Long-running British animation studio Aardman Animations—famous for the Wallace & Gromit films Shaun the Sheep and, most recently, the upcoming Chicken Run sequel, Dawn of the Nugget—is apparently running out of clay, which could spell disaster for cheese-obsessed animated inventors the world over.
According to The Telegraph, the manufacturer providing the studio with the crafting materials that have allowed its animators to develop the firm’s characteristic style for decades has now shut down. When the news emerged, Aardman apparently purchased as much of the plasticine-like material—formally known as Lewis Newplast—as it could. However, it appears that they only obtained enough of the material for one more feature, the new Wallace & Gromit picture, which is now scheduled for release in 2024.
(Reports state that Aardman utilizes an astounding quantity of clay for production; in a previous video posted by Adam Savage, one of the technicians at the studio disclosed that the business uses almost half a ton of the material on models for a single picture.)
