Tim Allen Wasn't Too Jolly About The Santa Clause 3

Disney's heartfelt comic fantasy "The Santa Clause" was a hit with critics and moviegoers, in addition to dominating the box office. The 1994 film cracked the top five for the year's highest-grossing movies (per Box Office Mojo). In the almost three decades since its release, "The Santa Clause" has rightfully earned a spot among the all-time holiday classics and continues to be enjoyed by fans from every generation.

The film also transformed Tim Allen from a television star to a Hollywood leading man. And it launched what would become one of the more unexpected franchises in modern cinema, with "The Santa Clause 2" and "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause" following in 2002 and 2006, respectively. According to Box Office Mojo, "The Santa Clause" sequels proved lucrative in their own rights. But their Rotten Tomatoes scores tell a story of diminishing returns on the quality front, with "The Santa Clause 2" earning a 57% rotten critical rating and "The Escape Clause" scoring a dreadful 17%.

It turns out the face of the franchise is entirely on the side of the critics regarding "The Santa Clause" follow-ups. Tim Allen recently offered a less-than-jolly assessment of the third film in particular.

Tim Allen expressed his sentiments about the threequel when chatting with The Hollywood Reporter about his upcoming miniseries, "The Santa Clauses." The six-part offering will see Allen reprise his role as the current Santa Claus (aka Scott Calvin) and finds many of the original franchise cast joining him for another round of meta-tinged holly, jolly shenanigans. After addressing what brought him back to "The Santa Clause" franchise, Allen admitted the third film left a bad taste in his mouth. "I thought we overshot the runway on number three, and I wanted to rein it in," the "Home Improvement" alum said. "What happened was that we became infected by our own success."

The actor claims that the first film's success led to bigger budgets and declining quality control for the sequels. In Allen's eyes, that was most evident in "The Santa Clause 3. "By number three, all we had was money," the actor told THR. Allen was particularly baffled that he and his "The Santa Clause 3" co-star Martin Short never really got a chance to bring the laughs to the film, noting, "That's the funniest human being I've ever been around, other than me, and we never got a shot to do a real big scene together."

As noted, fans and critics were just as baffled by how much "The Santa Clause 3" missed the mark. With any luck, Allen and "The Santa Clause" gang will right that wrong with the new streaming effort. 

Find out for yourself when "The Santa Clauses" hits Disney+ on November 16, 2022.