Nick Park's Next Feature "Early Man" Announced

It's been a long time since we last saw a Nick Park directed feature in cinemas. Not since 2005's Oscar Winning Wallace and Gromit: The Curse Of The Were Rabbit in fact. Since then we've seen several Aardman features and a new Annie-winning Wallace and Gromit TV short, but Park himself has not helmed a movie since then.

It's been far too long that the unassuming King of Stop-motion has been out of the spotlight. So it's fantastic news for any animation lover that Park's next feature has finally been announced. Interestingly the new film is not being produced as part of Aardman's deal with Sony, but the British studio will- as with Shaun the Sheep- be teaming up with the UK arm of StudioCanal. The BFI (British Film Institute) will also be partnering on the new project.

Early Man will be a pre-historic set comedy, following a tribe of "inept cavemen" who must unite against " a mighty enemy". It will apparently feature a not-strictly historically accurate version of the Stone Age, where humans share the earth with dinosaurs, Flinstones style.

As a clue to what the story might involve, early rumours on Cartoon Brew claimed the film would be called "Early Man United" and revolve around football (soccer for our US readers). The official synopsis would actually fit in with this idea perfectly- as the tribe could unite to form a team and take on their enemies on in a footy match of some kind.

No release date hasn't been announced, but CB's report suggested it would be release to tie-in with the 2018 World Cup. Shaun The Sheep The Movie will be released in the US this summer.


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