Wallace & Gromit and The Curse of the Wererabbit

[72teeth]

It was awesome.  Not really a crowd movie, though.

im gonna have to disagree, i saw it this afternoon with my two sisters (age10-13) and the theater was packed with kids and moms, which is seriously one of the worst audiences to ever be a part of, but this is one of the few cases that it actually made the film that much sweeter, all the giggles and laughter and they were all so taken in by it all that they didnt even talk and at the end they all clapped and cheered, it really was cute...yeah, this is a great film and everything was incredibly beautiful...    

[matt35mm]

Depends on the crowd, then.

[cron]

Fire destroys Wallace and Gromit home

Staff and agencies
Monday October 10, 2005


A fierce blaze at the home of the animation company behind the Wallace and Gromit films has destroyed "the entire history" of the much-loved film-makers.
The roof of the Aardman Animations building in Silverthorne Lane, near Temple Meads station in Bristol, collapsed after fire tore through the Victorian building early today.

A spokesman for Aardman said the building housed all the props and sets from the company's history, which has scored a string of successes with its trademark "clay-mation" and gentle humour, beginning with the Morph cartoons on the BBC and going on to huge international success with Nick Park's Creature Comforts, the movie Chicken Run and the Wallace and Gromit films.


Today should have been one of jubilation for the Bristol company, following a hugely successful opening weekend at the international box office for the first full-length Wallace and Gromit film, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
Aardman spokesman Arthur Sheriff said: "Today was supposed to be a day of celebration, with the news that Wallace and Gromit had gone in at number one at the US box office but instead our whole history has been wiped out. The early reports are that the whole building has been destroyed.

"For us, it held everything we had done since day one. Everything from Morph to Creature Comforts to Wallace and Gromit was there. It had all the film sets, the props, the models, everything. It was very important to us. We used it for tours and exhibitions. It really is a bit of tragedy. It's turned out to be a terrible day."

Nobody was in the building when the fire broke out. The area has been sealed off and crews are expected to remain at the scene for the rest of the day.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.[/img]

[matt35mm]

That is fucking terrible.

... at least it wasn't while they were making the movie...  as it is, only the tour and sentimental value is destroyed...  but man, I would've loved to have taken that tour someday.

If it had happened during filming, I think we'd all just have to kill ourselves.  Still, really sad news.

[Ghostboy]

That makes me want to cry.

[killafilm]

Loved the movie.

Not as much as The Wrong Trousers.  It was just terrible fun from beginning to end.  Ralph Fienne's Victor Quartermaine is just an awesome bad guy.  Mod, I'm guessing you digged this, if you saw it.  And if you haven't you should.

[Ravi]

Delightful film.  Full of warmth and good humor.  Made me very happy.

The fire is terrible news.  But at least the films themselves are safe.

[modage]

Mod, I'm guessing you digged this, if you saw it.  And if you haven't you should.

i liked this movie, probably slightly more than the Corpse Bride, but not as much as i had hoped.  quick background: i saw the shorts while in college (for animation) and enjoyed them but never became a huge fan (like matt35 or anything).  saw chicken run in the theatre and liked it but havent seen it since.  so again, perhaps the insane goodwill for the film pushed my expectations a little high (as well as the 'universal horror homage' snippets i had read) and i hoped for something at the top of the medium.  while i REALLY appreciate their independence of vision and the quality of their work and the sheer fact of getting this out there i root for it to do well, BUT as a viewer i didn't love it like i wanted to.  i wouldnt put this anywhere NEAR the quality of film as The Incredibles for example.  my girlfriend really dug it though.  

but maybe it was just i was in a bad mood because i had to sit through a MUTHERFUCKING CHRISTMAS CARTOON BEFORE THE FUCKING HALLOWEEN MOVIE IN OCT-FUCKING-TOBER!@!!!!!!! FUCK YOU DREAMWORKS!

[Ravi]

but maybe it was just i was in a bad mood because i had to sit through a MUTHERFUCKING CHRISTMAS CARTOON BEFORE THE FUCKING HALLOWEEN MOVIE IN OCT-FUCKING-TOBER!@!!!!!!! FUCK YOU DREAMWORKS!

Was that penguin cartoon mediocre or what?  It had its moments, but it was trying way to hard to be pleasing.  That and it was, as you say, a mutherfucking Christmas cartoon before the fucking Halloween movie in Oct-fucking-tober.

[modage]

Title: Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Released: 7th February 2006
SRP: $29.99

Further Details:
Universal Home Video has revealed early details on Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit which features the voices of Peter Sallis, Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter. The disc will be available to own from the 7th February, and should set you back around $29.99. The film itself will be presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, along with English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround tracks. English, French and Spanish subtitles will also be provided. I'm afraid we have no word on extra material for this one yet, but we'll bring you the full spec rundown, and artwork, shortly. Stay tuned for that.

[modage]

Aardman Reviving Tortoise and the Hare
Source: Variety January 11, 2006

Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit creators Aardman Animations Ltd. are looking to revive The Tortoise and the Hare, reports Variety.

Aardman previously aborted production of the film, which shot for a few months in 2001 before script problems pushed it back into development.

The film is based on the classic story of the overconfident Hare in a race against the slow, but steady Tortoise.

The company's next project is Flushed Away, its first foray into CGI animation. Hitting theaters on November 3, it features the voices of Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Bill Nighy, Shane Richie, Geoffrey Palmer, Simon Callow and Jean Reno.

[Ravi]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/04/0411_060411_rabbit.html

Monster Rabbit Stalks U.K. Village (But No Sign of Wallace or Gromit)
James Owen in London
for National Geographic News
April 11, 2006



It's a scenario straight out of a Wallace and Gromit movie: An enormous rabbit is laying waste to vegetable plots in an English village, according to reports.

The news was first dismissed as an April Fool's joke. But residents of Felton in northeast England have confirmed that a huge, floppy-eared creature is leaving behind giant paw prints and a trail of destroyed carrots, leeks, onions, and turnips following nighttime raids.

The reportedly black and brown, dog-size bunny could be an escaped giant breed of pet rabbit, experts say.

The tale has uncanny similarities to The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, the 2005 Wallace and Gromit animated film. The plot centers on a ravenous "were-rabbit" that starts chomping through prize vegetables just before the annual growing contest.

In the Oscar-winning movie, Wallace and his dog, Gromit, advocate humane pest-control methods.

The real-life rabbit—Bigs Bunny, as it's been called—faces a shoot-to-kill policy.

The bunny hunt is focusing on public land where 12 local residents grow plants to eat and to enter in summer vegetable competitions.

One of the gardeners, Jeff Smith, first spotted the rabbit in Felton in February. He described it as "a monster" with footprints bigger than a deer's.

"What the Hell Is That?"

"The first time I saw it I said, 'What the hell is that?'" Smith told local newspaper the Northumberland Gazette.

Three other villagers have also reported seeing the animal.

"It is a brute of a thing, absolutely massive," Smith added. "We have got two lads here trying to shoot it but they never see it."

Brian Cadman, who is hunting the animal, admits the rabbit is proving elusive.

"You can see what it's been eating," he told the BBC. "It's been taking huge bites out of cabbages, carrots and turnips. It's a hungry fellow."

Rabbit experts say the animal could be an escaped giant domestic rabbit. Some pet breeds can grow to more than three feet (one meter) in length.

England currently claims the world's largest bunny, a giant continental rabbit named Roberto, which lives with the owners of a pet store in Worcester. He weighs in at 35 pounds (15.9 kilograms) and measures 3 feet, 6 inches (107 centimeters) long.

Originally bred for their meat, other massive breeds include the British giant and the Flemish giant.

Escaped Pet?

Such a rabbit may have escaped from its hutch, said a spokesperson for the British Rabbit Council (BRC), based in Newark, England, which represents rabbit breeders in the United Kingdom.

"These rabbits can be aggressive," she added. "They'll see anybody off that enters their territory. This particular rabbit sounds like it's reverted to the wild."

Gordon Marshall is a show rabbit breeder and BRC representative for northern England.

He says pet rabbits have a habit of digging their way to freedom, especially if kept outside in a garden, and that they often interbreed with native populations.

"Some people are a bit naughty in that they buy a pet rabbit then get fed up with it and let it go," he added.

Marshall says that in recent years increasingly larger pet rabbit breeds have been imported to Britain.

"These rabbits have very large appetites," he added. "A giant continental can get through a couple of pounds [about a kilogram] of feed in a day. If they got into a garden, they would devastate a vegetable patch in no time. They'll eat nearly anything."

The success of The Curse of the Were-Rabbit may have made giant rabbits the latest must-have pet. But animal welfare groups say bunny-lovers should think twice before buying one—a sentiment that the gardeners of Felton would presumably second.

[matt35mm]

Mon Dieu!

C'est un lapin gros!

[Ravi]

I like this part:

The success of The Curse of the Were-Rabbit may have made giant rabbits the latest must-have pet.

This is like buying your own zombie after seeing a zombie movie.

[polkablues]

I thought for sure that was a fake photograph, but I checked out snopes.com, and apparently it's real.  Here's another photo: