Tale of the Tank Engine

Tale of the Tank Engine (titled onscreen as Tale of the Tank Engine; and the son of the man who created it) is a British-American historical fantasy film directed by Shane Acker and Marc Forster. It is notable for being revived after thirteen years of obscurity and financed through crowd-funding by the TTTE Community. It is also known for being based on a Mattel own property where Mattel had no involvement with the production.

Principle photography began in Ireland on January of 2024 after gaining the green light for production to begin without Mattel's involvement. Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi wrote the screenplay in 2009, with rewrites from Marc Forster, Alyssa Hill, and Jesse Wigutow taking place in September of 2023. The film explores the many concepts of family and how relationships are formed, maintained, and destroyed, as well as being about the monopoly and dieselisation of British Railways. The film stars Lucas Hedges as Writer and rail-enthusiast Christopher Awdry, the son of Railway Series author Wilbert Awdry. Nick Frost, Olivia Colman, Jude Law, and Daniel Day-Lewis, who comes out of retirement, also make appearances in supporting roles. After gaining US distribution rights, Lionsgate Films aimed for a late 2025 release.

Tale of the Tank Engine had its world premiere at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival on September 16, 2025, where it won the Platform Prize. It was later released in the United Kingdom; Ireland, and North America on December 12 on a limited theatrical run, and had its worldwide release on January 2, 2026. The film mostly received critical acclaim, yet mixed responses from audiences with a critic score of 82%, and an audience score of 65%. Among its numerous accolades, it was nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and Best Sound at the 98th Academy Awards.

The Adventures of Thomas
After the commercial failure of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, another movie based on the Thomas The Tank Engine brand would become nearly to impossible to produce, with the television series seeing creative differences in terms of presentation and lowering the aimed audiences to fit for a more preschool level of approach. But in 2009, plans for another film based on Thomas the Tank Engine would begin pre-production under the title The Adventures of Thomas, with HiT Entertainment backing up the project. The film would have taken place in London during World War II, and revolved around a pre-teen boy who has drifted apart from his father. The son is introduced into the world of Sodor, a place his father visited as a child but cannot remember. It has also been confirmed that it would have involved a Steam vs. Diesel confrontation.

Production would eventually go into limbo sometime around 2010, with the release date changing from 2010 to 2011, then to 2012. It was eventually planned for a 2014-2015 release, but would be delayed once again without a release date, leaving fans to speculate the film to be cancelled. It would be until Shane Acker revealed that the film was cancelled after being pushed back several times following Mattel's acquisition of HIT Entertainment, and Mattel doesn't want to take Thomas into a more serious direction.

Marc Forster, Revival, and Crowd Funding
Around late 2020, Mattel announced a new film based on Thomas and Friends that would be directed by Marc Forster, who directed World War Z; Christopher Robin, and A Man Called Otto. The film would be a "four-quadrant family adventure that blends live-action and animation." And according to Marc Forster, he mentions how "Thomas has been a personal favorite of mine since childhood. I couldn’t be more excited to be working with Robbie and the entire team at Mattel, and embarking on this beautiful journey with such a timeless property." Executive producer for the film, Robbie Brenner, has stated that Thomas' story in the film will be told in a "modern and unexpected way." The film wouldn't enter pre-production until after the commercial success of Greta Gerwig's Barbie and thus Mattel began plans to adapt other properties into movies. One of those being Marc Forster's Thomas movie which Mattel would be the financial backers of the films, thus bringing Shane Acker's original film back into the conversation.

After hearing most of the commotion online, Marc Forster would contact Shane Acker into a possible revival of The Adventures of Thomas, but because Mattel won't take up the risk into funding a film for a mostly general audience with some thematic elements, the Marc Forster/Shane Acker joint project would become the first time a film based on a franchise would be made without the distributors involvement. After going through a bidding war with studios like Focus Features/Universal Pictures; Open Road Films, Paramount Pictures, and River Road Entertainment, a joint bid between Lionsgate and Studiocanal would gain distribution rights for North America, while Cinetic Media would distribute the film the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The Adventures of Thomas, now renamed to Tale of the Tank Engine would become one of the rare instances where a film is backed through crowd-funding, as it garnered support from various communities revolving around the Thomas and Friends brands. One of those communities being the Sodor Island Fansite, where users in the forums would become part of the production through means of donations, or working on-site. Some notable figures who helped out on the film included Nicholas Goodrich, and Brannon Carty, who previously directed An Unlikely Fandom.

Plot
TBA

Cast

 * Lucas Hedges as Christopher Awdry (age 26)
 * Roman Griffin Davis as Christopher Awdry (age 16)
 * Archie Barnes as Christopher Awdry (age 8)
 * Gary Oldman as Christopher Awdry (age 43)
 * Christopher Awdry as himself


 * Nick Frost as Sir Charles Topham Hatt II
 * Jude Law as Alastair Morton
 * Sam Clafin as Bob
 * George Mackay as Charlie Sand
 * Paul Bettany as Sidney Hever
 * Olivia Colman as Britt Allcroft
 * Leo Henry as David Mitton
 * Daniel Day-Lewis as Wilbert Awdry
 * Kate Beckensale as Margeret Wales

Marketing and Release
The first teaser trailer was released on October 27, 2024, a year before the world premiere at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival, where the film was reported to be 45% completed. It also screened in at festivals like BFI's London FIlm Festival and the Tokyo International Film Festival Despite not being a part of the production, Mattel financed the marketing through previews, posters, and temporarily bringing back the Thomas Wooden Railway merchandise. Day Out With Thomas events also reached a high peak in attendees, with railways like the East Anglian Railway Museum inviting the actors to hold meet-and-greets with fans. The Highest recorded attendance at Day Out With Thomas was at the Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania, with an mass count of 960,000 (estimated) attendees.

The film has two different distinct cuts. The theatrical version is the one shown in theaters throughout its festival and commercial run. An extended cut was released on a two-disk Blu-Ray set that was distributed by Shout Factory! and feature notable differences from scenes.

Box Office, Reception, and Accolades
During its limited run in 20 theaters, the film grossed a total of $600,000 domestically, and $210,000 in places like the United Kingdom and Ireland. Bringing a total of $810,000 during its limited run. When the film began its worldwide release in January 2, 2026 in 298 theaters, it amassed a total gross of $82,000,000 in North America, and $34,000,000 in its worldwide run. Bringing the total box office revenue to $116,810,000. When the film was nominated for numerous accolades, including Best Motion Picture - Drama at the 83rd Golden Globes, and Outstanding British Film at the 79th BAFTAs, its theatrical window was extended and screened in 100 theaters, bringing in a new total of $28,000,000 in North America and $23,190,000 in Europe, bring the total gross of $168,000,000, making the film a box office success. Some contributing countries of the international box office included Australia & New Zealand, Germany, Japan, and The Netherlands.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film was critically acclaimed with an approved score of 86%, with an average score of 8.1/10 based on 356 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "The film takes advantage at being both a fantasy and biopic, thus creating a clever character study that everyone would keep asking what would be next". Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 78 out of 100 based on 62 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, and PostTrak reported it received an average 4 out of 5 from viewers they surveyed, with 78% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Tale of the Tank Engine received three academy award nominations for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and Best Sound. It received two nominations for Best Original Score and Best Motion Picture - Drama at the 83rd Golden Globes. It also received five nominations for Outstanding British Film, Best Special Visual Effects, Best Production Design, Best Original Music, and Best Cinematography at the 79th BAFTAs. The most notable award it won was Best Film at the Independent Spirit Awards.