Aardman ink cracking new Sony deal

The future of the UK's largest animation studio looks safe after signing a three year deal with Sony. The Dreamworks deal had put the previously autonomous wunderkids under the thumb of Jeffrey Katzenberg, whose West Coast style seemed to jar with the West Country outfit. Rumours abounded about this clash of cultures, so when it fell through earlier this year, it seemed like it could be a good thing provided they weren't left without a major backer. Sony, who made Billy Connolly a squirrel  in their first animated feature last year, will hopefully be more sensitive to the Aardman sensibility. 

From Adam Dawtrey, Variety:

Sony Pictures Entertainment has agreed a three-year, first-look deal with Aardman Features, the Academy Award-winning animation studio behind such movies as "Flushed Away," "Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" and "Chicken Run."

Aardman, based in Bristol, England, previously had an overall deal with DreamWorks, but that relationship was formally terminated in January.

Sony and Aardman have not yet settled on their first movie project together, although Aardman execs say four scripts are already in advanced stages of development, including a new "Wallace and Gromit" project by Oscar-winning director Nick Park.

For Sony, the deal signals a commitment to expanding its animation and family features business.

SPE chairman and CEO Michael Lynton said, "Aardman Features is enormously popular around the world. We believe that their strength is their unique storytelling humor, sensibility and style and we plan to bring their distinctive animated voice to theaters for a long time to come."

Amy Pascal, co-chair of SPE, commented, "Aardman makes movies with lively humor, great stories, and fun distinctive visuals. They have boundless creative energy and a passion for animation that is hard to resist."

"Over the past 18 months, we have worked hard to create a new vision for Aardman Features," said Aardman COO Stephen Moore. "This includes an expanded development slate, increased production and plans to introduce new technical capabilities at our facility in Bristol."

"This agreement with Sony Pictures is very much at the heart of our new vision as they passionately support both Aardman's existing core creative values and enthusiastically support our creative ambitions for the future," he added.

Aardman co-founder and executive chairman David Sproxton said, "We know from experience that we create our best work when we do it from our home base here in Bristol, using first-class talent from the nation and around the world. It is Aardman's intention to expand this community to produce more world-class animated films."

That's a reference to Aardman's less-than-satisfactory experience producing "Flushed Away," its first CGI animated movie, in Los Angeles for DreamWorks. Although the pic grossed $176 million worldwide, it cost $130 million to make, whereas "Wallace and Gromit," which won the Oscar for best animated movie in 2005, cost $50 million and grossed nearly $200 million.

DreamWorks announced a substantial write-down on "Flushed Away" shortly before confirming the termination of its Aardman relationship, just two films into what was supposed to be a five-picture deal.

Aardman execs say that relationship finally foundered because DreamWorks Animation had refocused its strategy to concentrate on just two major releases a year, and that this made it very difficult to fit Aardman's quirky, leftfield and very British sensibility into the studio's narrow needs for U.S.-oriented tentpoles.

"The thing that attracted us to Sony is that they have a very broad taste, and they are distributing 20 movies a year around the world," Moore said. "Their desire to restrict us was much less, so we can make movies that follow Aardman's instinctive style."

In future, Aardman will be working in a range of animation styles, including both CGI and the stop-motion claymation projects for which it is best known. It also expects to produce pics at different budget levels, and plans to increase its rate of output to release a movie every 18 months.

Aardman was founded in 1975 by Sproxton and Peter Lord. They were later joined by Park, who won Oscars for two "Wallace and Gromit" shorts as well as the full-length feature.