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Fred Claus
Fred Claus and Santa Claus have been estranged brothers for many years. Now Fred must reconcile his differences with his brother whom he believes overshadows him. When an efficiency expert assesses the workings at the North Pole and threatens to shut Santa down, Fred must help his brother to save Christmas.
2007 · Directed by David Dobkin · 115 min · Action · Comedy · Drama · Screenplay in the scene database · 4 frames
Tagline
Everybody has that one relative who can't help but cause problems over the holidays. Even Santa.
Plot
In the Middle Ages, the young boy Fred Claus eventually gets a younger brother named Nick. He grows up in the shadow of the younger, due to Nick's selfless and kind attitude which constantly wins the approval of their family over Fred. Their strained relationship is permanently damaged when Nick cuts down a tree, inadvertently destroying the bird house in which Fred's bird Chirp Chirp lived. Due to Nick's generous and helpful personality, he is deemed a Saint, and the family is gifted with immortality.
In the present, Saint Nick has become the modern-day Santa Claus, delivering gifts to the children of the world, while Fred has become a Chicago repossession agent. He lives alone and is friends with orphan Samuel "Slam" Gibbons. In an attempt to raise seed money to open an illegal casino plan, Fred is arrested for collecting donations, similar to a Salvation Army employee, but has no permit. His girlfriend Wanda then breaks up with him, as he unintentionally stood her up for her birthday dinner, and he is fired from his job.
Fred asks Nick for bail and the seed money. He only agrees on the condition that he comes to the North Pole to work for the money. Just before leaving, Slam asks Fred to pretend to be his father but ends up being taken away and sent to an orphanage.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Dan Fogelman
- Cinematography: Remi Adefarasin
- Edited by: Mark Livolsi
- Music: Christophe Beck
- Production design: Allan Cameron
- Produced by: Joel Silver, Jessie Nelson, David Dobkin
Cast
- Vince Vaughn as Fred Claus
- Paul Giamatti as Nick (Santa) Claus
- John Michael Higgins as Willie
- Miranda Richardson as Annette Claus
- Rachel Weisz as Wanda Blinkowski
- Kathy Bates as Mother Claus
- Trevor Peacock as Papa Claus
- Ludacris as DJ Donnie
- Elizabeth Banks as Charlene
- Jeremy Swift as Bob Elf
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: Jessie Nelson Productions, Silver Pictures, David Dobkin Productions, Warner Bros. Pictures
- Budget: $100,000,000
- Box office: $97,800,000
- Themes: sleigh, sibling relationship, elves, holiday, brother, santa claus, earth, reindeer, snow, north pole
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