Horror fans got an early Christmas present, with a sneak peek of scenes from Arthur G. Night’s incredible Christmas-thriller, JOLLY. The CGI-and-AI animated feature utilizes a full cast of actors for each role, with facial and motion capture performances driving the visuals to unprecedented, photo-realistic heights. The film will be released to theatres on December 11, 2026 from Scorpion House Productions, Hemdale Films and Hannover House.

“This is a breakthrough film,” Eric Parkinson, CEO of Hannover House commented “Arthur has started with an impressive and original story, and added the newest generation of visual technology and CGI-AI software. The result is a film that is true to the actor performances, yet visually at a $100-million dollar appearance. We think audiences are going to love this ‘JOLLY’ feature, and that it will become the next big horror hit,”

Horror films from independent producers have emerged as the fastest growing revenue category in the USA film marketplace. Hit indie releases earlier this year include Obsession ($263-Million at the USA box office), Backrooms ($197-million at the USA box office) and last weekend’s launch of Buddy which has already topped over $8-million in the USA in its first week of release.

“Every industry professional that has seen this teaser from ‘Jolly’ has predicted that the film is likely to be the first major hit ever for Hannover House. We concur and hope they’re right,” Parkinson commented.

JOLLY cast includes Eric Parkinson as Santa, Anna Stadler as Lucy, Chris Orozco as Sheriff Roscoe, Clayton Z. Taylor as the Gingerbread Monster, Amber Gene as Miss Black and features director Arthur G. Night in the role of “Jolly.” The film is 81-minutes in length, and is expected to get an MPA rating of “R.” Producers are Eric Parkinson, Chris Large and Alessandra Di Caterino. Editor is Jon McCallum, and writer-director is Arthur G. Night.