The Absolutely Stunning Reason Why Rudolph Isn't in More Christmas Movies
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This year, if you're in the mood for some new Christmas entertainment, you can watch the third season of The Santa Clauses on Disney+, about Santa's relationship with his family and his search for his own replacement. Or you could watch the third installment of The Claus Family on Netflix, about a kid who realizes he's related to Santa Claus and how he has to help save Christmas. Or you could watch Disney's Dashing Through the Snow, where Lil Rel Howery is a Santa who helps a social worker believe in Christmas magic once again, or The Naughty Nine, where kids plan to pull a heist on a Santa played by Danny Glover.
It's obvious that, when it comes to Christmas stories, Santa is the star of the show. That's really only natural. But how many new Christmas movies and TV shows focus on his red-nosed sleigh leader — supposedly the most famous reindeer of all? This year, the answer is zero. (And that's zero the number, not the red-nosed ghost dog from The Nightmare Before Christmas, which also features a Santa but not a Rudolph.) It's enough to make any Christmas-loving movie fan ask: Why isn't Rudolph in more Christmas movies?
The answer is because not just anyone can stick Rudolph in a story wherever they see fit. Unlike Santa, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is copyrighted, with the copyright being managed by a company out of a Connecticut called Character Arts, LLC.
Why is just one reindeer out of nine under copyright? Unlike Dasher, Dancer and the rest, who appeared in Clement Clarke Moore's poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas"in 1823, Rudolph was the creation of an advertising copywriter. In 1939, Montgomery Ward asked writer Robert L. May to come up with an idea for a story for a Christmas-themed giveaway coloring book. Inspired by his daughter and her love for a deer in Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo, he created Rudolph. According to The Week, it was billed as "the rollinckingest, rip-roaringest, riot-provokingest, Christmas give-away your town has ever seen!" It was a success, and more than 2 and a half million coloring books were given away that first year.
Surprisingly, Montgomery Ward turned over the copyright to May in 1947, so that he could publish it as a children's book. May's brother-in-law happened to be songwriter Johnny Marks, who turned the story into a song that was recorded by Gene Autry — and hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts. And the rest, as they say, went down in history.
May managed the copyright through The Rudolph Company, LP, until his death in 1976. It was only licensed for a handful of movies, including the famous Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Rankin and Bass stop-motion special from 1964 — the one with Hermey the elf and the Island of the Misfit Toys. That spawned two sequels: Rudolph's Shiny New Year and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July. (Rudolph also cameos in a couple of the other Rankin/Bass specials, but they're not about him.)
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
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NBCOther than that, there was a cartoon short in 1948 (which is available to stream), a 2D animated Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie from 1998 with the voices of John Goodman and Whoopi Goldberg (which is not available to stream) and a 2001 direct-to-video movie called Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys with the voices of Jamie Lee Curtis and Rick Moranis (also not streaming). And... that's basically it for Rudolph-centric movies.
Character Arts has acquired the rights to Rudolph and became the licensor of record in 2005. "Our family lives, eats and breathes Rudolph, so we all know what's going on with most everything at all times," Character Arts president Jonathon Flom told License Global. But while he mentions expanding the brand into products, theme parks and stage shows, he hasn't mentioned any new Rudolph movies on the horizon. So cue up the Rankin/Bass version again — it's the only great one we'll have for a while!
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