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Not only is stop motion one of the most complicated forms of animation, it’s also reliant on having some of the most talented, and patient, craftspeople in the business. That’s something Aardman Animations, the studio behind Oscar-nominated film Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, is certainly known for.

Deadline spoke with six key craftspeople – editor Dan Hembery, cinematographer Dave Alex Riddett, production designer Matt Perry, puppet designer Anne King, supervising animator Will Becher and VFX supervisor Howard Jones – as well as producer Richard Beek and directors Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham to discuss how they bring their clay puppets to life.

One of the most involved scenes in the Netflix film takes place at the end, where Gromit pursues Feathers through an aqueduct on a “high-speed” boat chase. This scene was one of the more collaborative in the film, requiring every department to lend a hand.

“For stop motion,...

The Pokémon Company International and Aardman Animations have announced a special project coming to audiences in 2027. The collaboration will see Aardman bringing its unique style of storytelling to the Pokémon universe in brand-new adventures.

Taito Okiura, VP of Marketing and Media at The Pokémon Company International, commented, “This is a dream partnership for Pokémon. Aardman are masters of their craft, and we have been blown away by their talent and creativity. What we have been working on together ensures our global Pokémon fans are in for a treat!”

Sean Clarke, Managing Director of Aardman, added, “It’s a huge honour to be working with The Pokémon Company International — we feel sincerely privileged to be trusted with bringing their characters and world to life in a brand-new way. Bringing together Pokémon, the world’s biggest entertainment brand, together with our love of craft, character and comedic storytelling feels incredibly exciting.

“Aardman...

The prospect of creating a stop motion film is daunting, to say the least. The process of taking a photo, altering a scene slightly, then taking another photo, over and over can almost make the medium seem pointlessly complicated for a filmmaker… and yet, there is something about the handcrafted aesthetic of a stop motion film that can’t be matched by anything digital. And that special something is where Aardman Animations has made their mark.

In their first big film outing since 2008’s A Matter of Loaf and Death, the iconic duo from Aardman Animations return for Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. Gromit becomes concerned that Wallace is becoming too dependent on his inventions, and his fears are proven right when Wallace’s new “Smart Gnome” Norbot seems to develop a mind of its own.

In anticipation of the film, Deadline was given a tour of Aardman Animations...

Netflix has revealed the official trailer and posters for Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, the new stop-motion animated comedy film by Aardman Animations. The film will be available on Netflix (excluding the UK) on January 3, 2025.

The movie will premiere on 25 December 2024 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK. It has been rated PG by the MPA for some action and rude humor.

Aardman’s four-time Academy Award-winning director Nick Park and Emmy Award-nominated Merlin Crossingham return with a brand new epic adventure, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.

In this new installment, Gromit’s concern that Wallace is becoming too dependent on his inventions proves justified when Wallace invents a “smart” gnome that seems to develop a mind of its own.

When it emerges that a vengeful figure from the past might be masterminding things, it falls to Gromit to battle sinister forces and save his master…...

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl sees the return of the iconic villain, Feathers McGraw. Wallace and Gromit are the reason he was captured, and he has been stewing on it for quite some time. Finally, he sees an opportunity for revenge and takes it when Wallace invents a helper robot gnome named Norbot. Vengeance Most Fowl explores the idea that sometimes we are too reliant on technology.

The first Wallace & Gromit film since the 2008 BAFTA-winning and Oscar-nominated A Matter of Loaf and Death, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl brings together four-time Academy Award-winning director Nick Park and Emmy Award-nominated Merlin Crossingham for a brand-new adventure. Bringing together old characters and new, this film is a wonderful addition to the legacy that is Wallace & Gromit.

Related Wallace & Gromit's Feathers McGraw Comeback Makes Me So Happy (But Something's Still Missing)

While Feathers McGraw coming back to Wallace & Gromit is more...

Netflix has shared a first look at Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, the new stop-motion animated comedy film by Aardman Animations. The film will be available on Netflix (excluding the UK) on January 3, 2025.

The movie will premiere on 25 December 2024 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK. It has been rated PG by the MPA for some action and rude humor.

Aardman’s four-time Academy Award-winning director Nick Park and Emmy Award-nominated Merlin Crossingham return with a brand new epic adventure, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.

In this next installment, Gromit’s concern that Wallace is becoming too dependent on his inventions proves justified when Wallace invents a “smart” gnome that seems to develop a mind of its own.

When it emerges that a vengeful figure from the past might be masterminding things, it falls to Gromit to battle sinister forces and save his master… or Wallace...

A four-time Oscar winner best known for the Wallace and Gromit stop-motion series, Nick Park has an abiding affection for his own iconic creations, often contemplating what the next chapter might be, when it comes to the eccentric inventor and his anthropomorphic dog. At the same time, Park is an artist of diverse interests, who knows when it’s time to turn the page. Winning Best Animated Feature with 2005’s The Curse of the Were-Rabbit—which saw the pair digging into a curious mystery involving garden sabotage—Park saw the opportunity to try something new with his next feature, Early Man, introducing a whole new group of characters and a compelling prehistoric world, which stemmed from an idea he’d contemplated for years.

Set at the dawn of time, Aardman Animations’ latest follows Dug, a prehistoric man who unites with his tribe to combat a threat from Lord Nooth, the...

Since the early days of home video Ray Harryhausen’s films have been a lightning rod for companies eager to one-up the competition with bigger and brighter releases of the beloved animator’s work. Located in the UK, Powerhouse/Indicator is the latest to jump on the bandwagon with lavishly appointed blu ray sets each featuring three of his films. Though all these movies have been previously released through other companies, Powerhouse has upped the ante with fresh transfers and a broad slate of new extras.

The Wonderful Worlds of Ray Harryhausen, Vol. One: 1955-1960

Blu-ray – All Region

Powerhouse/Indicator

2001 / 1:85 / Street Date September 25, 2017

Starring Kenneth Tobey, William Hopper, Kerwin Matthews

Cinematography: Henry Freulich, Irving Lippman, Carlo Ventimiglia, Wilkie Cooper

Film Editor: Jerome Thoms, Edwin H. Bryant, Raymond Poulton

Produced by Sam Katzman, Charles H. Schneer

Music: Mischa Bakaleinikoff, Bernard Herrmann

Directed by Robert Gordon, Nathan Juran, Jack Sher

It Came from Beneath the Sea...

A look at the past three decades of Aardman Animations’ inventive stop-motion animation -- which includes the iconic Wallace & Gromit films as well as Shaun the Sheep Movie -- dazzled more than 1,000 fans at the annual Siggraph high-tech CG conference, which started Sunday at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The studio's co-founder David Sproxton and cinematographer Dave Alex Riddett received enthusiastic cheers as they started the session, with Sproxton emphasizing how they were inspired to specialize in the century old art form of stop motion by its pioneer, the late Ray Harryhausen. With them were clay puppets of Wallace, Gromit and

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences celebrates the work of Aardman Animations with three programs featuring the studio’s Oscar-winning and nominated Wallace And Gromit shorts on Friday, August 7, and Sunday, August 9.

Aardman’s latest film, Shaun The Sheep Movie, will be released in U.S. theaters on August 7.

Wallace and Gromit Restored – The Marc Davis Celebration of Animation

Friday, August 7, 7:30 p.m. │Samuel Goldwyn Theater, Beverly Hills

As part of the Academy’s Marc Davis Celebration of Animation series, Aardman Animations co-founder David Sproxton and Wallace and Gromit cinematographer Dave Alex Riddett will discuss the making of the studio’s Oscar-winning shorts “The Wrong Trousers” and “A Close Shave,” and the Oscar-nominated shorts “A Grand Day Out” and “A Matter of Loaf and Death.”

The program also will include the world premiere screening of the restorations of all four films, the result of a collaborative effort...

My former colleague Dave Borthwick, who has died of pneumonia after a long illness, aged 65, was one of the world's leading animation directors. He pioneered a unique style mixing stop-frame models and pixilated live actors.

Dave was born in Bristol, and graduated in graphic design from the West of England College of Art (now the University of the West of England) in 1969. He went on to design and operate light shows and multimedia lighting which made extensive use of 2D animation techniques. Six years with the Crystal Theatre, a Bristol-based experimental theatre company, were followed by a postgraduate radio film and television course in 1977 at Bristol University, during which he made Recent Fiction, a live action film.

Dave worked as a cameraman in the film and TV industry in Britain and Denmark. He directed a music video for the Korgis in 1979 and short films for the BBC and Danish TV.

A foxy Oscar hopeful is too clever by half in a week that also offers some terrific twisty horror and a strangely anaemic vampire outing

A few years ago, animation fans became (justifiably) alarmed by the ubiquity of CG "digimation", which seemed to be devouring all in its path. Tales of Hollywood studio bosses walking through their animation departments and "switching off the light boxes" seemed like harbingers of a dismally monotheistic future. Yet against the odds the future looks bright; not only has digital king John Lasseter been a flag-waver for Japan's Ghibli studios (Hayao Miyazaki owes him much) and Disney's artistic heritage, we now have an Oscar race that pitches 3D digital animation against "old-fashioned' 2D hand-drawn and even diehard stop-motion animation. While the stereoscopically modern Up will surely triumph over the quaintly archaic Princess and the Frog in the main animation category, it's odds-on for Aardman's equally...

With five nominations, "Iron Man" leads the list for the seventh annual Ves Awards, which were chosen Saturday by panels comprised of members of the Visual Effects Society.

The Marvel Studios-produced superhero movie was cited in the categories of visual effects in a visual effects-driven movie, best single visual effect of the year, outstanding animated character in a live-action movie, outstanding models and miniatures in a feature, and outstanding special effects in a movie. The nominees cited for "Iron Man" are Ben Snow, Hal Hickel, Victoria Alonso and John Nelson.

Its competition for the best visual effects in a visual effects-driven movie honor are "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" (Wendy Rogers, Dean Wright, Andrew Fowler, Greg Butler), "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (Eric Barba, Edson Williams, Nathan McGuinness, Lisa Beroud), "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" (Michael J. Wassel, Lucy Killick, Adrian de Wet, Eamonn Butler) and "Cloverfield" (Kevin Blank,...