Lead elf Dooley explains that their coming was prophesied; that it is Claus' destiny to deliver the toys made by the elves to the children of the world; and that they, like the elves, will live forever. It depicts the origin of Santa Claus (played by Huddleston), and his modern-day adventure to save one of his elves (Moore) who has been manipulated by an unscrupulous toy company executive (Lithgow).

David Newman's first script draft named Moore's character Ollie, but Moore decided that the name should be changed to Patch, which was the nickname of his young son, Patrick.Be a viral sensation with our global smash, the inflatable T-Rex costume, channel your inner princess with our unicorn Ride On outfit or gobble up the competition as a man-eating shark. While it is known that Mercury recorded a demo for the House/Hobbs song at Pinewood Studios, he was never to make a full commitment to the project, as he and his Queen bandmates had already committed themselves to the Highlander soundtrack. Duralde ultimately concludes that the film is "a train-wreck of a Christmas film that's so very wrong that you won't be able to tear yourself away from it". In the Middle Ages, a woodcutter named Claus delivers hand-carved toys to the children of his village each Christmas, accompanied by his wife Anya and their reindeer Donner and Blitzen. Seeing a wood carving resembling Patch that Santa made for Joe, Patch realizes that Santa misses him.

Santa Claus: The Movie was filmed in Buckinghamshire, England at Pinewood Studios, between August and November 1984. The costume is also elasticated at the ankles and at the wrist to make the suit secure so that the air can not escape. Ebert also had some praise for Lithgow's "nice, hateful performance", but wrote that "the villain is not drawn big enough". Additional elves were played by Melvyn Hayes, Don Estelle, Tim Stern, Peter O'Farrell and Christopher Ryan, as Goober, Groot, Boog, Honka, Vout and Goobler respectively.Dudley Moore was the Salkinds' top choice to play the lead elf in the film, Ilya Salkind having remembered a scene in Arthur in which Liza Minnelli's character asks Moore if he is Santa's Little Helper.

Szwarc screen-tested such actors as David White (who, being in his late 60s, was considered too old for the role) and Moore's Arthur co-star Barney Martin. If the courier is running late, possibly due to unforeseen heavy traffic or an accident, they would also get a notification informing them that the driver will be late. Hoping to redeem himself in Santa's eyes, he creates lollipops laced with the magic powder that allows the reindeer to fly, and a flying car which he uses to deliver them to the world's children on Christmas Eve.

Eventually, John Lithgow was settled on after Ilya Salkind watched Terms of Endearment and realized that he had a Grinch-type look to him. Lewis Gilbert was another early choice for director but, despite initial interest, he could not agree with the Salkinds over certain aspects of the script. Z. too, but he eats several of the magic candy canes and jumps out a window, only to float upward uncontrollably into space.

Z.'s assistant, Towzer, share his discovery that the candy canes explode when exposed to extreme heat. In 2012 a deluxe three-disc set, including remastered tracks, outtakes and alternate versions and a 32-page booklet, was released. At the time of the film's announcement in mid-1983, the British Press carried reports that diminutive actors such as David Jason, Patrick Troughton and Norman Wisdom would be cast alongside Moore as fellow elves, but none of them were. Pierre Spengler, Ilya's longtime partner and a longtime collaborator of the Salkinds', joined Ilya as the project's producer. Z., the producers wanted a star with a similar stature to Gene Hackman when he had played Lex Luthor in Superman: The Movie.Perfect for Christmas parties or just to spread some joy, this Santa costume has a small fan inside that keeps you inflated. The song "It's Christmas (All Over the World)" was written by Bill House and John Hobbs with Freddie Mercury in mind. He also praised the film's special effects, particularly the New York City fly-over sequence involving Santa.