The premise for John Pasquin’s 1994 hit Christmas movie “The Santa Clause” is amusingly morbid at its coronary heart. On Christmas Eve, divorced schlub Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) hears a clatter on his rooftop. When he goes to research, he finds that it is Santa Claus himself, scuttling down his chimney. Scott startles Santa, inflicting the jolly outdated fellow to slide off the roof and fall to his dying. Sure, a pleasant household comedy begins with the dying of Santa.
Following some written directions hidden on a enterprise card in Santa’s sleigh, Scott places on the massive man’s crimson coat and, lo finds he has to take Santa’s place for the evening. As soon as all of the presents are delivered, Calvin is taken to the North Pole, the place he learns there was some wonderful print on the enterprise card. In placing on the coat, Scott agreed to change into Santa Claus in perpetuity, and can now need to serve the identical position yearly. All through the next 12 months, Scott begins to resemble Santa increasingly, rising a protracted white beard, gaining weight, and, most disconcertingly, changing into extra jolly.
The central conceit of the “Santa Clause” motion pictures is that there’s some huge, unseen, godlike forms at work, demanding that the individuals within the titular clause perpetuate the Santa delusion in a really exact vogue. Not solely does the universe require a Santa Clause, but it surely additionally calls for that he put on crimson, have a protracted grey beard, and stay on the North Pole. One can virtually image a cadre of males in white shirts, pulling levers behind the scenes like in “The Cabin within the Woods.”
“The Santa Clause” was an enormous success (incomes over $190 million on a mere $22 million price range), and like so many Christmas motion pictures, it has since change into a yearly staple in lots of people’s properties, trotted out each December. Regardless of the initially grim premise, many audiences like the sunshine heat and inoffensive humor of “The Santa Clause.”
The movie in the end spawned two movie sequels and a TV sequence continuation. Let’s break them down.
Persist with the discharge order for the Santa Clause franchise
It took a number of years, however sequels ultimately got here forth. The “Santa Clause” motion pictures and TV sequence are straightforward to maintain monitor of, seeing as they’re numbered and can solely make sense when you watch them of their launch order. This contains:
- “The Santa Clause” (1994)
- “The Santa Clause 2” (2002)
- “The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” (2006)
- “The Santa Clauses” (2022) (TV Collection)
“The Santa Clause 2” reveals that Santa needs to be married, fulfilling … ahem … the Mrs. Clause. “The Santa Clause 3” includes a magical snow globe that permits Scott Calvin to surrender his title as Santa and return to humanity. (Because the title says, it is an escape clause.) That movie additionally options the machinations of the magical being Jack Frost (Martin Brief), who goals to take over Christmas on his personal, together with cameos from different minor deities just like the Sandman (Michael Dorn), the Tooth Fairy (Artwork LaFleur), the Easter Bunny (Jay Thomas), and Mom Nature (Aisha Tyler). This was six years earlier than the discharge of “Rise of the Guardians,” an animated movie that assembled the identical deities.
After all, treating Santa’s Workshop as a forms is nothing new. Two years after “The Santa Clause” got here out, creator Terry Pratchett revealed “Hogfather,” a fantasy novel whereby Dying has to face in for Santa Claus for an evening. The Tooth Fairy additionally performs a serious position in that story. Santa, it appears, is simply as beholden to crimson tape as the remainder of us.
Lastly, “The Santa Clauses” debuted on Disney+ in 2022 and contains a six-episode reunion of many of the authentic movie’s forged. The brand new sequence sees Calvin looking for a successor as a consequence of his advancing age, and returned for an additional six-episode season in 2023. It’s not but slated to come back again for a 3rd season on the time of writing, though it hasn’t been formally canceled both.