According to Pajiba, filmmaker Robert Zemeckis is already planning his next feature project, which will reportedly again be a Christmas film. The new project is an adaptation of "The Nutcracker". This project will not be based on the popular Tchaikovsky ballet, however, but rather on ETA Hoffmann's original novel "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King".

The story will be a set in 19th century Russia and will explore the battle between the dolls and the mice, and how the cursed Nutcracker character came to be. Zemeckis will once again use 3D animated motion capture to make the movie.

There was a stop-motion version of "The Nutcracker" back in 1979 called "Nutcracker Fantasy", which starred Christopher Lee, and an animated version in 1990 called "The Nutcracker Prince", starring Kiefer Sutherland. Zemeckis therefore isn't the first filmmaker to tackle the material using one form of animation or another.

It's worth noting that while A Christmas Carol was the number one domestic box office champ last weekend, the film only earned $30M, a paltry sum given that it cost $200M to make.