Chicken Run

This article is about the film. For the game based on the film, see Chicken Run (video game).

Chicken Run
British theatrical release poster
Directed by	Peter Lord Nick Park
Produced by	Nick Park Peter Lord David Sproxton
Written by	Peter Lord Nick Park Margaret French
Starring	Julia Sawalha Mel Gibson Timothy Spall Phil Daniels Jane Horrocks Miranda Richardson
Music by	John Powell Harry Gregson-Williams
Editing by	Mark Solomon
Studio	Aardman Animations
Distributed by	DreamWorks (USA/International) Pathé (UK/France) 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (UK DVD)
Release date(s)	23 June 2000 (2000-06-23) (United States) 30 June 2000 (2000-06-30) (United Kingdom)
Running time	84 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$45 million
Box office	$224,834,564

Chicken Run is a 2000 British stop-motion animation film made by the Aardman Animations studios, the production studio of the Wallace and Gromit films. The film centres around a band of chickens, who seek a smooth-talking Rhode Island Red named Rocky as their only hope to escape from their certain death when the owners of their farm decide to move from selling eggs to selling chicken pies.

Plot

The Tweedys are a grumpy middle-aged couple who run their chicken farm in Yorkshire, England. The coop is run in the style of a World War II POW camp, with the chickens accountable for the number of eggs they lay daily or else they may face being on the chopping block. One chicken, Ginger, has attempted numerous plans to flee the coop, aided by contraband smuggled into the coop by two rats, Nick and Fetcher, but Ginger is always caught by Mr. Tweedy and his dogs and is thrown into the solitary confinement numerous times.

Mrs. Tweedy realises that her farm is failing and reads a catalogue on the products to increase the profits. Ginger attempts to convince the other hens to speed up their efforts to escape, but soon comes to conclude the only escape route is to go over the fence, something chickens cannot do. Soon, a Rhode Island Red rooster appears to fly over the fence and accidentally crashes into the coop. The hens fawn over the new arrival, Rocky, and keeps him hidden from the Tweedys. Ginger finds the first half of Rocky's poster dropped, claiming that he can fly, and Ginger attempts to convince Rocky to help her and the other hens escape by teaching them how to fly, but Rocky's wing was injured and cannot show them immediately. Instead, Rocky puts them through a set of exercises that seem to have no purpose while assuring all the chickens are making the progress. Meanwhile, the Tweedys have their machinery delivered and begin assembling it. At the same time, Mrs. Tweedy orders food rations doubled, intending to fatten the chickens up. Ginger is the only one to take serious note of this. Soon, what is revealed to be a pie machine is completed, Mr. Tweedy kidnaps Ginger for its first test. Rocky eventually rescues Ginger, and Rocky and Ginger manage to damage the machine, giving them more time to work out on their escape. Fowler, an older rooster, gives Rocky his respect for rescuing Ginger and his old Royal Air Force (RAF) badge in tribute. Rocky decides to flee the farm the next day. Ginger finds Fowler's medal and the second half of Rocky's poster, showing that Rocky was a stunt rooster, with the word "flying" by being shot out of a cannon. This revelation outrages the other chickens, and a fight soon breaks out as morale falls. When Fowler arrives to restore order and begins talking of his days in the RAF, Ginger realises that she and the other chickens can build a plane made from Fowler's pictures and personal recollections. The chickens race against time to assemble their plane as Mr. Tweedy works to repair the pie machine.

The chickens finally finish their plane just as Mr. Tweedy completes the repairs of the pie machine and enters the coop to grab all the chickens. The chickens launch an open revolt, tying up and gagging Mr. Tweedy and readying the "crate". As the chickens prepare for take off, Mr. Tweedy frees himself loose and knocks down the ramp. Ginger jumps down while Fowler turns the plane around, knocking Mr. Tweedy unconscious. As Ginger struggles to lift the ramp, Mrs. Tweedy arrives with an axe to kill Ginger. However, Rocky, having had a change of heart, flies over the fence and eventually hits Mrs. Tweedy in her face. Rocky and Ginger grab onto a string of lights caught on the plane's landing gear when Mrs. Tweedy soon wakes up and also burst of primal rage by grabbing onto the lights, weighing down the crate. Ginger heads down the string to cut it, but after accidentally losing the pair of scissors, Ginger eventually tricks Mrs. Tweedy by using the hatchet to sever the string. Mrs. Tweedy ends up crashing into the pie machine, plugging her into the safety valve and causing the machine to explode, destroying the barn and the entire farm was covered with gravy. The chickens cheer and continue flying their plane to freedom when Mr. Tweedy reminds of Mrs. Tweedy: "I told you they was organized". The film ends when the chickens finds an idyllic setting in a bird sanctuary where they can live in comfort and raise their new chicks, while Rocky and Ginger fall in love each other into their romantic relationship. Meanwhile, Nick and Fetcher discuss their plans of starting their own chicken farm, so they can have all the eggs they could eat, but alter ended up arguing each other whether the chicken or the egg came first. As the end credits roll, the rats boast about them being the stars of the movie because they do all the hard work and the chickens get all the credit.

Voice cast and characters

• Mel Gibson as Rocky, a rooster who crash-lands into the farm's chicken coop after fleeing from a circus. Believing he can fly, Ginger asks for his assistance in helping her cohorts escape.
• Julia Sawalha as Ginger, the ringleader who is determined to save her fellow chickens from their impending doom on the Tweedys' farm. She is usually the one that comes up with the ideas and is generally smarter than the other chickens.
• Tony Haygarth as Mr. Willard Tweedy, Melisha's henpecked husband. He regularly tries to convince Mrs. Tweedy that the chickens are secretly organized, but to no avail.
• Miranda Richardson as Mrs. Melisha Tweedy, a cantankerous egg farmer who decides to convert her farm into a chicken pie factory solely for monetary reasons.
• Benjamin Whitrow as Fowler, an elderly rooster who regularly prattles about his Royal Air Force experiences.
• Timothy Spall as Nick, a portly rat who, along with his partner, Fetcher, aids the chickens in their quest to freedom, in exchange for eggs. He is the brains of their operation.
• Phil Daniels as Fetcher, Nick's slow-witted partner.
• Jane Horrocks as Babs, the fattest of the chickens with a dim-witted innocence and a love of knitting.
• Imelda Staunton as Bunty, the group cynic who is the most skeptical of Ginger's escape plans.
• Lynn Ferguson as Mac, Ginger's brainy Scottish assistant and chief engineer.

Production

Chicken Run was to be Aardman Animations' first feature length production, which would be executive produced by Jake Eberts. Nick Park and Peter Lord, who run Aardman, co-directed the film, while Margaret French and Jack Rosenthal scripted the film. In December 1997, it was noted that David Sproxton was to also produce. DreamWorks secured their first animated feature with the film, and they handled distribution in all territories except Europe, which Pathé handled. The two studios both co-financed the film. DreamWorks also retains rights to international merchandising. Pathé and Aardman had both been developing the film since 1996, whilst DreamWorks officially came aboard in 1999. DreamWorks beat out studios like Universal Studios and Warner Bros. and largely won due to the perseverance of DreamWorks co-chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, who as a company were eager to make their presence felt in the animation market in an attempt to compete with Disney's dominance of the field.

Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell, composers in the artist pool of Media Ventures, were in talks to compose the film since January 1999. In January 2000, the release was revealed to be for 23 June 2000.

Reception

The film has received critical acclaim from critics upon its release and currently garners a 96% "Certified Fresh" rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 140 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10 and the critical consensus: "Chicken Run has all the charm of Nick Park's Wallace & Gromit, and something for everybody. The voice acting is fabulous, the slapstick is brilliant, and the action sequences are spectacular." The film also holds a score of 88 based on 34 reviews on Metacritic, indicating "universal acclaim."

Awards and nominations

Group	Category (Recipient)	Result
Annie Awards	Best Animated Feature	Nominated
	Best Individual Achievement in Directing (Nick Park and Peter Lord)	Nominated
	Best Individual Achievement in Writing (Margaret French)	Nominated
BAFTA Awards	Best British Film	Nominated
	Best Visual Effects	Nominated
Broadcast Film Critics	Best Animated Feature	Won
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics	Best Animated Feature	Won
Empire Awards	Best British Director (Nick Park and Peter Lord)	Nominated
	Best British Film	Nominated
	Best Debut (Nick Park and Peter Lord)	Nominated
European Film Awards	Best Film	Nominated
Florida Film Critics	Best Animated Feature	Won
Golden Globe Awards	Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy	Nominated
Kansas City Film Critics	Best Animated Feature	Won
Las Vegas Film Critics	Best Family Film	Won
Los Angeles Film Critics	Best Animated Feature	Won
National Board of Review:	Best Animated Feature	Won
New York Film Critics:	Best Animated Feature	Won
Phoenix Film Critics:	Best Animated Feature	Won
	Best Family Film	Won
	Best Original Score (John Powell and Harry Gregson-Williams)	Nominated
Satellite Awards	Best Motion Picture - Animated or Mixed Media	Won
	Best Sound	Nominated
Southeastern Film Critics	Best Film	Nominated

Box office

On opening weekend, the film grossed $17,506,162 for a $7,027 average from 2,491 theatres. Overall, the film placed second behind Me, Myself and Irene. In its second weekend, the film held well as it slipped only 25% to $13,192,897 for a $4,627 average from expanding to 2,851 theaters and finishing in fourth place. The film's widest release was 2,953 theaters and it closed on November 2, 2000, after grossing $106,834,564 domestically with an additional $118,000,000 overseas for a worldwide total of $224,834,564. Produced on a $45 million budget, the film was a huge box office hit.

Marketing

Reel.com received exclusive right to hosting the official site for the film and designing, for which Canned Entertainment were chosen.

Video game

Main article: Chicken Run (video game)

Chicken Run is a stealth-based 3-D platformer based on the movie. The game is a loose parody of the film The Great Escape, which is set during World War II.

See also

• Nick Park
• Aardman Animations
• Wallace and Gromit
• List of animated feature-length films
• List of stop-motion films
• Colditz Cock, a glider built by British prisoners of war for an escape attempt during World War II

External links

• Official website
• Chicken Run at the Internet Movie Database
• Chicken Run at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Chicken Run at Box Office Mojo
• Chicken Run at AllRovi
• Chicken Run at Rotten Tomatoes