AY, Omoni star in Hollywood Xmas film

Nigeria’s movie stars, Ayo Makun, aka AY, and Omoni Oboli have been unveiled as part of the elite voice cast of the movie “Elliott: The Littlest Reindeer” featuring Josh Hutcherson (Hunger Games) and Hollywood greats Morena Baccarin (Deadpool 1&2, Homeland), top comedian and ventriloquist, Jeff Dunham and Emmy and Tony award winning Martin Short andJohn Cleese.

Distributed by FilmOne, the animated movie is set for a December 14th release in cinemas across Nigeria.

Award-winning writer and director, Jennifer Westcott directed this story about a determined miniature horse who travels to the North Pole with his pal Hazel the goatto win a spot on Santa’s celebrated sleigh team.

The inclusion of these stars announces a new era of collaboration across Nigeria and hopefully, other territories across Africa. The collaboration came about through Studio partners based in South Africa after seeing the need for two worlds to come together and make cinematic history.

Speaking on the development, Empire Entertainment, the license holder of “Elliott:The Littlest Reindeer”, expressed their excitement in exploring how this new opportunity can both encourage and open new avenues for future collaboration.

Kene Okwuosa and Moses Babatope, the Directors at FilmOne Distribution and Production, who contributed majorly to this collaboration and currently working on future alliances stated how pleased they are to be distributing the movie even moreso because of the inclusion of the Nollywood cast in the project.

“AY and Omoni are two very talented/groundbreaking Actors and Producers who we have had been very fortunate to work with on varied projects; it was only a natural fit for this, especially with two actors which such strong family values and family is very important to us at FilmOne. Their inclusion as part of the cast for this movie portends great things for future collaboration between Nollywood and Hollywood” said Moses.

“Decisions and collaborations like these further show how much the world looks at Nollywood and how it is continuously making its mark. We hope for this to be a stepping stone for more to come,” said Kene.

Speaking on their involvement with the project, AY and Omoni both expressed their delight, as parents themselves, at being a part of a project that was sure to bring some of that Christmas cheer to not just children but also all lovers of animated movies in Nigeria and also something the family can share together this holidayseason. They would like to encourage families to come together and see this great movie this season. ‘Elliott: The Littlest Reindeer’ centres around Blitzen- one of Santa’s sleigh pullingreindeers- announcing his retirement on December 21, giving a miniature horse three days to fulfil his lifelong dream of earning a spot on Santa’s sleigh during the North Pole try-outs in time for Christmas eve; Elliott and his friend Hazel set out to prove that no dream is too big if you believe in yourself.