Raja Gosnell (The Smurfs franchise, Scooby Doo, Never Been Kissed) has signed on to direct the live-action family film Santa: The Adventure Begins from a script penned by Tamara Taillie in her feature film debut.  Armory Films’ Christopher Lemole and Tim Zajaros (The Peanut Butter Falcon, Arctic, Mudbound) have come on board to produce alongside DNF Pictures’ Dean Altit (Realms, The Misfits) and K. JAM Media’s Kia Jam. (Lucky Number Slevin, The Misfits) Academy Award winner Barrie Osborne(Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Mulan) is executive producing and K. JAM Media’s Carolina Vianna Leite will serve as co-producer.

Santa: The Adventure Begins will bring the world’s most beloved and recognizable mythical persona to life in an exciting holiday epic. This legendary story of Santa Claus reveals his humble origins as an orphan and young would-be toymaker. In a quest to know his true identity, Santa embarks upon a journey to the forbidden North.  With a little help from his friends, Santa discovers the source of his extraordinary magic, and we learn how Santa finds his true love, his forever home and his destiny. Marisol Roncali and Chelsea Bloch (Deadpool 2, Fast &Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Jungle Cruise) are currently casting withprincipal photography set to begin late this year in Cologne, Germany, in cooperation with MMC Studios.

Producer Kia Jam commented: “My producing partners and I are thrilled to have Raja on board as our director for this film.  He has proven time and time again that he is the master of family films and is the perfect film maker for us and our origin story of Santa Claus.”

Armory Films’ Christopher Lemole added: “This is a fantastic Santa origin story and we can’t think of anyone better than Raja to direct. We are very much looking forward to the world he is about to create.”