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Chicken Run
2000 stop-motion animated comedy film

Chicken Run is a 2000 stop-motion animated comedy film produced by British studio Aardman Animations with DreamWorks Animation and Pathé. Directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park, it features voices from Julia Sawalha and Mel Gibson. The story follows chickens attempting to escape their farm, relying on a rooster named Rocky. Critically acclaimed and commercially successful, it grossed over $224 million, becoming the highest-grossing stop motion animated film in history. A sequel is currently in development.

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Plot

A group of chickens live on an egg farm run by the Tweedys. They try to escape frequently, but are always caught. Frustrated at the minuscule and declining profits that the farm generates, Mrs. Tweedy conceives an idea of converting the farm to automated production and having a pie machine to turn the chickens into meat pies.

One day, the chickens' leader, Ginger, witnesses a rooster named Rocky Rhodes crash-land in the farm; the chickens put a cast on his injured wing and hide him from the Tweedys. Interested in Rocky's apparent flying abilities, Ginger begs him to help teach her and the chickens to fly. Rocky gives them training lessons while Mr. Tweedy builds the pie machine. Later, Rocky holds a party when his wing is healed, and Ginger insists he demonstrate flying the next day, but Mr. Tweedy finishes making the pie machine and puts Ginger in it for a test run. Rocky saves her and inadvertently sabotages the machine, giving them time to warn the others of the Tweedys' plans and only a short time to escape.

The next day, Ginger finds Rocky has fled, leaving behind part of a poster that reveals he was a stunt rooster, fired from a cannon and unable to fly himself, depressing her and the others. Elderly rooster Fowler tries to cheer them up by telling stories of his time as a mascot in the Royal Air Force, giving Ginger the idea to create a plane to flee the farm.

The chickens assemble parts for the plane as Mr. Tweedy fixes the machine. Mrs. Tweedy insists Mr. Tweedy gather all the chickens for the machine, but when he comes in, the chickens attack him, leaving him bound and gagged as they finish the plane. Rocky returns and joins them, but while they are taking off, Mrs. Tweedy chases them and climbs up a strand of Christmas lights snagged by the plane. Ginger races to sever it; she succeeds, sending Mrs. Tweedy into the pie machine and causing a gravy explosion. The chickens continue their flight until they find an island, where they enjoy their freedom and Ginger and Rocky start a relationship.

Voice cast

  • Julia Sawalha as Ginger, a hen who is determined to save her fellow chickens from their impending doom on the Tweedys' farm. She is usually the one that comes up with ideas and is generally more intelligent than the other chickens.
  • Mel Gibson as Rocky Rhodes, a laid-back American circus rooster who crash-lands on the farm and teaches the chickens to fly at Ginger's request.
  • Miranda Richardson as Mrs. Tweedy, a greedy and cantankerous lady who decides to convert her farm into a chicken pot pie factory.
  • Tony Haygarth as Mr. Tweedy, Mrs. Tweedy's oafish, henpecked husband. He is cruel to the chickens and, despite his unintelligence, more suspicious than his wife of their escape plans, correctly identifying Ginger as their leader.
  • Benjamin Whitrow as Fowler, a feisty elderly rooster who regularly prattles about his Royal Air Force experiences.
  • Timothy Spall as Nick, a cynical, portly rat who smuggles contraband into the compound.
  • Phil Daniels as Fetcher, a rat who is Nick's slim, slow-witted partner.
  • Jane Horrocks as Babs, the fattest of the chickens. She is a stout hen with a dim-witted innocence and a love of knitting.
  • Imelda Staunton as Bunty, the champion egg-layer and group cynic who is the most skeptical of Ginger's escape plans.
  • Lynn Ferguson as Mac, Ginger's genius Scottish assistant.

Production

Chicken Run was first conceived in 1995 by Aardman co-founder Peter Lord and Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park. According to Park, the project started as a spoof on the 1963 film The Great Escape.3 Chicken Run was Aardman Animations' first feature-length production, which would be executive produced by Jake Eberts. Nick Park and Peter Lord, who run Aardman, directed the film,4 while Karey Kirkpatrick scripted the film with additional input from Mark Burton and John O'Farrell.

Pathé agreed to finance the film in 1996, putting their finances into script development and model design. DreamWorks Pictures officially came on board in 1997.56 DreamWorks beat out studios like Disney, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. and largely won due to the perseverance of DreamWorks co-chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg; as a company they were eager to make their presence felt in the animation market in an attempt to compete with Disney's dominance of the field.7 Katzenberg explained that he had "been chasing these guys for five or six years, ever since I first saw Creature Comforts."8 DreamWorks secured their first animated feature with the film, and they handled distribution in all territories except Europe, which Pathé handled.9 The two studios co-financed the film.10 DreamWorks also retains rights to worldwide merchandising.11 During the production of the film, 30 sets were used with 80 animators working along with 180 people working overall. Despite this, one minute of film was completed with each week of filming.12

Reception

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 97% approval rating and an average rating of 8.1/10, based on 171 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads: "Chicken Run has all the charm of Nick Park's Wallace & Gromit, and something for everybody. The voice acting is fabulous, the slapstick is brilliant, and the action sequences are spectacular."13 At Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 88 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".14 Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A-" on an A+ to F scale.15

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave three and a half stars out of four, writing: "So it truly is a matter of life and death for the chickens to escape from the Tweedy Chicken Farm in Chicken Run, a magical new animated film that looks and sounds like no other. Like the otherwise completely different Babe, this is a movie that uses animals as surrogates for our hopes and fears, and as the chickens run through one failed escape attempt after another, the charm of the movie wins us over."16[full citation needed]

Box office

On opening weekend, the film grossed $17,506,162 for a $7,027 average from 2,491 theatres. Overall, the film placed second behind Me, Myself and Irene.17 In its second weekend, the film held well as it slipped only 25% to $13,192,897 for a $4,627 average from expanding to 2,851 theatres and finishing in fourth place.18 The film's widest release was 2,953 theatres, after grossing $106,834,564 domestically with an additional $118,000,000 overseas for a worldwide total of $224,834,564. Produced on a $45 million budget, the film was a huge box office hit. To date, it is still the highest grossing stop motion animated movie.

Accolades

GroupCategory (Recipient)Result
Annie Awards19Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Theatrical FeatureNominated
Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production (Nick Park and Peter Lord)Nominated
Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production (Karey Kirkpatrick)Nominated
BAFTA Awards20Best British FilmNominated
Best Visual EffectsNominated
Broadcast Film Critics21Best Animated FeatureWon
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics22Won
Empire AwardsBest British Director (Nick Park and Peter Lord)Nominated
Best British FilmNominated
Best Debut (Nick Park and Peter Lord)Nominated
European Film Awards23Best FilmNominated
Florida Film Critics24Best Animated FeatureWon
Genesis Awards25Best Feature FilmWon
Golden Globe Awards26Best Motion Picture - Musical or ComedyNominated
Golden Tomato Awards 200027Best FilmsWon
Kansas City Film Critics28Best Animated FeatureWon
Las Vegas Film Critics29Best Family FilmWon
Los Angeles Film Critics30Best Animated FeatureWon
National Board of Review31Won
New York Film Critics32Won
Phoenix Film Critics33Won
Best Family FilmWon
Best Original Score (John Powell and Harry Gregson-Williams)Nominated
Satellite Awards3435Best Motion Picture - Animated or Mixed MediaWon
Best SoundNominated
Southeastern Film Critics36Best FilmNominated

Soundtrack

John Powell and Harry Gregson-Williams composed and produced the music for the film, which was released on 20 June 2000 under the RCA Victor label.373839

All music is composed by John Powell and Harry Gregson-Williams, except as noted.

No.TitleLength
1."Opening Escape"3:39
2."Main Titles"3:24
3."The Evil Mrs. Tweedy"4:22
4."Rats!"1:09
5."Chickens Are Not Organized"1:01
6."We Need a Miracle"2:03
7."Rocky and the Circus"3:51
8."Flight Training"3:39
9."A Really Big Truck Arrives"5:56
10."Cocktails and Flighty Thoughts"1:58
11."Babs' Big Break"1:40
12."Flip, Flop and Fly" (composed by Charles Calhoun and Lou Willie Turner, and performed by Ellis Hall)2:09
13."Up on the Roof"3:08
14."Into the Pie Machine"3:10
15."Rocky, a Fake All Along"3:28
16."Building the Crate"3:32
17."The Wanderer" (composed by Ernest Peter Maresca, and performed by Dion)2:47
18."The Chickens Are Revolting"2:45
19."Lift Off"3:41
20."Escape to Paradise"4:59
Total length:62:21

Home media

Chicken Run was released on VHS and DVD on 21 November 2000.40 In July 2014, the film's North American distribution rights were purchased by DreamWorks Animation from Paramount Pictures (owners of the pre-2005 live-action DreamWorks Pictures catalog) and transferred to 20th Century Fox41 before reverting to Universal Studios in 2018. As a result, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released Chicken Run on Blu-ray in North America on 22 January 2019.42

Sequel

After years of lying dormant, a sequel to Chicken Run was confirmed on 26 April 2018.4344 It was also announced Aardman Animations would be reuniting with StudioCanal and Pathe. DreamWorks Animation will have no involvement after they had ended their partnership with Aardman after the release of Flushed Away in 2006.45 Sam Fell is attached to direct, with Paul Kewley and Nick Park producing.4647 The original Chicken Run writers Karey Kirkpatrick and John O'Farrell will return for the sequel.48 Aardman co-founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton will serve as executive producers.4950

On 23 June 2020 - the 20th anniversary of the film's release in U.S. cinemas - Netflix announced that it had negotiated with Pathé and StudioCanal to acquire the rights to the sequel. Fell was able to give more details about the sequel, which will follow from the ending of the first film, where the chickens have settled into their new safe area. Molly, the chick of Ginger and Rocky, begins to outgrow the area, just as word of a new threat to the chickens arrives. With Netflix on the film, principal photography is expected to commence in 2021.51

Aardman announced Mel Gibson was fired from his reprised role as Rocky in the sequel,52 as he was recast because Winona Ryder accused him of making an antisemitic joke to her, whilst attending a party in 1995.53 On 10 July 2020, Ginger's voice actress Julia Sawalha made a statement revealing Aardman's intention to recast her character, stating that she is now considered to sound too old, and commented "I have officially been plucked, stuffed & roasted". The decision was met with widespread criticism with some finding the decision ageist.5455

Video game

Main article: Chicken Run (video game)

Chicken Run is a stealth-based 3-D platformer based on the movie. It was released in November 2000 on most consoles. The game is a loose parody of the film The Great Escape, which is set during World War II.56

See also

Notes

References

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