Cineverse Boards Genre-Bending Holiday Film ‘Ralph’s Perfekt Christmas’

EXCLUSIVE: Cineverse has snagged VOD and streaming rights to Ralph’s Perfekt Christmas. The genre-bending feature stars Tom McLaren and counts former Twentieth Century Fox exec Mary McLaren among its producers.

It is the debut feature from Mary McLaren and Tom McLaren’s Next Chapter Entertainment banner. Cineverse has rights for North America and will release the film on-demand and on its Screambox streamer in Nov.

Per the synopsis, Tom McLaren (Expelled) stars as Ralph, a likable family man whose fanatical obsession with Christmas pushes his wife away. Determined to win her back, Ralph devises a crazy plan involving kidnapping the former child star of his favorite Christmas movie. Ralph’s pursuit of his perfect Christmas, however, takes dark and unexpected turns.

The film also stars Charlie Schlatter (Diagnosis: Murder), Jill Schoelen (The Stepfather), Casey Burke (The Middle), Landon Gimenez (Resurrection) and Lynda Day George (Roots).

Mary McLaren and Tom McLaren produced the film through their Next Chapter Entertainment banner. They served as supervising directors, with Matthew Bellamy as director of physical production. The screenplay was written by Jeremy Padow and Tom McLaren.

“Ralph’s Perfekt Christmas is exactly the kind of smart, distinctive, genre-bending film that resonates with Cineverse and Screambox audiences,” said Dan Fisher, vice president of acquisitions at Cineverse. “The film combines an original story with unexpected twists, turns, and a surprise ending coupled with a standout performance by Tom McLaren as Ralph.”

“We set out to target everyone who considers Die Hard a ‘Christmas Movie’ and Cineverse is an ideal distribution partner for reaching that audience seeking alternate holiday content,” said Mary McLaren, who previously served as Chief Operating Officer, International Theatrical and Worldwide Home Entertainment, at Twentieth Century Fox.