This studio creates critically acclaimed, top-ranking Oscar-winning films at a budget below $40 million.
This studio creates critically acclaimed, top-ranking Oscar-winning films at a budget below $40 million.
Making movies is a high-stakes game. Films from popular movie franchises often cost over $300 million and don't always make waves at the box office due to decreasing cinema audiences. It seems like a dream to make movies for less than $40 million, have full funding upfront, get global exposure, and win Oscars. Yet, for one studio, this is just another day at the office.
When you ask an animation expert about influential British artists in the industry, Aardman is often mentioned. Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, praised their stop-motion productions as a "celebration of the medium of animation," and Brad Bird, Oscar-winning director of The Incredibles and Ratatouille, commended them for having "knockout scene after knockout scene in a row."
Initially formed in 1972 by film enthusiasts Peter Lord and David Sproxton, Aardman started by creating animated segments for the BBC series Vision On, designed for deaf children. Their unique selling point was the creation of anthropomorphic clay characters, with one of their earliest, Morph, becoming a beloved icon in British children's television.
Their captivating animation style brought Aardman numerous commercial jobs throughout the 1980s, but it wasn't until 1990 that they gained international recognition. Their Creature Comforts picture, which won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, was groundbreaking for featuring clay animals talking in zoos, using audio tracks of actual interviews with residents of a housing estate and senior living homes.
Creature Comforts brought the creatures to life with a human-like quality, with standout characters like Tracey, a depressed female gorilla, and a hippopotamus calf complaining about the cold weather, the cramped living conditions, and the lack of freedom. Nick Park, the animator behind Creature Comforts, had claimed the top award in the industry, but his masterpiece was still to come.
With the Oscar success under his belt, Park focused on creating his most expressive characters yet—Wallace, a bald British inventor with a love for cheese, and Gromit, an intelligent yet silent dog. The duo first appeared in the 1989 BBC short A Grand Day Out, but their real fame came in 1993 with the release of their 30-minute film The Wrong Trousers.
The Wrong Trousers introduced a cunning penguin named Feathers McGraw, who quickly became a fan favorite by posing as a lodger, taking control of Wallace's remote-controlled tech-trousers, and stealing a diamond while Wallace was asleep.
The film is famous for its slapstick humor, with Feathers disguising himself as a chicken by wearing a red rubber glove on his head. The climax includes a high-speed chase that is widely regarded as one of the most incredible sequences of stop-motion animation ever created, featuring Gromit chasing Feathers aboard a model train, laying fresh rails with his paws a blur as it accelerates ahead.
Only in Hollywood could luck strike twice, and in 1995, Park won another Oscar for his next Wallace & Gromit movie, A Close Shave. This collaboration paved the way for DreamWorks Animation to partner with Aardman on several films, including Flushed Away, their first computer-animated movie, and Chicken Run, featuring Mel Gibson and becoming the highest-grossing stop-motion animated film of all time at $224.9 million, according to Box Office Mojo.
Creating stop-motion films is an intricate process that requires animators to make minuscule movements to the characters before shooting each frame. This means that 1,440 separate shots are required for just one minute of screen time.
This explains why Wallace and Gromit had a decade-long absence before reappearing in 2005 with their first full-length feature film, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, directed by Park. At 85 minutes long, the film remained at number one on worldwide box office charts for three consecutive weeks, eventually grossing $192.7 million, making it the second-highest-grossing stop-motion animated film in history.
The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is a parody of classic monster movies and Hammer Horror films, where Wallace and Gromit launch their Anti-Pesto pest control company to take on a rabbit infestation before the annual Giant Vegetable Competition. They soon discover that the burly bunny is actually the culprit, pushing Wallace’s personality to switch places with it and transforming the inventor into the were-rabbit.
By this time, A-list actors were eager to voice Wallace & Gromit characters, with The Curse of the Were-Rabbit featuring Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes. Its extended length earned it a nomination for the Best Animated Feature Film and clinched the top award at the 2006 Academy Awards, giving Wallace & Gromit their third Oscar triumph. This victory strengthened Aardman's confidence in claymation, setting them apart from the computer animation that DreamWorks was renowned for, and leading to their 2007 separation.
The Were-Rabbit's Curse drained Aardman, with Wallace's chilling transformation sequence alone taking a full year to film as per Park's account. Following this intense stint, it's understandable that Aardman's subsequent project was considerably shorter, but still required three years to complete.
Wallace & Gromit: Loaf and Death's Matter was a 29-minute short, debuting on ABC1 in Australia on December 3, 2008, prior to its Christmas Day premiere on the BBC One network in the UK. With a peak average audience of 14.3 million viewers, it not only attracted the largest audience on UK TV on Christmas Day, but also became the most-watched program of the entire year.
Subsequent feature films followed, such as The Pirates! Band of Misfits and the 2023 sequel, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget. While these films were critically acclaimed, they failed to match the popularity of Wallace & Gromit. Aardman chose to pause further productions out of respect for the duo's legacy. However, they've now resumed work on a new Wallace & Gromit feature film.
The project, originally titled A Tall Tale, eventually became Vengeance Most Fowl. Following numerous developments, it was premiered at the closing event of the AFI Fest on October 27, 2024, at the historic Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, followed by a limited theater release.
Picking up from where The Wrong Trousers left off, Vengeance Most Fowl brings back Feathers McGraw, who was allegedly imprisoned in a zoo for stealing a diamond in the previous film. From his cell, the cunning penguin manipulates a robotic gnome created by Wallace, and hatches a daring escape plan. His plan is further complicated by another botched attempt to obtain the diamond.
Vengeance Most Fowl was watched by 9.38 million viewers on its Christmas Day broadcast on BBC One, making it the second-most-watched program in the UK since 2022, surpassed only by the Christmas special of Gavin & Stacey, which aired on the same day. The film was released on Netflix on a Friday and received unanimous acclaim, earning a perfect 100% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Vengeance Most Fowl is up for a Golden Globe tonight and is being tipped as a strong contender for the Best Animated Feature award at this year's Academy Awards.
Aardman's relationship with Netflix extends beyond distribution, as Netflix was instrumental in the production of Vengeance Most Fowl. This is revealed in the latest financial statement for the Aardman subsidiary responsible for producing the film.
Called Working At Gnome Limited, a reference to the movie's robotic star and the pandemic restrictions in place during production greenlighting, the statement states that the production of Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is being funded by a mix of pre-arranged licensing agreements, TV tax credits, and bank financing secured in February 2024.
The loan, amounting to $6.9 million (£5.4 million) from historic British bank Coutts & Company, accrues interest at 1.5% above the base rate. The TV tax credits amount to a reimbursement of up to 25.5% of the money spent on production in the UK. The licensing arrangements form the remaining portion of the funding.
The statement lists $19.4 million (£15.2 million) under the category of accruals and deferred income, which represents money received for goods or services that have not yet been delivered to the customer. The statement specifies that "the amounts received from the licensee are secured on the production rights until the release of the production." Netflix Worldwide Entertainment LLC holds a charge over the company's assets to cover the cost of the movie, until it's released on Netflix.
The amount paid by the licensee is almost equal to the $19 million (£14.9 million) value of the work in progress, according to the statement. The statement is dated December 31, 2023, ten months before Vengeance Most Fowl was premiered, and an increase in the cost is expected by the time of the film's release. This would put it on par with the £19.1 million ($36.8 million) costs and expenses of The Were-Rabbit's Curse shown in the 2004 filings for Anti Pesto Limited, which produced the film.
The cost of producing stop-motion animated films is significantly lower than live-action blockbusters or computer-animated movies from major studios. Even a minor film like 2011's animated romantic comedy Gnomeo & Juliet cost $71.2 million (£43.2 million) to produce, according to Disney's financial filings.
Revenge of the Ugly reached a peak of 106 workers, while The Curse of the Were-Hare hit its highest at 126 in 2004. Their annual earnings averaged around $63,000 (£32,498) for each employee. Although this might seem meager, Aardman's staff hold an edge over their counterparts in other major movie studios - they own the company.
This privilege is a result of the company's founders, Lord and Sproxton, transferring the control of Aardman Holdings, the company's parent company, to its employees in 2018, aiming to preserve its independence.
According to their latest financial records, as of December 31, 2023, the company had 417 employees who were collectively paid $27.8 million (£21.8 million), resulting in an average salary of $67,000. The highest-paid director took home $216,023 (£169,692), a stark contrast to the millions raked in by industry leaders such as Disney's CEO Bob Iger, who earned a $31.6 million compensation package in 2023.
Despite incurring a $3.4 million (£2.7 million) net loss on $34 million (£26.7 million) in revenue in 2023, the employees' dedication remained unwavering.
Reportedly, Revenge of the Ugly needed more than 40 shooting units, 30 animators, and 30 set dressers. Their secret to success lies in patience and persistence. Wallace has a unique mouth for every phonetic sound, clay desks are intentionally aged, and 60 distinct variations of the gnome robot were created. It typically takes an animator up to a week to capture only five seconds of footage.
Their method demonstrates that with enough resolve, a blockbuster can be made even on an extremely limited budget. This strategy has proven to be a winning combination and serves as an inspiring guide for the rest of Hollywood to emulate as the financial risks in filmmaking continue to escalate.
- Aardman Animations, the studio behind Wallace & Gromit, is now partnering with Netflix for their upcoming features, including 'Vengeance Most Fowl'.
- The stop-motion animation spectacular 'Vengeance Most Fowl', a Wallace & Gromit production, has been nominated for the Golden Globes in the category of Best Animated Feature.
- The success of 'Vengeance Most Fowl', the latest Wallace & Gromit film from Aardman Animations, has been funded in part by Netflix, as revealed in the company's financial statement.