It’s 18 years later, and the chickens are still revolting. In an announcement that is unexpected to say the least, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that a sequel to 2000’s classic stop-motion animated comedy Chicken Run is on the way from Aardman Animations, creators of the original. Details are scarce at the moment, but it’s known that Aardman will handle animation while producing alongside StudioCanal and Pathe, which co-financed the original film with DreamWorks Animation.
The original 2000 Chicken Run, co-direced by Peter Lord and Wallace & Gromit creator Nick Park, was a global hit that still stands as the most successful stop-motion animated feature of all time. It grossed a whopping $106 million in the U.S. (reminder, this was in 2000), on the way to a global box office of $225 million. In the years since, Aardman has continued to produce animation such as Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Flushed Away and 2018’s Early Man.
Attached to direct the Chicken Run sequel is Sam Fell, Oscar-nominated for Paranorman, with original writers Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell returning to write the script. Aardman co-founder and original co-director of Chicken Run, Peter Lord, will be in an executive producing role.
What’s unknown is whether any of the original film’s characters or cast will return. One would assume that if we’re returning to the world of Chicken Run we’d like to see where the adventures of Ginger, Rocky and the gang go next, but do you really want Mel Gibson anchoring your animated film at this point? It wouldn’t be surprising to see at least some of those roles be recast.
THR theorizes that Chicken Run 2 will probably go into production at Aardman’s studio in Bristol after it finishes its Shaun the Sheep sequel, due for release next year. This likely means we’ll be waiting a year or two for some more Chicken Run, but that should be plenty of time to perfect your gravy of choice.