Aardman Animations, the studio behind Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run, is facing a clay shortage. The studio’s lack of clay for its claymation projects was first reported in a story in The Telegraph on Friday, and was quickly picked up by X aggregator Discussing Film in a tweet that caused fans dismay throughout the weekend on the platform, which was formerly known as Twitter. Thankfully, Aardman has some good news.
The trouble is that Aardman only uses clay from one manufacturer, and that company recently closed its doors. That means that Aardman has to rely only on the clay it currently has on hand, and won’t be able to replenish its supply from the same source. The section of the Telegraph story that was highlighted in the viral tweet was about how the studio only has enough clay for one more Wallace and Gromit movie — which, it turns out, isn’t quite true.
Aardman released its own statement on X on Monday, thanking fans for their concern but telling them not to worry. The studio said it has “high levels of existing stocks of clay,” plenty to service “current and future” projects. More importantly, though, Aardman said it’s also hard at work experimenting with other options and figuring how to make sure the transition to a new clay stock is as smooth as it can be.
Aardman’s most recent film is Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, which will premiere Dec. 15 on Netflix. The studio’s next project is set to be something in the Wallace and Gromit universe, but we don’t know the details quite yet.
