Rock-Solid: 'Early Man' Teaser Debuts

Alrighty! A teaser for Aardman's next stop-motion animated picture has arrived!


As expected, the teaser displays Aardman's wit, their sense of humor, and some lovely visuals. It's a nice little poke at how some trailers for big blockbusters are, and I especially liked the little Monty Python and the Holy Grail hat-tip. From everything we've seen plus this new teaser, I think the movie looks like it'll be a fun, eccentric good time.

Of course, I'm a rather impatient American. No American distributor has picked this one up yet, and it's due out in Europe in January. Will it get a US distributor soon? Or will we have to wait like last time? Aardman's previous film was Shaun the Sheep Movie, when that entered production they had ended their partnership with Sony Pictures Animation. Sony, like former partner DreamWorks, would release the films around the same time they were released in Europe. Shaun the Sheep Movie didn't land a US distributor until after its European debut in February 2015, Lionsgate picked up the film and then dumped it that following August.

Something tells me that this one will get picked up before it comes out overseas. Shaun the Sheep Movie was based on a fluffy little TV series (made by Aardman themselves, of course) that was barely shown here in America, whereas this is an original movie. Perhaps distributors will find this one to be an easier sell? Plus there's dialogue, Shaun the Sheep Movie was mainly silent.

Who knows. Aardman only scored one domestic smash hit, and that was their first feature-length film: Chicken Run. For a little while, it was actually the highest-earning non-Disney/non-Pixar animated feature until the release of Shrek. Wallace & Gromit did okay business here at best, the rest of their films did even worse. Overseas totals and low budgets keep the future features afloat... But I myself would like to see Aardman score another good-sized hit here in the states. Maybe Early Man is it, maybe it isn't.

What say you?

From Demigod to Governor: Tom Hiddleston To Voice Villain in 'Early Man'

Well would you look at that, Aardman's latest, Early Man, has added Loki to its cast.

That's right, Tom Hiddleston will be voicing the villain of this very stop-motion picture: Lord Nooth, the governor of the Bronze Age town that the Stone Age characters, including main protagonist Dug, are at odds with. The character has been described as "ridiculously pompous". It's not Hiddleston's first voice acting gig. He had played Captain Hook in DisneyToon's Tinker Bell entry The Pirate Fairy over two years ago.

Interestingly enough, Deadline's article confirms that Studiocanal - who is financing the film - plans to shop it around next month to potential American takers. Does it land a distributor anytime soon? Or will we have to wait like we did with Shaun the Sheep Movie? Hopefully not the latter, and hopefully someone decent gets their hands on it. I can see this one getting a distributor before its UK release (January 26, 2018), I reckon Shaun took forever because it's a silent film and the TV show it's based on isn't quite known here. Early Man on the other hand is an original story and boasts quite the cast already, that could lead to a bigger distributor saying yes to it.

Right now, I think potential candidates are STX, A24, Focus, and Fox. Fox is losing DreamWorks next summer, so maybe they'll try to partner up with another animation studio so that they don't have just one under their tree. I'm not sure what's going on with Reel FX, it doesn't seem like they inked a distribution pact with Fox.

Anyways, it's good to see it moving forward. We'll probably get plenty more cast announcements soon...

Dawning: 'Early Man' Officially in Production

Yesterday, Aardman made it known... Their next feature-length project has officially entered production...

Here's a tiny look at what's in store...


Early Man, as reported earlier, is a stop-motion feature about a caveman named Dug and his hog friend Hognob. He and his tribe unite, and take on the Bronze Age... Through the world's very first soccer match! Yes it sounds different from your usual caveman adventure, and that's one reason I'm there. The other? Easy. It's Aardman! And Nick Park - the Wallace and Gromit creator himself - is directing! The last time he directed a feature-length film was Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit... That movie is over a decade old! You can also tell it's his, because this new duo really look like a prehistoric Wallace and Gromit.

Anyways, the film is set to open in the UK on January 26, 2018. It still hasn't locked a US distributor/date. Like other Aardman pictures, it'll be reasonably budgeted, reports say it'll cost around $50 million.

Even though we've seen little, it already sounds like yet another knockout from the studio across the Atlantic...