For those waiting patiently for the past 18 years for a follow-up to Aardman Animations Chicken, you can finally rejoice at the news that the studio is working on the sequel with StudioCanal and Pathe.
Chicken Run, which was the most successful stop-motion animated film of all time, told the story of a group of plucky chickens attempting to escape certain death at the hands of their evil farm owner, the voice cast including the likes of Mel Gibson and Timothy Spall.
The film was Aardman’s first entry into the world of feature-length animations and was co-directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park. It received critical acclaim and grossed over $224 million. Although the film was released in 2000, Lord and Park first conceived the idea in 1995.
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Although no plot details have been forthcoming at this stage it is said that Oscar and BAFTA nominated, Sam Fell is set to direct. Original writers Karey Kirkpatrick (Smurfs 2, The Spiderwick Chronicles) and John O’Farrell have reunited to write the screenplay. Shaun the Sheep’s Paul Kewley is down to produce.DreamWorks beat out studios like Disney, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. and largely won due to the perseverance of DreamWorks co-chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg; as a company, they were eager to make their presence felt in the animation market in an attempt to compete with Disney’s dominance of the field.
Chicken Run 2 will likely go into production at Aardman’s studio in Bristol after it wraps on Shaun the Sheep Movie Farmageddon which is due for a cinematic release in 2019.
