Official split from Dreamworks, Shaun and New Wallace and Gromit film in the works!
First off, Aardman and Dreamworks have made the formal announcement about their parting ways. It’s unfortunate that Aardman will no longer have the support of such a large studio, but I hope this means they will regain all their creative license and will be able to create more fantastic films like Were-Rabbit and fewer “hollywoodized” films like Flushed Away. There are dozens of articles out there about this one, but you can check out this Forbes article for a nice overview.
Also in general Aardman news, they recently hired Jackie Cockle “as a development producer with special responsibility for programming aimed and kids preschool aged and younger” – for more information about this hire check out AnimationMagazine.net: Aardman Warms to Cockle for Development.
Now we’ve been hearing rumors about the development of the Shaun the Sheep series – these rumors have come to fruition with the annoucement that the series has been licenses to television stations WORLDWIDE! A preview was also released, which you can see up on youtube: Shaun the Sheep (thanks for the link kimpony!).
BBC: Shaun the Sheep set for TV fame
AWN.com: Shaun The Sheep Gathers More Than 60 TV & Licensing Deals
EveningStar.co.uk: A star is Shaun
Perhaps the most exciting news of all, is the announcement from Aardman that they are working on a new Wallace and Gromit film! Quotes taken from this article on MovieWeb.com:
“Wallace and Gromit are alive and kicking,” Aardman spokesman Arthur Sheriff said on Wednesday. “There is a project on the table right now.
“It could be television, it could be a feature film. That depends on how the storyline develops. It will go into production as soon as he has finished writing it.”
How exciting! A couple other articles about it:
Cinematical.com: More Wallace & Gromit in the Works
Metro.co.uk: New Wallace and Gromit film planned
And on a bit of a self-promotion front, I’ve recently begun working with Seb at 62WestWallabyStreet.co.uk on his bi-weekly Wallace and Gromit Podcast. There have so far been 8 episodes, in 7 I read the news and presented an “American Cheese Corner” and in episode 8 I read the news. This will be a regular thing for me, I really enjoy the podcast and am delighted that I can make a contribution. If you want to check it out you can search for the podcast on iTunes, or head over to 62WestWallabyStreet.co.uk and click on “Radio” – you don’t need an iPod to listen to podcasts, they’re just mp3 files that you can download and play on your computer.
Finally, a few tidbits that people have emailed and I’ve stumbled across in the past few weeks:
Evelynn over at CartoonDollEmporium.com dropped me a note to let me know they had created a Gromit doll on their site. It’s an adorable little site.
An article on mywesttexas.com lists Curse as one of the top DVDs of the year: Best DVDs of 2006
Wallace and Gromit star’s tea at Rhodes: An interview with Peter Sallis (voice of Wallace) “March 11… The actor will be taking tea at the South Road venue on March 11 and discussing his career”
And the last of our tidbits comes from Claire McDonough who dropped me a line to let me know about a site she helps run: ILoveCheese.co.uk. It’s a delightful little non-profit site about cheese!