Oscar-Winning ‘The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse’ Director Peter Baynton To Helm Apple’s ‘Little Santa’

Apple Original Films is heading to the North Pole. The company announced this week that it has acquired Little Santa, a new animated feature based on the popular children’s book by author and illustrator Jon Agee.

The film will be directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Peter Baynton, who won an Oscar for Apple’s animated short The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. Julia Pistor (The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, The Magician’s Elephant) is producing. Martin Hynes, a co-writer of Toy Story 4, wrote the screenplay, while Bret McKenzie will contribute original songs.

Published in 2013, Agee’s book imagines the origin story of Santa Claus. Apple describes the adaptation as a musical comedy adventure that follows a young Santa on a journey across the North Pole, where he meets the eccentric characters who will ultimately help create Christmas and restore belief in the holiday spirit.

Animation production will be handled by WildBrain, with pre-production work taking place at House of Cool. Hynes and McKenzie will also serve as executive producers.

The project further expands Apple’s growing slate of prestige animated projects. In addition to The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, the streamer has backed acclaimed animated titles, including Cartoon Saloon’s Oscar-nominated Wolfwalkers, and is currently developing Snoopy Unleashed, its first original Peanuts feature.