Michael Gambon (Ghost of Christmas Present) also played Scrooge in the 2010 Doctor Who (2005) Christmas special A Christmas Carol (2010).
While this film was critically panned and commercially underperformed, the song "What If", sung by Kate Winslet in the film, was very successful. The only song to be released as a single from this film's soundtrack, "What If" piqued at number 6 on the UK Singles chart in its first week, and at number 8 on the Eurochart Hot 100. It reached number 1 in Austria, Belgium, and Ireland for 2001.
This movie along with Noël chez les Muppets (1992) are the only versions where the Christmas present scenes of the Cratchit family and Scrooge's nephew Fred's party swap places. In the original story and in other film versions, the Ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to the Cratchits' Christmas dinner before Fred's party.
Some versions of the film cut out the live-action scenes at the beginning and end of the movie.