Wallace & Gromit Props & Sets Destroyed

Kevin

Code Monkey
Staff member
I love the Wallace & Gromit short movies and will be seeing Curse of the Were-Rabbit as soon as I can. That's why I was disheartened to read this morning that Aardman studios went up in flames this morning resulting in the loss of the sets & props from all of the earlier shorts as well as the items from the other movies that Aardman has done. The sets & props for Were-Rabbit are in a different location so those were not destroyed.

Source: CNN

The company behind the new "Wallace and Gromit" film said Monday its "entire history" has been destroyed in a fire at a warehouse containing props and sets.
The roof and three interior walls of the Aardman Animations building in Bristol, west England collapsed after the blaze tore through the Victorian building, fire officials said

The fire broke out at about 5:30 a.m. (0430 GMT), with flames reaching 100 feet into the air. The cause of the blaze was being investigated.

A spokesman for Aardman said the building housed props and sets from the company's history, including its first three "Wallace and Gromit" films.

No one was in the building when the fire broke out. Aardman said the sets and props from its latest film, "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit," were not caught in the blaze.

Aardman has used stop-motion clay animation to create a series of acclaimed films, including three shorts featuring cheese-loving inventor Wallace and his resourceful dog Gromit.

The sets from those shorts -- "A Grand Day Out," "The Wrong Trousers" and "A Close Shave" -- are all thought to have been destroyed, along with those from "Chicken Run" -- Aardman's first feature-length release.

"Curse of the Were-Rabbit," Wallace and Gromit's first full-length feature, was released in the United States on Friday and topped the U.S. box office over the weekend. (Full story)

"Today was supposed to be a day of celebration, with the news that 'Wallace and Gromit' had gone in at No. 1 at the U.S. box office, but instead our whole history has been wiped out," Aardman spokesman Arthur Sheriff said. "It's turned out to be a terrible day."

Sheriff said the warehouse contained sets, props and models from the company's productions, from the children's cartoon character "Morph" through the Oscar-winning, anthropomorphic "Creature Comforts" series to the Wallace and Gromit films.

Wallace and Gromit's creator, Nick Park, said the earthquake in South Asia helped put the loss into perspective.

"Even though it is a precious and nostalgic collection and valuable to the company, in light of other tragedies, today isn't a big deal," he said.

Aardman was founded in 1972 and is closely associated with Park, who joined in 1986 fresh out of film school.

Park's "The Wrong Trousers" (1993) and "A Close Shave" (1995) won Academy Awards.

Park and Aardman's Peter Lord directed the 2000 feature "Chicken Run," which spoofed the World War II prison-camp classic "The Great Escape" with a cast of clay poultry.
 
just found out about this on the BBC website today. really unfortunate everythings gone up. the owners could have made their pensions selling the props off on ebay!!

why do i feel so bad that cute plastecine models have been burnt never to be seen again?
 
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