LONDON - Two decades after scoring a surprise holiday season global hit with Love Actually (2003), British filmmaker Richard Curtis is bidding to repeat the trick with his first foray into animation.

The 68-year-old writer and director has co-adapted his own trilogy of children’s books, and commandeered longtime friend, English singer Ed Sheeran, into contributing an original song, to bring That Christmas to the big and small screens.

Featuring the voices of Scottish actor Brian Cox, British actor Bill Nighy and a host of other acting talent, it hits select British cinemas this week before its worldwide release on Netflix from Dec 4.

Curtis, behind box office successes like Four Weddings And A Funeral (1994) and Notting Hill (1999), before Love Actually, said his first venture into animated movies was full of surprises, particularly the time-consuming nature of the genre.

“I’ve been shocked by the amount of time (it takes),” he told AFP as the film premiered at the London Film Festival in October. There were some silver linings, however.

“My theory is that it means that people working in animation are nicer than people working in normal movies, because they know they’ve got to get on for five years.

“You really do get married. It’s not a one night stand – it’s not a sexy holiday in Ibiza. It’s a long journey together. So I really enjoy it.”

‘Edgy’

That Christmas – a series of entwined tales about a town of friends and relatives during a troubled festive period – is a family-friendly offering which still has a grown-up contemporary edge to it.

“If love were easy, your father wouldn’t have run off with his 25-year-old dental nurse,” one of the main animated chara...