|
An Academy Award winning British animation studio founded in 1975 that specializes in Claymation. They began by producing shorts for children's programming on the BBC. In 1989 they won their first Oscar for the short Creature Comforts. They've made four 30 minute short films starring Wallace and Gromit, two of which won Oscars for best animated short film, and one feature-length film. Their art style is quite distinctive and their characters share certain features. Formerly had a production deal with Dreamworks Animation, and has formed a new deal with Sony.
Works they are known for
- Wallace and Gromit
- A Grand Day Out: the first Wallace and Gromit Short, it was released in 1989. It was nominated for the Academy Award (Oscar) for Animated Short Film, but lost to Aardman's other work, Creature Comforts.
- The Wrong Trousers: a 1993 short, it won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film that year.
- A Close Shave: released in 1995, it won the 1995 Academy Award for an Animated Short Film.
- Cracking Contraptions: a set of 10:30 shorts that were released on the Internet, then later as a limited edition Region 2 DVD, and again as bonus material on the Curse Of the Wererabbit DVD.
- Curse Of the Wererabbit: a theatrical release full-length feature made in 2005. It is the first Wallace And Gromit that isn't a short, and it won not only the Academy Award for "Best Animated Feature", but also the British Academy Film Awards' "Best British Film", the British Comedy Awards' "Best Comedy Film", and the Hugo for "Best Dramatic Presentation - Long Form", among many others.
- A Matter Of Loaf And Death: short film released in 2008, Academy Award nominee for Animated Short Film the following year.
- Wallace and Gromit's World of Inventions: an educational tv program that started airing in 2010. Wallace talks about famous or revolutionary inventions with Gromit's assistance.
- Creature Comforts: 1989 Academy Award winner for Animated Short Film, later adapted into a 2003 television series, with an American version in 2007.
- Chicken Run: The studio's first full-length feature, and the first of a planned 5-film collaboration with DreamWorks (which was cut short after three films).
- Flushed Away: first CGI feature, and their last film made in cooperation with Dreamworks.
- Shaun the Sheep: A television series that began in 2007 with a 40 episode season. It's a Spin-Off centered on the character of Shaun, the sheep from A Close Shave. It does not feature Wallace or Gromit, though. It is currently into its third season, and in 2008 won the Emmy for "Children's Production."
- Timmy Time: a spin-off of Shaun the Sheep featuring Timmy the lamb and his friends at prescool; aimed at a younger audience than the previous examples.
- Arthur Christmas: their first collaboration with Sony Pictures Animation, starring James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton, among others.
- The Pirates in An Adventure With Scientists (US title: The Pirates! Band of Misfits): their second work with SPA, based on the first in a series of books by Gideon Defoe, starring Hugh Grant, Salma Hayek, BRIAN BLESSED!, Jeremy Piven, and Imelda Staunton, and narrated by Crispin Freeman.