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Podcast: Verbal Diorama
Episode: Santa Claus: The Movie
Description: Santa Claus: The Movie was an ambitious holiday spectacular that was supposed to save the Salkinds' crumbling film empire. Fresh off the disappointing performances of Superman III and Supergirl, producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind bet $50 million on creating the definitive cinematic Santa Claus origin story, complete with backstory, a North Pole workshop brought to life, and a modern-day New York adventure featuring Dudley Moore as a renegade elf.The Salkinds' signature approach to filmmaking, taking beloved existing characters and mounting lavish international co-productions outside the Hollywood system, had worked brilliantly for the first Superman films but was...