Niko & the Way to the Stars (also known as The Flight Before Christmas in the Americas and Australia) is a 2008 English-language Finnish-Danish-German-Irish computer-animated Christmas film directed by Michael Hegner & Kari Juusonen, Produced by Anima Vitae and Cinemaker, Co-produced by Ulysses Filmproducktion, A-Film, and Magma Films. It is distributed by Nordisk Film in Nordic territories, and Telepool worldwide. It is written by Mark Hodkinson, Marteinn Thorisson, and Hannu Tuomainen and produced by Marteinn Thorisson, and Hannu Tuomainen.
Niko & the Way to the Stars is an adventure tale about a young reindeer boy Niko´s quest to find his absent father, whom he believes to be a member of the world famous Santa´s Flying Forces. Niko sets out to Lappish winter wilderness to find his dad, whom he actually has never met. His best friend and mentor, an old flying squirrel Julius decides to help his friend, even though nobody knows where Santa lives.
It was originally produced in English, since it used tracks recorded by actors from Ireland. It became the first Finnish animated feature to be distributed in 100 countries and is one of the most expensive films from Finland.
It later received a sequel titled Niko 2: Little Brother, Big Trouble, released in 2012, followed by Niko: Beyond the Northern Lights which was released on October 11, 2024 in Finland.
Cast[]
The original English version was recorded in Ireland.
| Character | Actor | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Niko
|
Andrew Mc Mahon | |
|
Julius
|
Morgan Jones | |
| Norm Macdonald (US release) | |||
|
Wilma
|
Aileen Mythen | |
| Emma Roberts (US release) | |||
|
Black Wolf
|
Alan Stanford | |
|
Smiley
|
Gavin Morgan | |
|
Specs
|
Paul Tylak | |
|
Prancer
| ||
|
Essie
|
Susan Zelouf | |
|
Dasher
|
Morgan Jones | |
     
|
Flying Forces
|
Morgan Jones | |
| Paul Tylak | |||
| Patrick Fitzsymons | |||
|
Oona
|
Susan Slott | |
|
Leader
|
Patrick Fitzsymons | |
|
Grandpa
| ||
|
Saga
|
Carly Baker | |
|
Reindeer Boy
|
Tiernan Surlis | |
|
Reindeer Girl
|
Heather Keegan | |
Intercom Lady
|
Danna Davis | ||
Elf Operator
|
Gary Hetzler | ||
| Technical staff | |||
Casting and Voice Director
|
Moe Honan | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Dialogue Recorder / Editor
|
Rocci Barrett | ||
Dialogue Editor
|
Sarah Gaines | ||
Music[]
| Song | Singer(s) | ||
The Way to the Stars
|
Sean Dexter | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Aileen Mythen | |||
| Emma Roberts (US release) | |||
Happy Christmas!
|
Aileen Mythen |
Release[]
Although the original language for this film is English, which is produced in Ireland, this film premiered first in Finland with an Finnish dub, marking it as the world premiere for the film.
It was released in 2008 in European theaters and was later released as a Direct-to-Video film in North America, titled The Flight Before Christmas, released by TWC, and later Lionsgate, which currently holds North America rights to the film, where Emma Roberts and Norm MacDonald voices Wilma and Julius respectively. Most streaming services in the United States streamed the American version in this case.
An 45-minute version of the American version of the film aired on CBS on December 2008.
International Versions[]
See also[]
References[]
|
|
