Netflix recently unveiled some first looks at a new holiday movie in the works, Scrooge: A Christmas Carol. There isn’t a confirmed date for the film’s release yet, but viewers are anticipating it being available to stream in the winter during the holiday season. It is a classic Christmas story beloved by many, and there are already over a hundred adaptations of Charles Dickens’ tale out there for people to enjoy. Even still, that doesn’t stop people from getting excited about new styles and productions of the strangely supernatural story.
But this new Netflix production promises something a little different. It’s already announced an incredibly talented cast and shared that this film will be a musical with a little extra lean on the supernatural elements. While we don’t expect it to be as haunting as the adaptations from the ’80s or even as haunting as the Jim Carrey version, we are excited to see how the film plays around with the ghostly elements in a new way.
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Scrooge: A Christmas Carol is expected to remain true to the plot of the source material, save for the musical aspects that will be within it. There’s a lot of possibility with this new adaptation, and here’s how it can show off its uniqueness.
A Beautifully Spooky Scrooge Story
Netflix
This Dickens tale is a charming one that reflects on connections of love and how to do good in the world, as so many holiday movies often do – even those that lean a little more on the weird and spooky side, such as A Nightmare Before Christmas. This story centered around Ebenezer Scrooge has always been one that mixes reality with elements of the creepy and strange. It tells a story through ghosts who can be seen as benevolent or fearsome, depending on the adaptation.
Based on the first-look images Netflix shared, it seems as if they plan to play with the hauntingness of the ghosts through the use of their beautiful animation style. One of the images appears to be Jacob Marley (based on his chains), appearing as a phantom glowing with gentle blue flames. The only thing that makes him off-putting is his glowing yellow eyes. Marley appears both human and yet distinctly not so, making him both familiar and friendly while simultaneously haunting and otherworldly. This new adaptation has the potential to make something beautifully spooky, and it looks like they intend to fulfill that potential.
Musical Performances by a Talented Cast
Hodder and Stoughton
With the idea and possibility of a more ethereal and haunting experience happening during this film comes the possibility of equally chilling and mystifying music. There are plenty of movies that have effectively told stories through the use of song, and hopefully, this movie will be added to the list. Some musical adaptations are hit or miss, but Scrooge has hope. The cast features noted singers Luke Evans and Olivia Colman, along with Jessie Buckley, who recently starred in the unsettling film Men.
The cast members we know that are involved are incredibly talented in a variety of ways and definitely have the skills to pull off a musical about love and hope and ghosts – as long as they have the right material. It all comes down to the writing, but this production has the opportunity and potential to change the game when it comes to musical adaptations of timeless stories by creating songs and music throughout the film that both enchants and haunts audiences.
This Charles Dickens story is beloved by generations, so there is a lot of pressure to get it right. It’s a tricky business to try new styles and new twists on something so classic. And even though this story has been adapted so many times before, the teases we have seen from Netflix show there are still more unique ways to tell the story. There’s a lot that can happen with a story full of ghosts and flashes to the past, and no telling how spooky it might get (we were all afraid of Ghost of Christmas Future at one point, right?).
While it is a strange old tale, it is still ultimately a story about and for families – blood families, found families, all families, really– and should stay accessible to all ages. Netflix is fully capable of making scary, gritty stuff, but that’s not the kind of twist they seem to be going for here. The uniqueness lies in the ethereal animation style and the incorporation of musical numbers, not in turning it into something it’s not.
As time ticks down towards the colder seasons, fans of the classic eagerly await more glimpses and more information to be revealed about this production and all it has to offer, hoping that it all comes together in the way we want it to.
