Co-financed and distributed by Studiocanal, the new animated adventure comedy from Aardman Studios opened on January 26 in the United Kingdom.
After Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run, the British animated-film director Nick Park brings us Early Man, his latest Claymation comedy.
True to the unmistakable style of Aardman productions, the movie draws us into a series of jubilant adventures led by Dug, a plucky young Stone Age caveman, and his faithful companion Hognob, who set themselves the task of unifying their tribe against a powerful enemy, Lord Nooth, leader of the Bronze Age city where soccer reigns, and who is threatening to take over their land…
Through Early Man, Studiocanal continues to pursue the successful partnership that had previously distinguished itself with Shaun the Sheep Movie. Early Man was co-financed by StudioCanal, which distributed it the United Kingdom and France and is about to do so in Germany, Australia and New Zealand. The company is also in charge of the movie’s international sales.
This movie is Aardman Studios’ biggest production since they were founded over 40 years ago. Filming began in May 2016 and was completed during the last weeks of 2017.
A few figures give an idea of the scale of this ambitious project: almost 150 people were involved in making the movie, which required 273 clay models created by 23 designers over a period of 30 months. Each model represents over 10 weeks of work. There are 18 clones of Dug and 8 for each member of the Stone Age tribe. Nearly 3,000 interchangeable mouths, designed to fit all the characters, were produced by hand!
Eddie Redmayne (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) stars as Dug, and Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) as Goona.
The movie, released in the UK in January 26, will be released in the US on February 16.
