Aardman Produces Arthur Christmas, Pirates
Wallace and Gromit Stop-Motion Studio Deals With Sony Pictures
Apr 28, 2009
Aardman Animation's distribution deal they inked with Sony back in 2007 has started bearing fruit: the Bristol-based animation studio is producing two feature-length animated films, both of which will be distributed by Sony.
The first, Pirates!, will be animated using Aardman's classic stop-motion style, while Arthur Christmas will be a CGI feature in association with Sony Imageworks. Neither film has yet received a release date.
Pirates!: A Stop-Motion Adaptation of Gideon Defoe Bestseller
The first film is an adaptation of Gideon Defoe's 2004 bestselling book The Pirates! (in an Adventure With Scientists). It follows a hapless band of ham-obsessed pirates who must compete against the likes of Black Bellamy and Cutlass Liz for the coveted Pirate of the Year trophy. During the course of this adventure, the pirate band runs across a young Charles Darwin plus a highly intelligent "man-panzee" named Mister Bobo. They also must battle an evil genius who is trying to destroy pirates forever.
As mentioned before, Pirates! will be rendered in stop-motion, the same technique used in previous Aardman films such as Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit. The latter movie won the 2006 Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film.
Aardman co-founder Peter Lord (Chicken Run) – along with Jeff Newitt (Trainspotter) – is directing Pirates! from a script by author Defoe. Julie Lockhart is producing the film, with Carla Shelley, Lord, and Aardman co-founder David Sproxton are executive producing. Norman Garwood (The Princess Bride, Basic Instinct 2) is the production designer.
Arthur Christmas: Aardman Returns to CGI
Aardman's other film, Arthur Christmas, marks the studio's return to CGI, a style the studio tried with its 2006 film Flushed Away. Originally called Operation Rudolph, the plot is based on an original idea by Peter Baynham (Borat) and Sarah Smith, and directed by Smith and Barry Cook. The movie envisions Santa's workshop as a high-tech industrial plant dedicated to getting all those toys out to every child in a single night.
Cheryl Albood is producing, along with Steve Pegram. Shelley, Lord and Sproxton are executive producing, while Evgeni Tomov (The Tale of Despereaux) is the production designer.
In 2007, Sony signed a 3-year "first look" deal with Aardman Animation, which gave them first crack at distributing whatever movie the acclaimed stop-motion studio was making. This happened shortly after DreamWorks Animation canceled a similar deal with Aardman, after Flushed Away failed to make back its $145 million price tag in theatres.
Sony also distributes animated movies through two other subsidiaries: Sony Pictures Classics, which distributes more arthouse fare like Persepolis and Waltz With Bashir, and Sony Pictures Animation, responsible for 2006's Open Season, 2007's Surf's Up and the upcoming Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.
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