Raymond Briggs' 'The Snowman', a classic staple of Christmas viewing is set to be reworked by Channel 4, in time to be aired by next year's holiday season and the channel's 30th anniversary.

According to The Guardian, animation company Lupus Films plan to add new characters, as well as to replace the classic theme song 'Walking In The Air' - so therefore sucking you all of the 'classic' elements like some glacial vampire.

Lupus Films co-founder Camilla Deakin says: "The music is still undecided. There is a lot of discussion. It will be up to date. Without being too aggressively so. We want to make sure this film is new and fresh, not identical."

Other anticipated changes include adding a new little boy to the story, as well as a snow dog. The newer version will also see the characters flying over modern landmarks such as the London Eye, instead of Brighton pier and the Pavillion. Instead of visiting a Snowman's party, they will visit a ski resort. The tear-inducing ending, however, will remain the same.

The film will still be created using crayon-drawn cartoon animations, but will now incorporate a small amount of computer-generation.

According to reports, Briggs - pictured above - did not initially approve of the remake, and it took years of convincing to gain his consent. The author is quoted saying: "I am keeping a polite distance. I haven't written the new story. I was against making a new version for years and refused to agree. But there has been such a huge elapse of time, 30 years, a lot of people have died in that time. An awful lot of the old team are being reassembled to make it, that is good. I am not grumpy at all about it."

In other words he's taken the cash and not expecting much.

The production of the new film is expected to cost approximately £2million, and there are also talks of a 3D cinema version.

(source nme.com)