27/06/2007

British animation powerhouse Aardman have announced a slew of stop frame and CG animation projects, following on from its new feature film deal with Sony Pictures. In addition, Sarah Smith, who joined the company as Head of Development in 2006, has been appointed Creative Director of Aardman features. Smith will supervise all feature projects through to completion. “We very much want Aardman to be a home for the British creative community and welcome the very best writers and artists to work with us to create original, vibrant and diverse animation projects, Sarah has already started this process,” said Aardman COO Stephen Moore.

Amongst the new projects announced is The Cat Burglars, where a gang of milk-stealing cats try and heist a milk float. Emmy winning writers Matthew Graham and Ashley Pharoah (Life On Mars) will collaborate with director Steve Box, who shared a Best Animated Feature Oscar for Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit [+see also:
trailer
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Smith has also bought an original concept from Peter Baynham, one of the Oscar nominated writers on Borat. Operation Rudolph, an action-adventure comedy set on Christmas night will reveal Santa and his elves’ massive military-style procedure to deliver gifts across the world on time. Further, studio founder Peter Lord (Chicken Run) returns with a comic adventure based on the cult Pirates! series by Gideon Defoe. In all, Aardman has six features in development including a non Wallace & Gromit film by Nick Park.

Sarah Smith said, “While there is clearly still a big appetite among cinema goers for great animated films, there is a feeling of sameness about much of the product coming out of the industry at present, in terms of their stories. I think there’s a great opportunity to excite audiences by raising the stakes in terms of the quality, intelligence and variety of the stories our animated films tell and the genres they inhabit. I’d like to help put Aardman at the forefront of this.”