After laying off 90 crewmembers when the $40m production was halted in July, new writers Rob Sprackling and John Smith have set to on new draft, based on an advanced draft on Chicken Run scriptwriters Karey Kirkpatrick and Mark Burton.

Aardman executive producer Michael Rose said, "They have both live action and animation experience which makes them ideal for us. And they share the Aardman sense of humour."

The expensive and embarrassing delay has set the film back six months, but Aardman has sensibly bitten the bullet rather than risking an under developed script. They are still aiming for a 2003 release.