Netflix, Aardman prep new Wallace & Gromit movie for 2024 release

Stop-motion sequel Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget

Netflix and UK-based Aardman Animations are working on a new Wallace & Gromit movie, set to launch on the global streamer in 2024.

The new addition to the British stop-motion franchise will premiere exclusively on Netflix excluding the UK, where it will premiere on the BBC before moving onto the streamer.

Writing and storyboarding have already started, with franchise creator Nick Park once again helming the creative process.

Nick Park

Park, who also created Shaun the Sheep, is directing alongside Aardman’s Merlin Crossingham and working on the story with Mark Burton, who will pen the screenplay. Claire Jennings is producing the project, which does not yet have an official title.

Netflix and Aardman also revealed that the previously announced sequel to 2000’s action-adventure comedy Chicken Run will premiere exclusively on Netflix in 2023.

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is directed by Sam Fell (Flushed Away, The Tale of Despereaux) and executive produced by Aardman co-founder Peter Lord, Carla Shelley, Karey Kirkpatrick and Park. The script is being written by Kirkpatrick, John O’Farrell and Rachel Tunnard.

Twenty-two years on, the original Chicken Run remains the highest-grossing stop-motion animation film of all time, with an estimated box-office haul of around US$225m.

The sequel will star Thandiwe Newton, Zachary Levi, Bella Ramsey, Jane Horrocks, Imelda Staunton, Lynn Ferguson, Josie Sedgwick-Davies, David Bradley, Romesh Ranganathan, Daniel Mays and Nick Mohammed.

Netflix and Aardman said the decision to work together on these two major projects came after they began collaborating in 2019 on the stop-motion animated holiday special Robin Robin, which has been shortlisted for an Oscar and also made the BAFTA’s longlist for animated short films.

“Beyond these exciting projects, we’re also exploring how we work together on brand-new characters and stories to make the classics of tomorrow. We’re excited to share where this journey takes us,” said a post from Lord and Aram Yacoubian, director, animation film, Netflix.