Paramount has released the first trailer and poster for Dear Santa, which is a live-action adaptation of popular 2017 animated short Dear Satan. The movie marks the return of the directing/producing team of Bobby and Peter Farrelly (Dumb and Dumber, There's Something About Mary), and stars Jack Black in the lead role.
Black, who worked with the brothers on Shallow Hal, plays the Devil, alongside a supporting cast consisting of Robert Timothy Smith, Keegan-Michael Key, Brianne Howey, Hayes MacArthur, PJ Byrne, Jaden Carson Baker, Kai Cech and Austin Post, aka Post Malone.
The story focuses on a young boy who writes his yearly note to Santa, but the "crappy speller" sends it to the man downstairs instead. Delighted to have a fan, a merry Mephistopheles pays the kid a visit and offers him three wishes... on the condition that he can collect his soul once he's used them up.
Though the project is based on Dear Satan, the studio decided to go with the more marketable and family-friendly title Dear Santa, which was probably a good call!
"It is a family story because it is Christmas. But you know what? Pete and I, we're the Farrelly brothers, so we wanted to put our skewed version on a Christmas story like this, but at the same time, we don't want to just blow it up. We wanted it to have a sweetness to it underneath all the edge and all that," Bobby told EW in a recent interview. "So that's the Farrelly Brothers Christmas movie."
"Yeah, we need to laugh," he added. "And comedy, in general, has sort of been on a hiatus, so I think it's going to be a good time to bring back just something to get people laughing and thinking about other things."
Check out the trailer and poster at the links below.
“Young Liam Turner (Robert Timothy Smith) still believes in Santa. To prove to all of his disbelieving friends that Santa is real, he writes a letter to the big guy inviting him to show himself. The only problem? Liam isn’t a very strong speller and addresses the letter to Satan (Jack Black) instead. “Satan, who never gets letters from kids, is flattered and goes to meet Liam. Hijinks, chaos, and hilarity ensue.”
Kevin Barnett, Pete Jones, Gretel Twombly served as executive producers, with the Farrellys and Jeremy Kramer on board as producers. Featuring a screenplay by Blitt and Peter, with a story by Blitt, Peter, and Dan Ewen, Dear Santa hits Paramount+ and digital just in time for the holidays, on Nov. 25.