A Christmas Carol is a 2009 American 3D computer-animated dark fantasy film written, co-produced and directed by Robert Zemeckis. It is a film adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1843 story of the same name and stars Jim Carrey in a multitude of roles, including Ebenezer Scrooge as a young, middle-aged and old man and the three ghosts who haunt Scrooge.[4] The film also features supporting roles voiced by Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Robin Wright and Cary Elwes. Produced through the process of motion capture, a technique Zemeckis used in his previous films The Polar Express (2004) and Beowulf (2007),[4] it is Disney’s third film retelling of A Christmas Carol, following 1983’s Mickey’s Christmas Carol and 1992’s The Muppet Christmas Carol.
The film was released in Disney Digital 3D and IMAX 3D on November 3, 2009 by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.[5] It received its world premiere in London, coinciding with the switching-on of the annual Oxford Street and Regent Street Christmas lights, which in 2009 had a Dickens theme.[6][7] The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its visuals and the performances of Carrey and Oldman, but criticized its dark tone. It earned $325.3 million on a $175–200 million budget.