Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure

Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure
DVD cover
Directed byKari Juusonen
Jorgen Lerdam
Written byMarteinn Thorisson
Hannu Tuomainen
Produced byHannu Tuomainen
Petteri Pasanen
Antti Haikala
Emely Christians
Moe Honan
Ralph Christians
Bernhard zu Castell
StarringErik Carlson
Juhana Vaittinen
Mikko Kivinen
Vuokko Hovatta
Aarre Karen
Edited byAntti Haikala
Music byStephen McKeon
Production
companies
Anima Vitae
Cinemaker
A. Film A/S
Ulysses
Magma Films
Distributed byNordisk Film (Finland)
Universum Film/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Germany (Germany)[1]
Release dates
  • 12 October 2012 (2012-10-12)
(Finland)
9 August 2013 (Japan)
Running time
79 minutes
CountriesFinland
Denmark
Germany
Ireland
Estonia
LanguagesEnglish
Finnish
Budget7,316,273 €[2]
Box office1,384,148 €[3]

Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure (also known as Niko 2: Little Brother, Big Trouble, or simply Niko 2) is a 2012 animated comedy/adventure film, produced by Finnish studios Anima Vitae[4] and Cinemaker OY,[5] with co-producers Ulysses (Germany), A. Film (Denmark), and Tidal Films (Ireland). The animation was produced in Finland, Germany and Denmark, with post-production carried out in Ireland. It is the sequel to The Flight Before Christmas[6] and was written by Hannu Tuomainen[7] and Marteinn Thorisson, and directed by Kari Juusonen and Jørgen Lerdam. It was released in Finland on October 12, 2012.[8] Anima Vitae and Cinemaker OY were nominated for Cartoon Movie Tributes 2013[9] in the category "European Producer of the Year". Like its predecessor, it is among the most expensive Finnish films ever produced.

The film was followed by a sequel, Niko: Beyond the Northern Lights, which was released in October 2024.

Plot

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The sequel takes places a couple of months after the events of the first film, and follows the story of Niko the reindeer. He must deal with his mother Oona getting remarried. He gains a stepbrother named Jonni, whom Niko hates at first, but when Jonni gets kidnapped by eagles, Niko flies off to rescue him.

During his journey, Niko is joined by an old, near-blind reindeer named Tobias, who is revealed to be the former leader of Santa Claus's reindeer, Santa's Flying Forces. Standing in Niko's way is White Wolf, Black Wolf's younger sister, who leads the eagles and wants revenge on Niko for her brother's defeat.

Niko and the rest of the team must come up with a plan to save Jonni, defeat White Wolf and return home. At the end of the film, Oona is revealed to have given birth to an unnamed fawn and introduces Niko and Jonni to their new half-sister.

Cast

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English version

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Finnish version

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Release

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Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure was shown at the Hamburg Film Festival[10] on 29 September 2012.[citation needed]

It was released in Finland on October 12, 2012. The film opened in 115 theatres and was seen by 150,889 viewers, grossing €1,384,148.[11]

It was released in Japan on August 9, 2013, after being shown at the Kinder Film Festival.

It entered into limited European distribution in November and December 2013 in Germany, Denmark, Poland, France, Iceland, Netherlands, Russia, Belgium, Estonia, and in Asia in Korea, Israel in March of the same year.[citation needed]

The film was released in the fall of 2013 in Croatia, Serbia, Turkey, Portugal, Hungary, and Sweden.[citation needed]

In 2014, the film was released in Kuwait, China, Spain (limited), and Peru.[citation needed]

The film was released in the U.S. via Grindstone and Netflix in October 2013.[citation needed]

It moved to new territories in late October 2013.[12][13]

Home media

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Little Brother, Big Trouble was released in Finland on DVD and Blu-ray on November 13, 2013.[14] It was released in the U.S. on October 29 the same year.[15]

Reception

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Despite not having a rating as of yet in Rotten Tomatoes,[16] Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure has received generally mixed to positive reviews. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) gave Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure[17] a 5.9 rating out of 10. Collectively, reviewers on Amazon.com have given the film a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.[18] Reception for Niko 2 in Japan was quite strong and as a result it was awarded the Grand Prix of the best film in feature section in Tokyo Kinder Film Festival.[19]

Soundtrack

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The film's original score was again composed by Stephen McKeon. The original score can be found for example in Spotify "Niko 2 – Little Brother, Big Trouble (Original Score)".[20]

Sequel

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A sequel, Niko: Beyond the Northern Lights, was released on 11 October 2024 in Finland. In the film, Niko's biggest dream is to become a member of Santa's Flying Forces, but he gets challenged by the super talented reindeer girl Stella who shatters that dream, and Niko has to decide between trust and loyalty.[21][22]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Blickpunkt:Film | Film | Niko 2 - Kleines Rentier, großer Held".
  2. ^ "Elokuvavuosi 2011 Facts & Figures" (PDF). Suomen elokuvasäätiö / The Finnish Film Foundation. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 18, 2016. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  3. ^ "Elokuvavuosi 2012 Facts & Figures" (PDF). Suomen elokuvasäätiö / The Finnish Film Foundation. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 1, 2019. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  4. ^ "Anima". Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  5. ^ "Cinemaker OY". Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  6. ^ "The Flight Before Christmas (2008) "Niko - Lentäjän poika" (original title)". IMDb. 10 October 2008. Retrieved March 8, 2015."The Flight Before Christmas (2008)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  7. ^ "Hannu Tuomainen". Cinemaker. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  8. ^ "Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure (2012) Release Info". IMDb. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  9. ^ "Animation Feature Niko 2 – Little Brother, Big Trouble to the victory in Tokyo Kinder Film Festival". Anima. Archived from the original on December 6, 2014. Retrieved March 8, 2015."Cartoon Movie Tributes: Winners 2015". Cartoon Media. Archived from the original on February 6, 2015. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  10. ^ "Filmfest Hamburg 2012 | Niko 2 - Kleines Rentier, großer Held". Hamburg Film Festival (in German). Archived from the original on 31 December 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  11. ^ Hautamäki, Reetta; Kemppinen, Petri, eds. (2013). "2012 Facts & Figures" (PDF). Finnish Film Foundation (in English and Finnish). Helsinki. p. 15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  12. ^ Barraclough, Leo (30 October 2013). "AFM: 'Richard the Stork', 'Niko 2' Migrate to New Territories". Variety.com. Retrieved March 8, 2015. It has already been released in France (Millimages), the U.S. (Grindstone/Netflix), CIS (MGN Films), Benelux (Bridge Rights), Poland (Kino Swiat), Germany (Universum Film) and other territories.
  13. ^ Roxborough, Scott (29 October 2013). "'Niko 2', 'Richard The Stork' Sold to Multiple Territories". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 8, 2015. Niko 2 sold to Metrodome in the U.K.; Chinese distributor Flame; Intersonic/Abbey Road for the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Hungary; and Babilla Cine for Colombia. The film has already been released in the U.S. via Grindstone and Netflix, in France (Millimages), CIS (MGN Films), Benelux (Bridge Rights), Poland (Kino Swiat) and Germany (Universum Film), among other territories.
  14. ^ "Niko 2's DVD and Blu-ray release in Finland". Anima. Archived from the original on June 30, 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
  15. ^ "Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure 2012". Amazon.com. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
  16. ^ "Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure (2012)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  17. ^ "Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure". IMDb. 12 October 2012. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  18. ^ "Little Brother Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure". Amazon.com. 29 October 2013. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
  19. ^ "Animation Feature Niko 2 – Little Brother, Big Trouble to the victory in Tokyo Kinder Film Festival". Anima. Archived from the original on December 6, 2014. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
  20. ^ "Niko 2 - Little Brother, Big Trouble (Original Score) Stephen McKeon". Spotify. 12 June 2013. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
  21. ^ Balaga, Marta (20 Sep 2024). "'Niko – Beyond the Northern Lights' Debuts Clip as Beloved Reindeer Returns for Third Time: 'In This Film We See the Biggest Change in Niko' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 8 Dec 2024.
  22. ^ Villon, Rebekah (26 Feb 2024). "Global Sensation Goes Beyond the Northern Lights in His Third Film". weanimate. Retrieved 8 Dec 2024.
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