A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol (known as Disney's A Christmas Carol on-screen and in promotional materials) is a 2009 American computer-animated Christmas comedy-drama fantasy film written for the screen and directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by ImageMovers Digital and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Based on Charles Dickens's 1843 novel of the same name, the film was animated through the process of motion capture, a technique used in Zemeckis's previous films The Polar Express (2004) and Beowulf (2007), and stars the voices of Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Robin Wright Penn and Cary Elwes. It is Disney's third adaptation of the novel, following Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) and The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), and the first of two films produced by ImageMovers Digital. A Christmas Carol was officially released in Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D on November 6, 2009. Its world premiere in London coincided with the switching-on of the annual Oxford Street and Regent Street Christmas lights. The film grossed $325 million on a $175–200 million budget and received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its visuals, Alan Silvestri's musical score and the performances of Carrey and Oldman, but criticized its dark tone. Due to the film's unsatisfactory box office performance, ImageMovers Digital was shut down by Disney after the release of its next film, Mars Needs Moms (2011), and re-absorbed into ImageMovers. Plot On Christmas Eve 1843, in London, miserly businessman Ebenezer Scrooge refuses to partake in the merriment of Christmas, declining his nephew Fred's invitation to an annual Christmas dinner party and refusing to make a donation to the poor. His employee, Bob Cratchit, asks Scrooge to give him a day off on Christmas Day to spend time with his family, to which Scrooge reluctantly agrees. Returning home that night, Scrooge encounters the ghost of Jacob Marley, his business partner who died seven years earlier, bound in heavy chains. Marley warns Scrooge to change his wicked ways or be condemned to a worse fate. Before leaving, Marley informs Scrooge that he will be haunted by three spirits over three nights.