Chicken Run

Genre: Comedy/Adventure/Animated.

Studio: Dreamworks SKG.
Production Company: Aardman Animatons/Allied Filmmakers.

Project Phase: Greenlighted.

Who's Voices Are In It: Mel Gibson (Rocky); Julia Sawalha (Ginger); Miranda Richardson; Lynn Ferguson; Phil Daniels; Tony Haygarth; Imelda Staunton; Jane Horrocks.
Who's Making It: Peter Lord, Nick Park (Directors); Jack Rosenthal (Screenwriter); Peter Lord, Nick Park (Story); David Sproxton, Peter Lord, Nick Park (Producers); Jake Eberts (Executive Producer). What Type of Animation:

Stop-motion plasticine.

Premise: Yorkshire, 1950. Rocky and Ginger were going about their peaceful lives as chickens, until one day they began to suspect that their fate on the farm would be less than pleasant. Rather than wind up under plastic in a store somewhere, there was only recourse open to them -- escape -- at any cost.

Release Date: Christmas 1999; possibly 2000.

Comments: If you haven't experienced the mirth and merriment of Nick Park's plasticine pals, Wallace and Gromit, you have been living under a rock. In just three shorts (two of which have won Oscars), the pair of adventurers/inventors have earned a world-wide following. But with the huge international success of Aardman Animations' clay stars, didn't it make sense to start crafting a movie for the duo??

Not entirely true. What creator Park and co-director Peter Lord have done is craft a totally new claymation adventure featuring two new characters; the chicken couple of Ginger and Rocky. If it's anywhere near the level of energy that The Wrong Trousers attained, your experience in the theater that day should recall your experience watching Toy Story for the first time. This could bring the animation of claymation to such a wide audience, and on such an unprecedented scale, that it literally could re-invent the wheel the way computer animation has. For DreamWorks to pick this up before any other studio could act on it is a very savvy move indeed.

Widgett says: "Sound like 'Gary Larson directs Missing in Action'? Uh-huh."

Rumors: Unknown.

Scoop Feedback:

[Page draft submitted by 'Widgett'.]

December 7, 1997... Lord and Park, those incredibly wonderful sickos that brought you Wat's Pig and Wallace and Gromit respectively, begin this, their first full-length animated feature. The story idea was something that they had been kicking around since 1995. Screenwriter Rosenthal (Yentl, The Wedding Gift) has been working on the script since 1996. Production has begun in the Aardman studios located in Bristol, England, and the finished product should be delivered at the end of 1998. Dreamworks picked up the distribution in return for the film's merchandising rights, and reportedly will be behind other claymated projects that Aardman develops. [Scoops provided by 'Widgett' and an anonymous source.] February 12, 1998... The fellows who handle Aardman Animations' publicity contacted us to correct the name of the male lead chicken (his name is Rocky, not Roger as we previously reported.) Aardman anticipates to have the film ready for delivery in late 1999, but it's conceivable the film could require additional time and eventually be re-shuffled to the year 2000. [Thanks to the gang at 'japr'.]



Have a Scoop/Information about a New Film Project? Copyrights and trademarks for the film and related entertainment properties mentioned herein are held by their respective owners and are used with permission or solely for the promotional purposes of said properties.
All other text and images copyright © 1995-98 Corona Productions.
Last updated: Sunday, 12-Jul-1998 17:30:18 PDT.
webmaster@corona.bc.ca