Wallace and Gromit are a household name not just here in the UK but in countries across the world.
Their often hilarious antics in three short films have brought prestige and not a little money to Aardman studios and its headquarters in central Bristol - with an estimated £50m generated in merchandise each year. But now the tank-top wearing northerner and his put-upon sidekick are preparing to hit the big time, with the release of their first feature film Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit.  | | Fiendish goings on in the veg patch |
Made in Bristol and directed by creator Nick Park and Bristolian Steve Box, the film has taken about three years to create, two of which were spent filming. That may seem like quite a long time, but when you consider that two seconds footage a day is regarded as "a good day's work" by the animators, and that it can take three months to make a Wallace model from scratch, you can see why it would take so long. Aztec West More than 30 animators worked on the project, produced at Aardman's feature department at a former warehouse just off the M5 at Aztec West, along with dozens of model-makers, prop designers, set dressers, lighting technicians, sparks, runners and countless other bods. The new story sees Wallace and his hound Gromit running a pest-control business, called Anti-Pesto, where they are presented with an enormous challenge from a beast which is destroying the town's vegetable plots. Wallace is of course still voiced by Last of the Summer Wine's Peter Sallis, now an amazing 84-years-old, and is joined by a few new characters including Helena Bonham-Carter as the lovely Lady Tottington and Ralph Fiennes as the dastardly Lord Victor Quartermaine. Comedians Peter Kay and John Thompson also lend their voices to the film which is showing in local cinemas from 14th October 2005. Return It's a welcome return for the claymation characters, stars of A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave, who were last seen in a series of 10 short clips in 2002 called Cracking Contraptions.  | | A new line of business for the duo |
The series, initially web-shorts, was also screened by the BBC and were rumoured to be a way of training new Aardman animators in the "way of Wallace." The new 3D stop-motion film premiered in Sydney, Australia on 14th September to excellent reviews. It's thought Nick Park chose the location because of the positive reaction Australians gave Aardman's previous feature film Chicken Run. It hits America at the beginning of October before its UK screenings and the BBC has already bought the rights to screen the new film in 2008, along with a renewed deal to show the previous three Wallace and Gromit shorts and the Cracking Contraptions series. A 40-part, seven minutes each, spin-off animated series for children, featuring the cheese-loving couple's woolly sidekick Shaun the Sheep from A Close Shave, was also announced by CBBC last year and is due to be screened in 2007. According to the always affable Nick Park: "Wallace and Gromit are part of the family- they are like friends, well Plasticine friends." And like any good friend it's always nice to see them return and continue to keep Bristol on the world's animation map. COMING TUESDAY: An exclusive interview with the Bristol animator responsible for the mysterious Were-Rabbit. | 
