I always breathe a sigh of relief after the announcement of a new Aardman Animation project. The studio behind some of the most imaginative stop-motion projects of the past 50 years has never been as household name or blockbuster as Walt Disney Animation, but founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton’s idiosyncratic claymation company remains just as important to the arts. . So you can imagine how loud I screamed “cheeeeeese!” when Netflix announced a new outing for Aardman’s unofficial mascots, Wallace and Gromit.
Coming “this winter” (but positioned as a 2025 release in Netflix’s press release), Wallace & Gromit: Revenge on the Most Birds picks up well-mannered bumbling inventor Wallace and his watchful dog Gromit as they stand on the edge of our current techpocalypse. It appears that Wallace has been completely poached by Silicon Valley, and “Gromit’s concerns that Wallace is becoming too dependent on his inventions appear to be justified,” according to a synopsis. The Tipping Point: Wallace’s invention of an AI “smart” gnome that goes rogue. But there’s another familiar face pulling the strings: Feathers McGraw.
Introduced in the 1993 Oscar-winning short film The wrong pants – one of the best chase movies of all time? – Feathers is a silent criminal mastermind known to pose as a chicken with a red rubber glove worn as a hat. He has appeared in blink-and-you-miss-it cameos in other Wallace shorts and Gromit, the pair’s only feature film. The curse of the wererabbitand even the woefully under-discussed 2003 video game Wallace & Gromit at Project ZooBut Revenge most birds is expected to give the penguin his real follow-up moment, as seen in a short teaser for the film.
Image: Netflix
While Aardman’s distinctly British production struggles to connect with American audiences – films like The pirates! Band of misfits, Shaun the sheepAnd Early man were hits around the world and blips in the United States – the streaming era was kind to the studio. Along with producing last year’s sequel to Chicken coop for Netflix, the studio also collaborated with Disney for the first time in 2023, producing a segment for the Star Wars: Visions anthology series. And last December, Aardman even produced a Wallace and Gromit VR game for MetaQuestand reminds us that there is no place these two can’t go.
A new Wallace and Gromit movie on Netflix is a no-brainer and a sign of respect: if Wes Anderson could do it, obviously Aardman can too.
Wallace & Gromit: Revenge on the Most Birds is once again directed by longtime Aardman creator Nick Park. Actor Ben Whitehead returns as the voice of Wallace, after initially taking over from Peter Sallis The curse of the were-rabbit. The short is ready for this winter and is a preparation for the Oscar season.