Eagles Players Release Stop-Motion Animated Holiday Special

PHILADELPHIA — Jason Kelce, Jordan Mailata, and Lane Johnson have expanded their skill sets to voice acting, as the trio (known as "The Philly Specials") released a stop-motion animated holiday special ahead of their second holiday benefit album's release.

"A Philly Special Christmas Special" released at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving via YouTube.

The animated short stars Kelce, Mailata, and Johnson and features cameos from Travis Kelce, Merrill Reese, Connor Barwin, Charlie Hall, and Patti LaBelle.

Watch the holiday special online here.

Created by Philadelphia-based animation studio unPOP, the short finds Kelce, Jordan and Johnson attempting to rally their friends together for a holiday performance and features songs from "A Philly Special Christmas Special," which releases on all digital platforms Dec. 1.

The film took 5,000 hours over five months to complete, included 20 hand-crafted puppets with hand-sewn clothing, and 5,000 individual photographs displayed at 24 frames per second.

Fans will see Kelce riding a donkey and singing "Dominick the Donkey" and Mailata shines in "All I Want for Christmas Is You."

The Philly Specials have released three singles from the LP including "All I Want for Christmas," "This Christmas" and "Fairytale of Philadelphia" – a duet between Jason and Travis Kelce on a reimagining of The Pogues’ classic, which has over 2 million streams across platforms and has reached No. 1 on iTunes.

"A Philly Special Christmas Special" is available now for vinyl preorder online here, and will be available on all digital platforms on Dec. 1. This year, proceeds from the vinyl sales will benefit Children’s Crisis Treatment Center’s Toy Drive and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Snowflake Station.

Following the runaway success of their debut LP, A Philly Special Christmas, Kelce, Johnson, and Mailata have reunited with producer Charlie Hall and executive producer Connor Barwin (Vera Y Records) to release their second holiday album, A Philly Special Christmas Special. Recorded during the NFL off season and comprised of ten holiday classics and an original tune by Kelce, "Santa’s Night," A limited-edition LP will be released on red vinyl, a double disc of A Philly Special Christmas Special and 2022’s A Philly Special Christmas will be released on limited edition gold vinyl in addition to the album being released digitally and available on all streaming services.

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Recorded and mixed once again by Nick Krill, the trio called upon local musicians including Patti Labelle, Amos Lee, The Hooters’ Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman, DMHotep (Sun Ra Arkestra), Kevin Hanson (The Fractals, Huffamoose), Luke Carlos O’Reilly, Waxahatchee, members of The War on Drugs, Dr. Dog, mewithoutYou, and The Silver Ages Choir amongst others to truly make this a Philly special.

"A Philly Special Christmas" was released on Dec. 23, 2022, digitally and its limited pressing on vinyl sold out immediately. The record reached four top ten spots on various Billboard Music Charts including No. 1 on the Compilation Albums Chart. A Philly Special Christmas donated over $1.25M to local charities including Children’s Crisis Treatment Center and fulfilled the wish lists of Philadelphia School District teachers via Donors Choose.