Jack Black’s New Comedy Film Takes Him Back to an Unexpected Genre, 18 Years After His $206 Million Kate Winslet Rom-Com

The youngest Black Jack the film sees the actor returning to an unexpected genre after nearly two full decades. Black, who had his breakout role in John Cusack’s 2000 film High fidelityis best known as an actor in a wide variety of comedy films, including Shallow Hal, School of Rock, Tropical Thunderand Kung Fu Panda. Although he has appeared in films consistently throughout his career, he experienced a major resurgence when he starred in the two most recent films. Jumanji films alongside Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan and Kevin Hart.

In the last five years since its appearance in Jumanji: The Next Level, Black’s output included a variety of well-known titles. This includes the animated feature The Super Mario Bros. moviewhich raised more than US$1 billion, and the fourth Kung Fu Panda film, which is the sixth highest-grossing film of the year worldwide at the time of writing. His upcoming projects also include a video game adaptation A Minecraft moviewhich co-stars Jason Momoa, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks and Jennifer Coolidge.

Dear Santa Claus is Jack Black’s first Christmas film since the holiday

The holiday debuted in 2006

Jack Black’s Latest Cinematic Release Is Paramount+’s Christmas Comedy Dear Santa Clausin which he plays Satan, who tries to corrupt a naive young man who accidentally misspelled his name in his letter to Santa Claus. The film, directed by Bobby Farrelly from a script co-written by Ricky Blitt and Peter Farrelly, marks the first time he has starred in a Christmas film since 2006 The holiday. That film, written and directed by Nancy Meyers, followed an Englishwoman (Kate Winslet) and an American woman (Cameron Diaz) swapping homes and finding love at Christmas.

Although The holiday received mixed reviews from critics, earning a score of 51% on Rotten Tomatoes, viewers responded much better than criticsas evidenced by the 80% audience score on the same platform. However, neither this response nor the fact that it grossed $205.8 million, making it the twelfth highest-grossing film directed by a woman of the decade, appears to have been enough for Black to immediately return to the Christmas comedy genre. . Until 2024, it remained the only Christmas film in his filmography.

Dear Santa Gives Jack Black a Very Different Kind of Holiday Christmas Movie

It has the complete opposite tone

While both Jack BlacK’s Christmas films are comedies, they could hardly be more different. While The holiday is a classic romantic comedy set during the holiday season, Dear Santa Claus is more interested in subverting the wholesome trappings of Christmas. Although it is still a family film, portraying Satan more as a mischievous and playful spirit than a purely evil entity, it features irreverent humor aimed at teenagers in addition to the fantastical elements that separate it from the 2006 film, which is much more realistic.