary Figures calls him in, and its members are ready to suspend him.

Why did the boy playing Scott's son wear false teeth for much of The Santa Clause?

He knocked out his own front teeth at a game with his family, so he wore a false set on camera and the schedule was juggled around the accident.

Which seasonal favourite does Jack Frost coax Carol's mother into singing for him in The Santa Clause 3?

The Christmas Song is no idle request: he stops her to hear one line again, the one that names Jack Frost, and says it gives him chills.

Which film opened at number one the same weekend as The Santa Clause, holding it to second place?

Interview with the Vampire won the opening weekend, but the comedy had the longer legs: two weekends later it climbed to number one and held the spot the week after.

What does Scott use to make Jack Frost invoke the Escape Clause in The Santa Clause 3?

A recording on a novelty pen does it: Scott goads Frost into repeating the fateful words, clicks record, and plays the villain's own voice back at him.

In the alternate timeline of The Santa Clause 3, what has happened to Laura and Neil?

They have divorced: Charlie never accepted Neil as a stand-in father, and the strain of that, Neil tells Scott, is what broke the marriage.

Which newly discovered clause drives the plot of The Santa Clause 2?

The Mrs. Clause gives Scott until Christmas Eve to find a wife or stop being Santa, and it surfaces only eight years into the job.

Which Star Trek actor plays the Sandman on the Council of Legendary Figures in The Santa Clause 2?

Michael Dorn's Sandman helps Scott collect Carol's quarrelling parents in the third film, putting the pair to sleep for the journey north.

Which comedian takes over as the Easter Bunny in season two of The Santa Clauses?

Tracy Morgan inherited the carrot-eating cameo from Jay Thomas, who played the part in both film sequels and died in 2017; the show's creator had worked with Morgan on 30 Rock.

What is the name of the rambunctious reindeer-in-training Scott rides in the finale of The Santa Clause 2?

Chet, still learning to fly, carries Scott after the runaway sleigh, brings both crashing back into the village, and ends up filling a gap in the Christmas Eve team.

Which 2003 film did the star of The Santa Clause 2 give up so he could make the sequel?

The Cat in the Hat had been his own project, one he wanted to play as something close to a horror film; when its dates clashed with the sequel, Mike Myers took over.

Why is Jack Frost causing trouble at the start of The Santa Clause 3?

He wants his own holiday, having none named for him, and has been plugging himself all through the Christmas season; hauled before the Council, he talks his way into community service at the North Pole.

In The Santa Clause 3, what cover story does Scott tell Carol's parents?

He is a toymaker in Canada, the story goes, so the elves dress the North Pole in Canadian trimmings and Jack Frost is put to work hanging the signs.

In the alternate timeline of The Santa Clause 3, what job does Scott find he has held for twelve years?

Running his old company has swallowed him whole: he works through Christmas Eve, and his relations with his family have soured.

How is Jack Frost finally reformed at the end of The Santa Clause 3?

A little girl's hug does what no magic could: Frost can't thaw the couple he froze without unfreezing himself, so her warmth melts him, frees them and leaves him a new man.

Which comedy beat The Santa Clause 3 to number one on the weekend both opened in 2006?

Borat took $26 million from only 837 cinemas, leaving the far more widely shown family sequel in second place.

Which actor plays the man Scott picks to succeed him as Santa in The Santa Clauses?

Kal Penn's Santa launches 'Christmas Every Day', a year-round delivery drive that saps the very Christmas spirit the North Pole runs on.

In The Santa Clauses, why does Charlie turn down the chance to succeed Scott as Santa?

He has kids to raise and thinks the North Pole is no place to do it: the boy who was once Santa's keenest believer has settled in sunny Florida instead.

Which Parks and Recreation actor plays Scott's predecessor as Santa in The Santa Clauses?

Jim O'Heir's Santa, the seventeenth, reveals that nothing about the handover was chance: he had met Scott as a boy one Christmas Eve and picked him for the job.

Which folklore figure, known as the Christmas witch, lives in the Wobbly Woods in The Santa Clauses?

La Befana is played by Laura San Giacomo, and two girls slipping away to find her is what sends their fathers out searching together.

Which hit ABC sitcom was Tim Allen starring in when he took the lead in The Santa Clause?

Home Improvement made Tim Allen a household name as Tim 'The Tool Man' Taylor, a role built on his stand-up act that won him a Golden Globe.

Which Toy Story character did Tim Allen first voice the year after The Santa Clause reached cinemas?

Buzz Lightyear made his debut in 1995, so Tim Allen launched two long-running family franchises in back-to-back years.

In The Santa Clause, what does the changing Scott Calvin suddenly know about children he sees?

Who is naughty or nice comes to him child by child, by name, well before he accepts that the North Pole trip was no dream.

At the end of The Santa Clause, what finally proves to the police outside that Scott is Santa?

His rooftop takeoff happens in full view of the officers and other witnesses gathered outside, ending a year of doubts about his sanity.

In The Santa Clause 2, what does Scott's rule-obsessed stand-in decide to give every child in the world?

Lumps of coal are his answer after he reads the rulebook so literally that every small mistake puts a child on the wrong side of the list.

On which streaming service did The Santa Clauses, the series sequel to the Tim Allen films, premiere?

Disney+ released the first two episodes together in November 2022, sixteen years after the third film left cinemas.

Elizabeth Allen-Dick, whose father is Tim Allen, made her acting debut in The Santa Clauses as which character?

Scott's daughter is played by the star's own child, whose double-barrelled surname reflects that the actor was born Timothy Alan Dick.

In which US state is Lakeside, the fictional city where Scott Calvin works in The Santa Clause?

Illinois is home to Lakeside, where Scott is marketing director of a toy firm on the night Santa pays his fateful visit.

In The Santa Clause, why did Laura and Neil both stop believing in Santa?

A hoped-for present never came for either of them, so Scott's last act before leaving is to hand each the very thing they once asked for.

Leo Benvenuti and Steve Rudnick, the writers of The Santa Clause, later co-wrote which 1996 basketball comedy?

Space Jam teamed Michael Jordan with the Looney Tunes; the same pair had written the first Santa Clause script on spec, before any studio asked for it.

Which actress, later the First Lady in Air Force One, plays Scott's ex-wife Laura in The Santa Clause?

Wendy Crewson came back as Laura in both sequels, and played wife to Harrison Ford's president three years after the first film.

Which television director made his feature-film debut with The Santa Clause and appears on screen as a Santa?

John Pasquin had directed episodes of Family Ties, Growing Pains and Roseanne before the film, and is credited in it as Santa number six.

Which voice actor, the original Fred in Scooby-Doo, provides reindeer voices in The Santa Clause?

Frank Welker has voiced Fred since the franchise began in 1969, and added Scooby-Doo himself to his roles in 2002.

Which city hosted the main location shoot for The Santa Clause 2, with studio work in nearby Burnaby?

Vancouver and its neighbour form one of North America's largest film production centres, which earned the area the nickname Hollywood North.

Which 2002 blockbuster beat The Santa Clause 2 to the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film?

The Two Towers, the middle chapter of The Lord of the Rings, took the prize in a field that also included Spider-Man and The Scorpion King.

Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, two writers of The Santa Clause 2, later wrote which animated supervillain comedy?

Despicable Me and its first two sequels came from the pair, who also co-created the musical comedy series Schmigadoon!

Which actress, later the voice of Lana Kane in Archer, plays Mother Nature in The Santa Clause 2?

Aisha Tyler returned as Mother Nature in the third film, where it is her character who proposes sanctions against Jack Frost.

Jack Burditt, creator of The Santa Clauses, had earlier created which long-running sitcom?

Last Man Standing ran for nine seasons from 2011, with Allen as a sporting-goods executive and father of three daughters.

In The Santa Clause 3, what light sentence does Jack Frost negotiate from the Council of Legendary Figures?

Community service at the North Pole puts Frost exactly where he wants to be, close enough to trick Scott into giving up the job.

Judge Reinhold, the Neil of The Santa Clause, plays Detective Billy Rosewood in which action-comedy film series?

Beverly Hills Cop first cast Reinhold as Rosewood in 1984, and its third film reached cinemas in 1994, the same year he first played Neil.

Tim Allen and the actor behind Jack Frost in The Santa Clause 3 had co-starred in which 1997 family comedy?

Jungle 2 Jungle cast the pair as New York business partners, in a remake of a French hit about a trader who learns he has a son raised by an Amazon tribe.

Which young actress, Oscar-nominated months later for another 2006 film, plays Trish in The Santa Clause 3?

Abigail Breslin shares the film with her older brother Spencer, who plays the head elf, and earned her nomination for Little Miss Sunshine.

In season two of The Santa Clauses, inside what festive object has the overthrown Mad Santa been imprisoned?

A nutcracker held Magnus Antas after the elves overthrew him, until the owner of a failing Santa attraction set him free by accident.

Which stand-up comedian plays Kris, who accidentally frees the Mad Santa, in The Santa Clauses?

Gabriel Iglesias, known to fans as Fluffy, joined for the second season, the year after he became the first comedian to sell out Dodger Stadium.

Michael Lembeck, director of both Santa Clause sequels, won an Emmy for directing an episode of which sitcom?

Friends earned him the Emmy for the double-length episode that followed the 1996 Super Bowl, the most-watched of the whole series.

At the end of The Santa Clause 2, what happens to Scott's power-hungry stand-in once the elves defeat him?

He shrinks to a height of six inches once Carol, Charlie and the elves have routed the giant soldiers he built to seize the North Pole.

Which child actor, a young Bruce Wayne in Batman & Robin, plays Charlie Calvin in the Santa Clause films?

Eric Lloyd began on screen before he was five, playing the young Kevin Arnold in The Wonder Years, and returned as a grown-up Charlie for the 2022 series.

In The Santa Clause 3, what work has Carol taken up at the North Pole since marrying Scott?

Teaching young elves suits the former school head, and the whole film is framed as a story she tells her class.

In season two of The Santa Clauses, which elf, husband of Betty, steps up to become head elf?

Noel takes the post when a rule called the Kribble Krabble Clause forces Betty to step away from her work for a while.

Which singer and harpist, later known for The Mummers' Dance, wrote a song for The Santa Clause soundtrack?

Loreena McKennitt, who learned the Celtic harp and busked to pay for her first album, both wrote and performed her seasonal song for the film.