The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

DreamWorks and Aardman Animation, home to the national treasures that are Wallace and Gromit, are parting company only two movies into a five-film deal. Flushed Away and the Oscar-winning Curse of the Were-Rabbit failed to bring in the box office returns that were hoped for, although DreamWorks said that the main reason for the break was more down to the fact DreamWorks wants to focus on CGI animation, while the boys from Bristol prefer to keep alive the fine craft of Claymation. Aardman spokesperson Arthur Sheriff commented:

“We always knew that America would be a hard task for us – we’re a very English company. We embrace the international market but we think part of our strength is our English sense of humour and we want to continue with that.”

There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of bad feeling, with DreamWorks head honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg professing still to be a big fan of Aardman, while Aardman owners Peter Lord and David Sproxton added that they had enjoyed their partnership with DreamWorks, but that the principal interests of both film companies were in different directions. It isn’t clear yet how this will affect Aardman, but the company has plans for “an ambitious slate of feature films projects” and would be announcing revised production and distribution plans in the near future.

I have a feeling this won’t be a huge surprise to many in the industry since there was a fair bit of speculation when the deal was first announced that the two companies were a bit mis-matched and more than a few folks were worried that Aardman’s unique and very British nature may be comprimised by a deal with a major Hollywood player, although such a deal did offer a fair bit of potential to them too. Given how enormously popular Aardman have proved to be I think they will still have a long-term future – let’s hope so, because they do make some lovely animation. The BBC also has a video report of the news here.