More stop-motion goodness! Hot on the heels of LAIKA’s announcement of ParaNorman for 2012, Aardman Animations have issued a press release for their film The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists. Hit the continue reading button to…continue reading.
The film is due out on March 30th 2012 in the UK, and will be the first stop-motion feature from Aardman since 2005′s fantastic Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. It’s being developed for Sony Pictures Animation, and will be distributed by Columbia Pictures.
Again, animated movies always have a hell of a cast, and this one has a large array of mostly British talent, all of whom should be great in their roles: Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, Brendan Gleeson, Ashley Jensen, Russell Tovey, Salma Hayek, Imelda Staunton and David Tennant. It’s certainly going to be lively. The press release summarises the plot of the movie in the following:
Hugh Grant, starring in his first animated role, is the luxuriantly bearded Pirate Captain – a boundlessly enthusiastic, if somewhat less-than-successful, terror of the High Seas. With a rag-tag crew at his side (Martin Freeman, Brendan Gleeson, Russell Tovey, and Ashley Jensen), and seemingly blind to the impossible odds stacked against him, the Captain has one dream: to beat his bitter rivals Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) to the much coveted Pirate Of The Year Award. It’s a quest that takes our heroes from the shores of exotic Blood Island to the foggy streets of Victorian London. Along the way they do battle with the pirate-hating Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton) and team up with a young Charles Darwin (David Tennant), but never lose sight of what a pirate loves best: adventure!
It sounds like it will have the humour and charm present in Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run, and basically everything else Aardman have done.
You can see basically all of the image above, but for purists, here’s the larger version:
I’m loving the style that’s going on here. And The Pirates! will also be released in 3D. Usually I sigh at that being tagged onto an announcement, but considering Coraline was the best film I’ve seen in 3D (Harry at AICN agrees) by a mile, this should be beautiful too.
Aardman Animations are also currently working on a CGI project for Sony Pictures Animation; Arthur Christmas, which is due out on November 11th this year in the UK, and November 23rd in the US. It also boasts a great list of voice actors: James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, and again, Ashley Jensen and Imelda Staunton. It tells the story of Father Christmas’s son, and while I’m sure it’ll be a large amount of fun, my fondness for stop-motion makes me much more excited for The Pirates!
So, I can’t wait for this. I first read about it back in a large press release from Aardman in 2007. Stop-motion is my absolute favourite type of animation, and there truly isn’t enough of it. The detail and care that usually goes into it makes it a joy to behold. Aardman in particular continue to release quality products, so this is high up on my list of anticipated movies. What with LAIKA’s ParaNorman too…2012 is looking good.
