SACRAMENTO, Calif. — It was Halloween night 1985, and reporter Barry Brown was unsure what he would find. He went out expecting ghosts and goblins. He found Santa Claus instead.

On Christmas Eve 1973, Elf ’s Santa Claus (Ed Asner) is dropping off gifts in an orphanage and returns to the North Pole with a baby boy he names Buddy (Will Ferrell).

The 1985 British-American Christmas film starring John Lithgow, and David Huddleston, depicts the origin of Santa Claus (played by Huddleston), and his modern-day adventure to save one of his ...