AARDMAN AND STUDIOCANAL ANNOUNCE START OF PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY
AARDMAN and STUDIOCANAL today announce that Nick Park’s new prehistoric comedy adventure EARLY MAN has officially begun production, with first character animation released to show more of the film’s hero Dug and his sidekick Hognob as cameras start rolling.
Set at the dawn of time, when prehistoric creatures and woolly mammoths roamed the earth, EARLY MAN tells the story of how plucky caveman Dug, along with sidekick Hognob, unites his tribe against the mighty Bronze Age in a battle to beat them at their own game. It also marks Nick Park’s first feature film since Academy Award® winning WALLACE AND GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT. EARLY MAN unleashes an unforgettable cast of hilarious new characters.
Eddie Redmayne has previously been announced as the voice of Dug, with further casting announcements expected in the coming weeks.
EARLY MAN continues the production partnership with AARDMAN and STUDIOCANAL following the success of SHAUN THE SHEEP THE MOVIE, written and directed by Richard Starzak and Mark Burton. STUDIOCANAL is co-financing and will distribute in its own territories, the UK, France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand, selling worldwide.
The BFI (British Film Institute) is supporting the development and production of EARLY MAN with National Lottery funding.
STUDIOCANAL RELEASE DATES:
- UK: January 26th 2018
- France: January 31st 2018
- Germany: March 29th 2018
- Australia/NZ: March 29th 2018
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About STUDIOCANAL
STUDIOCANAL is Europe’s leader in production, right acquisition, distribution and international sales of feature films and TV series. STUDIOCANAL operates directly in all three major European markets, France, the United Kingdom and Germany, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. STUDIOCANAL has fully-financed recent box office hits like
Paddington, Shaun the Sheep and Non-Stop. Upcoming films backed by STUDIOCANAL include The Commuter featuring Liam Neeson, and Nick Park’s stop-motion movie Early Man, with Aardman Studios.
STUDIOCANAL is actively developing and distributing high-end TV series through its network of award-winning production companies including Tandem Productions in Germany (Crossing Lines, Spotless), the UK’s RED Production Company (Happy Valley) and BAMBÚ PRODUCCIONES (Grand Hotel, Velvet).
Additionally, STUDIOCANAL owns one of the most important film libraries in the world, with more than 5,000 international titles.
STUDIOCANAL’s parent company, CANAL+ Group, is fully-owned by Vivendi, a global media and content production and distribution group.
About Aardman
Aardman, based in Bristol (UK) co-founded and run by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, is a world leader in animation. It produces feature films, series, advertising and digital entertainment for both the domestic and international market. Their multi-award winning productions are novel, entertaining, brilliantly characterised and full of charm that reflects the unique talent, energy and personal commitment of the very special people who make up the Aardman team. The studio’s work is often imitated and yet the company continues to lead the field producing a rare brand of visually stunning and amusing independent and commercial productions. Nick Park is a director of Aardman and is credited with the creation of Wallace & Gromit and Creature Comforts. He is the winner of four Academy Awards® and five BAFTA Awards
About the BFI
With over £50 million of Lottery funding to invest each year, the BFI is the UK’s largest public investor in film, and the BFI Film Fund supports first-class British filmmaking from talent and project development, through production, to audience development across exhibition, distribution and international sales.
Highly anticipated films backed by the BFI include this year’s Cannes Film Festival Palme d’or winner I, Daniel Blake directed by Ken Loach and the Jury Prize award winning American Honey by filmmaker Andrea Arnold; Amma Asante’s A United Kingdom which is the Opening Gala at this year’s BFI London Film Festival; Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire which is the Closing Gala at this year’s BFI London Film Festival; William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth, Alex Taylor Spaceship and Hope Dickson Leach’s The Levelling which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2016; Roger Mainwood’s Ethel & Ernest based on the Raymond Brigg’s illustrated autobiographical book premiering at the BFI London Film Festival; John Michael McDonagh’s War On Everyone which premiered at this year’s Berlin Film Festival; Gurinder Chadha’s Viceroy’s House; Paddy Considine’s Journeyman; Colm McCarthy’s The
Girl With All The Gifts which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival; Jim Hosking’s The Greasy Strangler: Mercedes Grower’s Brakes; and Pete Travis’ City of Tiny Lights.
The BFI is the lead organisation for film in the UK with the ambition to create a flourishing film environment in which innovation, opportunity and creativity can thrive by:
- Connecting audiences to the widest choice of British and World cinema
- Preserving and restoring the most significant film collection in the world for today and future generations
- Championing emerging and world class film makers in the UK – investing in creative, distinctive and entertaining work
- Promoting British film and talent to the world
- Growing the next generation of film makers and audiences
bfi.org.uk / @bfi
