Martin Freeman joins 'Santa'

FreemanLONDON -- Brit thesps Martin Freeman, Noel Clarke and Tim Curry will all lend their voices to U.K. toonpic "Saving Santa," that's set to begin production on Friday. Pic marks the initial toon to depart Gateway Films, the shingle behind local photos "Anuvahood," "Shank" and "Sket." Joan Collins, Pam Ferris ("Harry Potter as well as the Prisoner of Azkaban"), Craig Fairbass ("CodInch) and Chris Barrie ("Tomb Raider") may even voice figures inside the 5 million ($7.8 million) pic. Story sees a clumsy elf who skip another elves, but after locating the key of Santa's time device, he sets on trips to be able to save Santa's Kingdom after its location is discovered by an evil character. Leon Joosen, whose animation credits include "The Little Mermaid" and "Aliens inside the Attic," is positioned to helm the pic, while Ough Roxburgh ("The Wild Bunch") composed the script. Gateway's Terry Stone and Nick Simunek will produce alongside Tony Nottage, while Max Howard is professional producer. "We've always aspired to include an animation studio under Gateway," Stone told Daily Variety. "And will also be our starting point to the animation world. We will not stop making movies, but continuing to move forward an animation studio will most likely be considered a leg within our company which we anticipate doing a couple of animations every year.In . Gateway is at discussions getting a studio for U.K. rights. Gateway may also be being created on $3.millions of "Get Lucky," toplining Luke Treadaway, T.J. Ramini, Emily Atack and James Cosmo, which Universal is disseminating in Blighty and Oz. Contact Diana Lodderhose at diana.lodderhose@variety.com