Aardman Animation, the studio that created the likes of Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit, is not facing a clay shortage following the closure of its supplier, despite initial concerns.
Newclay Products, the company that stocked Aardman with materials to create their beloved characters, has shut its doors with the studio buying their remaining stock.
Following reports suggesting the filmmakers were facing a clay shortage, Aardman has released a statement to ease fans’ worries.
In a statement posted to Twitter, a representative said the company was ‘touched’ by concerns for their future.
‘We are touched about recent concern over the future of our beloved clay creations, but wanted to reassure fans that there is no need to worry,’ it continued.
‘We have high levels of existing stocks of modelling clay to service current and future productions and, much like Wallace in his workshop, we have been tinkering away behind the scenes for quite some time with plans in place to ensure a smooth transition to new stocks to continue to make our iconic productions.’
Speaking on the closure, Newclay Products creator Valerie Dearing confirmed Aardman had bulk-bought their remaining products.
‘Aardman bought a lot of our remaining stock of Newplast to keep them going. They got what they said was two years’ worth. It came to about 40 boxes, which must have been around 400 kg,’ she said.
Fellow Newclay director Paul Dearing added in a statement that it gave him and Valerie ‘tremendous satisfaction’ to have Aardman as a client.
‘We ran the business for 16 years and it was thriving, but we couldn’t find anyone who wanted to take over the firm after we retired so we sold off everything,’ he said.
‘It’s always given us both tremendous satisfaction that Aardman used our product. They thought it was the best material of its type in the world.’
It comes as the eagerly-anticipated sequel to 2000 hit film Chicken Run, Dawn of the Nugget, is set to be released on Netflix on December 15.
The film picks back up with the brood after they escaped Tweedy’s Farm in daring fashion at the end of the last film.
Happy living their best free lives, all is at stake when the dangers of the human world suddenly come home to roost.
As the synopsis reads: ‘They’ll stop at nothing even if it means putting their own hard-won freedom at risk to save chicken-kind.’
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