StudioCanal and Pathe are on board for the follow-up to the 2000 original, still the most successful stop-motion animated feature of all time.
Almost 20 years after Chicken Run became the most successful stop-motion animated film of all time (a record it still holds to this day), The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Aardman Animations is officially working on a sequel.
Details of the film are scarce at the moment, with the project not yet ready to hit markets. But THR understands that the U.K. animation powerhouse is developing the film alongside StudioCanal, with which it has partnered on its most recent titles, and Pathe, which co-financed the original with DreamWorks Animation and distributed it in Europe.
Sam Fell, who earned Oscar and BAFTA nominations for 2012's ParaNorman and also helmed Aardman's Flushed Away in 2006, is attached to direct, with Paul Kewley (Shaun the Sheep Movie) producing. Original writers Karey Kirkpatrick (Over the Hedge, Smurfs 2, The Spiderwick Chronicles) and John O'Farrell have been reunited to pen the screenplay. Aardman's co-founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton are executive producing.
The 2000 Chicken Run original – Aardman's first full-length feature and co-directed by Lord and Oscar-winning Wallace & Gromit creator Nick Park – became a smash hit on both sides of the Atlantic, grossing $106 million in the U.S. and amassing a global haul of $225 million.
Telling the story of a group of plucky chickens attempting to escape certain death at the hands of their evil farm owner and boasting a voice cast including the likes of Mel Gibson and Timothy Spall, the film was also critically acclaimed, with a 97 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating alongside BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations.
Although it hasn't been confirmed, Chicken Run 2 will likely go into production at Aardman's studio in Bristol after it wraps on Shaun the Sheep Movie Farmageddon, the sequel to 2015's Shaun the Sheep the Movie, which is due for release next year.
A follow-up to Chicken Run has long been discussed, with an online petition backing the idea launching last year.
Jowicodi on April 26th, 2018 at 13:14 UTC »
I remember renting Chicken Run back when it first came out on DVD. That whole day and night, my wife and I had been fighting terribly... interspersed with tense silences and folded arms. The problem was: It was date night. Kids were at their grandparents’ and everything. But when we sat down on the sofa and put the DVD in, we were not in the mood to watch anything. But in a “let’s not fucking waste the one fucking night we have to watch this fucking movie” kind of spirit, we pressed play.
Honestly, we laughed so hard all the way through that movie, it was impossible to remain angry. Though the day and half the evening was already behind us, the rest of our night was very relaxed and warm and it made for a great date after all. All because that movie was so irresistibly hilarious.
I’ve been divorced for a while now. I blame it on the sequel taking so long.
WallopyJoe on April 26th, 2018 at 10:37 UTC »
Are the chickens still revolting?
oxy-mo on April 26th, 2018 at 09:01 UTC »
Chickens go in, sequels come out