Academy Award-winning Swedish actress Alicia Vikander is set to lead the voice cast of upcoming stop-motion animation film Moomins and the Winter Wonderland, set for global release in December.

“Growing up, Moomins was my favorite childhood book, and now I can be part of the Moomins family,” Vikander said in a statement. “I’ll be playing both the roles of Little My and Sorry-oo. I am so excited to be part of the Moomins feature Moomins and the Winter Wonderland.”

Stellan Skarsgard also has joined the cast as the voice of Moominpapa and will executive produce.

The Moomins were created by the Finnish writer Tove Jansson in a series of books and comic strips, originally published in Swedish in the 1940s. The iconic fairy tale characters — a carefree family of white, roundish creatures with large snouts that make them resemble lovable hippopotamuses — are a staple of kids culture around the world, thanks to translations of the original books and comic strips, along with television and film adaptations, and even a theme park called Moomin World in Naantali, Finland.

Finish film company Filmkompaniet and Polish animation studio Animoon are co-producing the new project. Los Angeles-based production, distribution and IP management company Global Genesis Group is handling international distribution and sales.

Based on Jansson’s original books, with a screenplay from Małgorzata Więckowicz-Zyla, Piotr Szczepanowicz and Ira Carpelan, Moomins and the Winter Wonderland will be created from existing, vintage footage from original stop-motion Moomins productions co-produced by Jupiter Film and Film Polski in the 1980s.

The footage will be in 4K quality. The producers say their vision for the restoration and development of the film is to bring the Moomins to a contemporary world audience, whilst staying true to the magic of Jansson’s original stories.

Moomins and the Winter Wonderland follows Filmkompaniet’s 2010 film Moomins and the Comet Chase (voiced by Alexander Skarsgard, Mads Mikkelsen, Stellan Skarsgard, Max von Sydow and Peter Stormare), which was released in 3D and distributed in over 80 countries, including the U.S., U.K., France, Japan, China, Brazil and Australia.

Tom Carpelan from Filmkompaniet, the Finnish executive producer of the film, said: “It is a privilege and very exciting to work with a property of such dignity, richness and complexity as the Moomin values represent. This world full of friendly humor, adventurous curiosity and everyday life philosophy has so much to offer audiences of any age.”

Rick Romano, president of Global Genesis Group, added: “We are extremely excited that Alicia Vikander chose to be a part of building out the Moomins brand in the U.S. and further building it internationally and making it an even bigger global phenomenon. Moomins and the Winter Wonderland is another addition to the fun, beloved franchise, and Ms. Vikander and the rest of the amazing cast will help us introduce the world to these great characters and their stories.” [Source]