Wallace And Gromit Are Back

[EDIT: Rich had it wrong. As I previously reported (see the on-again-off-again bit below) the new Wallace and Gromit story is a 30 minute TV piece, made for the BBC. Trouble at Mill will begin animation in January for broadcast late next year - read: Christmas. There's a video announcement of the film on play doh duo's official site]

Rich Johnston got the scoop - Sony and Aardman are on the verge of revealing Nick Park's next film, and it's a Wallace and Gromit feature.

I guess Rich knows somebody in Bristol. Oh... hang on... I know who. I'm pretty sure.

The Wallace and Gromitness of the next Park flick had been on-off-on-again-off-again for a while. I'm glad an official announcement is forthcoming.

Gromit, The Little Nipper

To promote their 'Buy Your Kids DVDs And That' campaign, HMV have recruited lovable plasticine scamp Gromit to stare down the muzzle of their gramophone for a while. Poor old Nipper, probably still reeling from the confusion of his master's voice coming out of a dirty great horn, is out in the doghouse.

Thankfully, it's only temporary.

[EDIT: According to Marketing Week, there's a possible animated ad for TV and cinema on the cards too. Good stuff]

Aardman Off To Sony

Variety say "Sony Pictures Entertainment has agreed a three-year, first-look deal with Aardman Features"

Apparently, Aardman have four fature scripts in advanced stages of development, one of which is the next Wallace and Gromit film that I'm sure Sony will be keen to net. I understand that BBC Films had been circling that one, and maybe a co-production deal will still come through.

Aardman's COO, Stephen Moore, has commented on how Sony have less of a desire to control than Dreamworks. Here's hoping it's much less, because a little less would still be much too much.

The plan is now for Aardman to produce a film every 18 months, both in stop-motion and CG. The Sony deal is only for three years, and is simply on a first look basis, so it is still possible - if unlikely - that Aardman could produce films elsewhere, even in that timeframe.

I'm hoping Richard Goleszowski now gets another crack at a feature.

Dreamworks Gets Talent

Variety have announced that Chris Sanders, director of Lilo and Stitch and originator of American Dog, has signed to Dreamworks. His first project is to be Crood Awakening, previously in development with Aardman and co-scripted by John Cleese.

Add to this the fact that Disney 3D's Phil McNally is headed to Dreamworks too and it seems like the Dreamworks Animations' batting average might be about to increase drastically.

Of course, it looked that way when Aardman signed, and while I suppose it was true - no other animation from the studio even comes close to Curse of the Wererabbit - the sad fact is, both Chicken Run and Flushed Away were, frankly, sub-par for Aardman efforts. Dreamworks also dumped Richard Goleszowski's Tortoise and the Hare, one of Aardman's most interesting and ambitious concepts.

If Aardman did good for Dreamworks, yippee for Dreamworks - but they did bad for Aardman, so I was glad to see the partnership fold. I don't want the same to be true of Sanders and McNally. I want to see them do even better work than they have at Disney.

Aardman Liberated

Moriarty at Aint it Cool considers this to be bad news. I simply can't agree.

As film ick celebrated as far back as November 12th last year, Aardman and Dreamworks have parted ways. This can only be good news - certainly if you know anything about the ludicrous notes, budget cuts and restrictions placed on Were Rabbit, Flushed Away and the cruelly exterminated Tortoise and the Hare.

Congratulations to all at Aardman and best luck for your hopefully unhassled future filmmaking adventures.