The company that made modeling clay for Aardman Studios has closed

Don’t panic, though: the animation company has more than enough to make the next Wallace and Gromit.

At the very end of the week, the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph revealed that the company that made modeling clay for Aardman Studios had just closed its last factory in the UK.

Since the early 1970s, this small company in Torquay, Devon, had specifically manufactured Lewis Newplast, a modeling clay soft and light enough for it to be used in large quantities by the Bristol film studio for create all their characters and settings to then animate in stop motion. The couple who ran it closed their doors last March, and the company will not be taken over. So much so that Aardman now only has enough stock to design the new sequelalready announced, Wallace and Gromit. After that, what will they do?

Throughout the weekend, this news led to messages of support from animated fans who feared Aardman was facing a crisis. But the studio, which will soon be released Following Chicken Run on Netflix, posted a message to reassure the public. Notice to all spectators who love Shaun the Sheep And Wallace and Gromit : Aardman has enough plasticine stock to shoot at least one more new animated feature film, and already has plans for the future.

“We were touched to read of your recent concerns about the future of our beloved playdough creations and would like to reassure fans that there is absolutely no reason to worry, we read in their official press release. We have a good amount of inventory to complete our current shoots, as well as future productions. Like Wallace in his workshop, we assembled everything behind the scenes to last a while and to ensure a smooth transition to new stocks of modeling clay to continue making our iconic productions.”

Here is the official synopsis of Chicken Run 2to watch from December 15 on Netflix: “Ginger miraculously escaped from Mrs. Tweedy’s farm and finally found the place of her dreams: a peaceful island, a true sanctuary for the whole troop, far from the dangers of the human world. When she and Rocky give birth to little Molly, Ginger’s happiness seems complete. But on the continent, the rest of the chickens face a new and terrible threat. This time, Ginger and her team do not hesitate to put their hard-won freedom at risk to try to penetrate a dangerous fortress!”

And its trailer:

Wallace and Gromit The Mystery of the Were-Rabbit: Absurd humor so British (review)