Klaus (film)

Klaus
Release poster
Directed bySergio Pablos
Screenplay by
  • Sergio Pablos
  • Jim Mahoney
  • Zach Lewis
Story bySergio Pablos
Produced by
Starring
Edited byPablo Garcia Revert
Music byAlfonso G. Aguilar
Production
companies
Distributed byNetflix
Release date
  • 8 November 2019 (2019-11-08)
Running time
97 minutes
Countries
  • Spain
  • United States
Languages
  • English
  • Northern Sami
Budget$40 million

Klaus is a 2019 animated Christmas adventure comedy film co-written, co-produced, and directed by Sergio Pablos in his directorial debut, produced by his company the SPA Studios and distributed by Netflix. A traditionally animated film, it stars the voices of Jason Schwartzman, J. K. Simmons, Rashida Jones, Will Sasso, Neda Margrethe Labba, Pablos (in a dual role), Norm Macdonald (in his final film role released in his lifetime), and Joan Cusack. Serving as an origin story of Santa Claus and using a fictionalized 19th-century setting, the plot revolves around a postman stationed in an island town to the Far North who befriends a reclusive toymaker (Klaus).

Klaus was released on 8 November 2019 and received critical acclaim for its animation, story, emotional depth, humor, narrative, and vocal performances. It won seven awards at the 47th Annie Awards, including Best Animated Feature, and also won Best Animated Film at the 73rd British Academy Film Awards. The film was also nominated at the 92nd Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature, making it the first animated film from Netflix to be nominated for an Academy Award, as well as the first animated film released by a streaming service to be nominated, alongside I Lost My Body (also Netflix), but lost to Toy Story 4, which also starred Cusack.