WallaceAndGromit.net

The big news this week is that Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is one of the 10 films on the list for an Oscar nomination for best animated film. It’s got some intense competition to win, but I am confident it’ll make the cut for a nomination. Nominations will be announced January 31, 2006. BBC.co.uk: Gromit film makes Oscar longlist

I also came across this article: Wallace and Gromit Boost Cheese Sales. It talks about how the film release has boosted Wensleydale cheese sales!

Wallace’s premier pleasure in life is Wensleydale cheese, which is made in northern England, and UK supermarkets have seen a massive 23 per cent sales increase since The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit hit cinemas.

I have bought Wensleydale cheese quite regularly for a few years now, and have posted 3 different Wallace and Gromit cheese labels that I’ve purchased on the Wensleydale Cheese section. The most recent is one for the film!

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit topped the UK boxoffice charts for 3 weeks in a row (BBC article here). Can they do it again? We’ll see!

I spent some time today updating a few sections of the site. I added several pictures to the main Wallace and Gromit Movie Pictures Page. And added a whole section for Toys and other items after Jordan Bellamy sent me a bunch of photos of things relating to the film that he had bought, check out that section: The Wallace and Gromit Movie Toys and other Items, and feel free to email me if you have cool things to add!

Not much else to report, nearly all of the articles I’m finding regarding Wallace and Gromit are simply movie and game reviews. The movie reviews are still quite positive, game reviews lead me to believe the game is aimed at kids (pity!) but pretty decent for a “based off a movie” game.

In honor of the film release this year I carved my pumpkin as Gromit!

Started off with just a sketch copied from an old Wallace and Gromit calendar I have.

Gromit pumpkin after a few cuts

Nearly finished

Posing in my Princess Leia halloween costume next to the completed Gromit Pumpkin

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