Page "Santa Claus: The Movie" Paragraph 29

Conceived by Ilya Salkind in the wake of the apparently waning critical and U. S. box office success of 1983's Superman III and its immediate follow-up, 1984's Supergirl, Santa Claus: The Movie was directed by Jeannot Szwarc, who had directed Supergirl, from a story by David and Leslie Newman.

David Newman, however, took sole screenplay credit.

Pierre Spengler, Ilya's longtime partner, and the third key element of Team Salkind, joined Alexander's son as the project's producer.

John Carpenter was originally offered the chance to direct, but also wanted a say in the writing, musical score and final cut of the movie.

Carpenter's original choice for the role of Santa was Brian Dennehy.