WallaceAndGromit.net

First off, I’d like to thank Daniel Brett for emailing me. According to him and Jordan Bellamy, Hut 17 from Chicken Run survived the fire because it’s currently located at The Imperial War Museum. Some other sets are rumored to be around, if you get news of these don’t hesitate to drop me an email (lyz@princessleia.com) and please provide some sort of link to support it.

Jordan was good enough to let me know about this article: Wallace and Gromit rise again as their history is remodelled.

The Independent has learnt that Aardman, which started life 29 years ago in a back room in Bristol and now employs 300 people in a full-scale studio, intends to recreate a “significant number” of the models .

Wow! That’s great news!

There is still no word on the cause of the fire that destroyed most of Aardman’s plasticine history earlier this month, but investigations began this past weekend.

In other news, Wallace & Gromit visited Wensleydale last week to solidify their commitment to their lovely cheese (and lovely it is! There is some in my refrigerator). You can check out a couple articles about this: Wallace and Gromit return to Wensleydale (short article) and Wallace and Gromit’s cheesy smiles (an interesting article about the history of the WnG and Wensleydale relationship).

Lastly, Corgi has signed a licensing agreement with Aardman for exclusive rights for the production of die-cast models featuring Wallace & Gromit!

The three-year deal covers distribution of collectibles for the franchise in the U.S., UK and Ireland.

Corgi will be releasing a die-cast replica model of the Anti Pesto van used by the intrepid duo to battle the invaders together with Wallace and Gromit figures in S.W.A.T outfits and a model of Gromit’s newest invention — the Bun-vac.

I can’t wait to see these once they’re released!

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit predictably topped the UK box office during it’s opening weekend, taking in $16.4M (9.4M GBP) source. The film came in #2 in the US box office, with a second week total of $11.7M (6.4M GBP) for a US total of over $33M (18.6M GBP). This is great news! The film is doing so well! You can check out other worldwide release numbers in this article.

I received an email from Jordan Bellamy this week letting me know that some props from Chicken Run and the Wallace and Gromit shorts were spared from the fire because they are currently museum exhibits! The number of props is unfortunately limited to a couple small sets (more details with a link would be helpful if anyone knows of any for confirmation of exactly what was spared), but it’s great to know that they all weren’t lost.

And in case you haven’t been to eBay recently (I hadn’t!) George Ward informed me yesterday that there were 59 pages of wallace and gromit goodies! Today it’s down to 27, but it’s still grand! And browsing a few auctions led me to here – the McFarlane bean bag toys were released and they’re ADORABLE! Now I must leave eBay before I give into the urge to whip out the credit card 😉

As promised, I updated the site today to include a new Reviews section for Curse. So far I have my own review, and reviews from a couple people who emailed me. Want a review of your own posted? Drop me an email: Lyz@PrincessLeia.com

As a side note, there indeed was some downtime for the site last night/this morning, this has been remedied and everything should be back in working order today.

Cheers.

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit opened on Friday in the UK, short BBC article here.

If you haven’t already, the BBC website about Wallace and Gromit is worth checking out: http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/wallace_and_gromit/. You can even take a little quiz to see if you’re a “true fan” 😉

Also of interest is this article ‘Wallace & Gromit’ better for what it lacks, which talks about the film, and praises it’s lack of pop references. I agree, a major part of the reason I didn’t enjoy Shrek was because of all those references.

Curse also made a dent in worldwide box offices, according to this article Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit knocked off the four-week reigning champion, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, at the foreign box office over the weekend..

Over the past week there have been hundreds of positive reviews pouring in, far to many to list here. If you are interested in hunting them down, you can easily check out Google News and search for Wallace and Gromit, or click here

And I really will get around to finishing the Review section this weekend, I had a death in the family this week (my grandfather) and it’s taken up a significant amount of my time. Thanks again to all who have offered their condolences.

As probably all of you have heard already, it’s been quite a mixed day for the folks at Aardman. There was the devistating news of a fire at the warehouse in Bristol that held the props and things from their older films. From the emailed press release:

On the day that Aardman celebrate a chart-topping opening weekend in the US with Wallace & Gromit ‘The Curse of the Were-rabbit’, news of a fire at our storage unit in Bristol has been devastating.

This will not in any way affect existing or future Aardman productions as 100% of sets and props are purpose built for each production.

I nearly cried when I heard about this. A spokesman from Aardman said: “Today was supposed to be a day of celebration, with the news that ‘Wallace and Gromit’ had gone in at No. 1 at the U.S. box office, but instead our whole history has been wiped out,” Aardman spokesman Arthur Sheriff said. “It’s turned out to be a terrible day.”

Nick Park has taken a more optimistic tone with: “In light of other tragedies, today isn’t a big deal.” I am sure this must be crushing to him though.

But, as was mentioned, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit topped the box office in the US over the weekend! Weekend Gross according to Yahoo.com was $16,025,987. Cracking job Gromit!

Thanks to everyone who emailed me with the news of the fire.

Since the release of the film in the US I’ve seen dozens of reviews. All the ones I’ve seen are positive! The critics love this film. It’s ashame there wasn’t more put into marketing, the majority of people I tell about the movie don’t know anything about Wallace and Gromit, they’ll be missing a great thing and it’ll show in the boxoffice turnout.

Now on to the reviews:

USAToday.com: This ‘Curse’ is a joy for these clay mates (may also want to check out The secret history of ‘Wallace & Gromit’)

Horror.About.com: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

DetNews.com: ‘Wallace & Gromit’ is witty and edgy

The Mariner: Wallace, Gromit romp through `Were-Rabbit’

The Daily Advertiser: Wallace & Gromit’ is a complete delight

SeattleTimes.com: Hopped-up humor in Wallace & Gromit: “Were-Rabbit”

DenverPost.com: Wallace and Gromit’s return worth the wait

RogerEbert.com: Review of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Kentucky.com: ‘Wallace & Gromit’ take on long form, big rabbit

TheWMURChannel.com: ‘Wallace & Gromit’ Is Inventive Laugh-Riot

PaloAltoOnline.com: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

MLive.com: Wallace and Gromit hit the big time

Filmforce.IGN.com: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Review: The best animated film of the year.

No doubt there will be more reviews coming in as the days pass.

I found a couple other articles that aren’t reviews, enjoy!

Wallace and Gromit film cursed by a furry animal – This is perhaps the most amusing of all, the Isle of Portland, Dorset, has a local superstition regarding the word “rabbit” that prevents posters for the film being put up. I’ve seen this story pop up in several articles, but this is the best one thus far. Very amusing.

‘Wallace and Gromit are an extension of me’ – Pretty much an article about Nick Park, and how he likes to stay behind the camera and let WnG take the spotlight. Good stuff.

Join Wallace and Gromit’s Animated Adventures in Bristol – Article about the opening of an interactive exhibition called “Animated Adventures” at Explore-At-Bristol. Website for the exhibition can be found here: Animated Adventures featuring Wallace & Gromit.

That’s it for tonight.

I’m thrilled to say the movie was amazing! I saw it last night at a 7:40pm showing, hardly containing my excitement. I laughed out loud often, great humor. It was brilliant. I’m putting together my own, expanded, review but probably won’t be able to post it until tomorrow. In the meantime, why don’t you write one too? I’ll post reviews I receive on a page here, just email it to lyz@princessleia.com

The US release is tomorrow! I’m so excited! And I’m overwhelmed with articles coming in, it’s taken me a few hours to go through them all, quite a change from when I launched the site in 2002! I’d also like to announce that we’ve had more hits in this past week than ever before, thanks to everyone dropping by, and I hope it’s not too slow – afterall, I’m just a young american woman who wanted to launch a fansite one day and never expected such a huge movie release! Ok, I’ve blabbered on enough, on to the news!

The big news this week was the UK Premiere, pictures courtesy of BBC.

Wallace and Gromit get UK launch BBC.co.uk, short article about UK premiere

DreamWorks’ Wallace & Gromit To Fare Better Overseas – I admit, I’m a bit of a financial geek, this is a short Forbes article about what they expect from the release, let’s hope it breaks expectations!

Wallace & Gromit: Soundtrack Artwork & Details – I’m THRILLED to see this! Finally a real WnG Soundtrack! Details are on this site.

Wallace and Gromit in Three Amazing Adventures This is a good review of the new DVD with the shorts, including Cracking Contraptions.

I’ve found several reviews. WARNING! Possible spoilers:

Wallace & Gromit is a complete delight MSNBC.com review

A New Challenge for an Englishman and His Dog NYTimes.com review, includes the gem: “But Gromit, made by hand and animated by a painstaking stop-motion process, has something Shrek will never acquire in a hundred sequels: a soul.” THAT’S RIGHT! *grin*

Revie: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (G) zap2it.com review

Low tech, high humor: Wallace & Gromit retain charm in full-length feature NJ.com review

‘Wallace & Gromit’ a fine feat of clay NYDailyNews.com review

Movie review: ‘Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit’ MetroMix.com review

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit NewsDay.com review (clearly the author isn’t the fan of puns that I am! Still, this is the most negative review I’ve seen thus far, and it’s not bad)

Movie review: Fans will find ‘Wallace & Gromit’ feature worth the wait StarTribune.com review

Wallace and Gromit film cursed by a furry animal TimesOnline.co.uk review

I’ve found several more articles that give some background on who they are, and end with talking about the movie:

Wallace & Gromit get big-screen clay day

Wallace, Gromit had him at hello

‘Wallace & Gromit’ offer a ‘real kind of love’

Bunny Business

EW.com: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Phew! I’ve also received a couple emails over the past week. Jordan Bellamy dropped me a few to let me know about the premeire pictures here and to show me this site with a clip: Now Playing: Wallace and Gromit in UK premiere. Thanks Jordan!

Daniel Brett let me know about the new Recipes section on WandG.com – I was very much excited to see this! Thanks Daniel.

And if you haven’t been over to the Aardman site in a while, you might want to check out their new WnG market: Wallace & Gromit Shop – they have TONS of great stuff from the film!

If I’ve missed any important news, please don’t hesitate to drop me an email: lyz@princessleia.com

I guess that’s it for now. I’ll be seeing the movie tomorrow evening at 7:40. I’m so excited, I don’t know how I’ll get through work tomorrow! I’ll be wearing my oldest and favorite WnG t-shirt and will be sure to bring my stuffed Gromit along.

I’M SO EXCITED!!!

This is just a quick update before I run off to work. I went to the Burger King website this morning while talking about the marketing campaign for the film with some friends, and behold, they have a whole section about the Wallace and Gromit toys they will be giving away with kids meals!

BK.com: Wallace and Gromit

It’s been quite a busy week for me, so I apologize for taking longer to reply to emails and such than usual. Now, on to the updates!

Jordan, a fellow I know from York in the UK was kind enough to take some photos of the posters he saw around town. You can see them here and here. I’ve seen a couple posters here in the States, but I’m sure the ad campaign is more aggressive in the UK, I haven’t even seen commercials for the movie here (then again, I don’t watch much TV).

Jordan also let me know about a site that has all the clips released so far. I’ve known about 7 for a while now and how to grab the direct links, but I’d been holding back until we found the actual site that it was given to as an exclusive clip. But now that we’ve found most, we might as well go ahead and link to a site with them all: TheOneNetwork.com:The Wallace & Gromit Movie: Curse of the Wererabbit Videos. “Gromit Chases Were-rabbit” is the only one I haven’t posted about on this site. If the player on that page doesn’t work, you can download “Gromit Chases Were-rabbit” directly from dreamworks here – quicktime format.

I also got an email from Daniel Brett this week letting me know about the expansion of the Yahoo! page about the movie: here. This has some Design Art, which is really great, as well as pictures and links to some of the trailers and clips. Daniel also mentioned the redesign of the WnG movie site, which now includes clips from the flim when you navigate the site, so if you haven’t been over to WandG.com lately, you should check it out!

Now for this week’s articles:

Stop-motion coaxes ‘Corpse Bride,’ ‘Gromit’ to life – Another article about stop-motion that features Corpse Bride and WnG.

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit Ships – Article about the release of the WnG movie video game.

Wallace & Gromit return to consoles – Another article about the release of the video game.

Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit – A decent review of the game, but this site has a lot of clips and pictures from it, which are fun to check out.

Wallace & Gromit Clips and Features – More clips, including “stop motion technique” and “on his way to bun heaven”

How Wallace and Gromit conquered the world – A great, amusing article about WnG – worth reading!

Review: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit – Short review, at the bottom of the page they link to other articles they’ve had, and pictures.

Cracking cheese, Gromit! – A delightful article about enjoying the WnG films.

Wallace & Gromit’s U.S. romp – An optimistic article about WnG’s chances in the US market – “In other words, follow the cheese. The money will follow.” I hope the author is right!

Park hopes ‘Wallace & Gromit’ will win new fans This article opens up with “Sitting in the gardens of the Four Seasons hotel in Philadelphia, Nick Park sips a cappuccino and talks about “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” the first feature-length film of his beloved animated characters.” *GLEE* He was in Philly! The article is another outlining their history and hopes that the feature film will do well in the US.

Wallace & Gromit Promotional Campaign – And last, but certainly not least, this short article describes plans for Burger King toys for the movie. The article says they will be at over 7,000 restaurants but it’s unclear as to how many of those are in the US (Jordan let me know that they were in the UK already). Too bad I don’t eat fast food, I’ll need to either buy the toys on EBay or find someone to work with to aquire them.

I think that’s it. The WnG Comic was released on the 29th. I haven’t found a distributer in the US yet, if anyone knows of one, or somewhere you can buy them online that will ship to the US, I’d be happy to know, just drop me an email: lyz@princessleia.com. The same goes for other WnG news I might have missed, I always welcome emails!