The joint venture between LA-based Hyde Park Entertainment and Imagenation Abu Dhabi has partnered with the BBC to co-finance John Hay’s Lost Christmas.

Eddie Izzard [pictured], Jason Flemyng, Steven Macintosh, and Geoffrey Palmer will star in the Manchester-set tale about a series of tragic events in a young boy’s life that get reversed on Christmas Eve to give him and his loved ones a happy ending. Hay co-wrote the screenplay with David Logan.

Elliot Jenkins and Impact Pictures are producing Lost Christmas and Hyde Park founder Ashok Amritraj, who brokered the deal with Jay Cohen of Gersh, will serve as executive producer alongside Ketchup Media principals Gareth West, Vahan Yepremeyan and Artur Galstian.

Hyde Park International is handling worldwide rights excluding the UK and sales chief Mimi Steinbauer will show Cannes buyers a promo.

Last week Hyde Park Imagenation sold US rights to Richard Gere thriller The Double to Image Entertainment for a $2m MG and a theatrical p&a component. Image plans an October release and WME Global represented the filmmakers.