Chicken Run (2000)
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- The incredible score for Chicken Run was composed in just a few weeks after the original composer dropped out.
- Peter Lord, Nick Park originally wanted a completely different ending for the film, but test audiences preferred the one we see today.
- Many of the practical effects used in the climax were achieved without any CGI.
Chicken Run is a 2000 British stop-motion animated comedy produced by Aardman Animations and directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park. Set on a Yorkshire chicken farm in 1950s England, the film follows Ginger, a determined hen voiced by Julia Sawalha, who has spent years trying to escape the grim Tweedy Farm before the tyrannical Mrs. Tweedy, voiced by Miranda Richardson, converts the operation from egg production to chicken pies — meaning every hen will be killed.
When Rocky, a flashy American rooster voiced by Mel Gibson, crash-lands in the farm claiming he can fly, Ginger recruits him to teach the chickens to fly over the fence to freedom. Chicken Run was deliberately modeled on The Great Escape, substituting chickens for POWs, and the Aardman team's characteristic British humor — dry, self-deprecating, and rich with visual gags hidden in every frame — gave the film a warmth and wit that distinguished it from CGI animation. Chicken Run earned $225 million worldwide on a $45 million budget, the highest-grossing stop-motion animated film until it was surpassed by Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget in 2023.
