Is There Room for One More 'Christmas Carol'? We Look at 7 Ghosts of Christmas Past

‘Scrooged’ (Paramount Pictures)

A new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, perhaps the most frequently adapted literary work of all time, is on its way to the big screen.

The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that director Bennett Miller (Capote, Foxcatcher) is working with revered playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare in Love, 2012′s Anna Karenina) to develop a new take on the Ebenezer Scrooge cautionary tale, which will reportedly be a period piece that hews closely to the original material.

A Christmas Carol has been done so many times that it’s hard to imagine it feeling fresh. But perhaps a more traditional approach will feel fresh after all the various attempts to modernize or alter a story that, with its focus on a mean, old one-percenter, certainly still has cultural resonance. Think a Christmas Carol with a Downton Abbey-meets-Dickens vibe.

While Miller and Stoppard continue working on their Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Future, let’s review some of the previous movie versions of A Christmas Carol to remember what’s already come before.

Scrooge (1951)

Though there were several film versions that came before it, the one with Alistair Sim as the man who says “Bah, humbug,” is considered by many to be the definitive adaptation. If Miller and Stoppard are trying to set the new cinema standard for this story of misguided greed, this may be the one for them to beat.

Scrooge (1970)

Albert Finney starred as Ebenezer in this musical version of the tale, one that also featured a pre-Obi-Wan Alec Guinness as the ghost of Jacob Marley.

Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol (1962)

Obviously there have been many TV versions of A Christmas Carol, and since we’re focused on movies, we won’t go into much detail about them here. But we had to include a clip from the Mr. Magoo adaptation because obviously Dickens’ yuletide classic is at its best in the form of a cartoon about a bumbling geezer who can barely see six inches past his nose.

Scrooged (1988)

Ironically, as Ebenezer Scrooge stand-in Frank Cross, Bill Murray plays a TV executive who is completely disgusted by the prospect of yet another Christmas Carol rip-off. Personally, unlike Frank, I’d still like to see one with the Solid Gold dancers.

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

Honestly? It’s amazing that this wasn’t done with Muppets until the early ‘90s.

Christmas Carol: The Movie (2001)

Hey, remember this animated Scrooge film featuring the voices of Kate Winslet and Nicolas Cage? Neither do I, but apparently, it was not terribly well-liked.

A Christmas Carol (2009)

Robert Zemeckis applied The Polar Express treatment to another holiday classic, creating a CGI-animated Dickens-scape based on motion-capture performances by Jim Carrey as Scrooge and Gary Oldman. Reviews were mixed and in the years since, it hasn’t emerged as a perennial holiday favorite. This is the most recent Christmas Carol we have, which suggests that maybe it is time for a new, more realistic one after all.