Date 2019-08-26
Category Movies
Announced in early 2017, the Christmas-themed project was originally slated to open in theatres this November. However, upon deciding to launch a streaming service of it’s own called Disney Plus (as competition for the likes of Netflix), the Mouse House revealed that Noelle – or, as it was originally titled, Nicole – would be premiering as an original movie on its streamer, instead.
Anna Kendrick stars in Noelle as its namesake, with Bill Hader costarring as her brother and actors like Billy Eichner, Shirley MacLaine, and Julie Hagerty filling out other key roles in the cast. The film is set to begin streaming when Disney Plus launches on Tuesday, November 12, and was featured as part of the streamer’s presentation at D23 this afternoon. It’s marketing also kicked off today, with its first-look trailer and poster dropping online.
The Noelle one-sheet is pretty straightforward and features Kendrick as Santa’s daughter, opposite Hader as Jolly Old Saint Nick’s under-prepared son. You can check it out below, following the trailer.
For the most part, Noelle appears to be a fish out of water comedy that follows its namesake as she leaves the North Pole to try and find her wayward brother (who flees when the stress of becoming the next Kris Kringle proves too much for him to handle). The film was written and directed by Marc Lawrence, who’s known for either writing and/or directing similarly light-hearted comedies about characters operating outside their comfort zones (The Out-of-Towners remake, Miss Congeniality, Did You Hear About the Morgans?), in addition to his many rom-coms starring Hugh Grant and/or Sandra Bullock (Two Weeks Notice). By the looks of things, he’s working pretty comfortably in his wheelhouse here, as is Kendrick (who’s basically doing her version of Will Ferrell in Elf).
For the same reasons, Disney Plus feels like the right place for Noelle to set up camp. Where it might’ve gotten quickly left in the dust by bigger and more exciting films hitting theatres this fall, it should have an easier time attracting families on the streamer and will be available for parents to watch with their kids at home when the winter holiday season arrives. Netflix’s The Christmas Chronicles became a success for that service when it dropped in November last year, and it’s easy to imagine Noelle the following suit and providing Disney Plus with an equally goofy, but harmless Christmas-themed hit of its own when it arrives around the same time in 2019.
Source: Screen Rant