Netflix set to get a sequel to one of the best animations of all time

Aardman Animatons is making a new Wallace and Gromit film, to be released in time for Christmas 2024. It's called Vengeance Most Fowl.

Not that long ago we heard Aardman’s future might be in doubt thanks to them being on the verge of literally running out of clay. But there’s clearly been enough for another Wallace and Gromit adventure.

Vengeance Most Fowl will see the pair take on their old enemy, the penguin Feathers McGraw. He featured in the 1993 Aardman classic Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers.

A short teaser for the 70-minute movie has been released, teased with the line “this is one bird who just can't be caged... Feathers McGraw is back!”

Vengeance Most Fowl’s cast includes Ben Whitehead as Wallace, while Peter Kay plays the chief inspector. Reece Shearsmith, Diane Morgan, Adjoin Anode, Lauren Patel and Lenny Henry also feature.

Want to feel old? At the time of writing it has been 15 years and five months, or 5643 days, since the last Wallace and Gromit movie. That was Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death.

The BBC says Vengeance Most Fowl is coming out “this winter” but previous Wallace and Gromit films were released bang on Christmas Day.

Those in the UK will be able to watch the film on the BBC, and it will stream on Netflix elsewhere.

We first heard details about this film back in 2022, but they sounded quite different to this latest penguin-related tease.

“The as-yet-untitled new film focuses on Gromit’s concern that Wallace has become over-dependant on his inventions which proves justified when Wallace invents a “smart gnome” that seems to develop a mind of its own,” said the BBC in 2022.

Did Aardman’s Nick Park think the whole AI thing was too played and shift focus, or is this still a Vengeance Most Fowl subplot? Considering Aardman animator Peter Lord was talking to Radio 4’s Loose Ends about the robot story earlier in 2024, it seems safe to assume there have been no U-turns. Aardman Animation productions run slow and steady, and aren’t really compatible with big shifts.

Its films are also some of the strongest slow burn hits on Netflix. In the streamer's last What We Watched report, it was revealed Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget was the 41st most popular film on Netflix, with just under 60 million hours viewed from June to December 2024. The original Chicken Run placed 153rd with 20 million hours.

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