After much speculation about whether it would ever happen at all, the silence on the subject of Aardman’s Shaun the Sheep Movie was finally broken.
Courtesy of Cartoon Brew, Aardman’s full-length Shaun the Sheep movie will be released in the US. It is set for August 7 of this year and will be distributed in the US by Lionsgate. Lionsgate made the official announcement on its twitter handle:
Greetings America! Get ready to meet Shaun the Sheep – The global phenomenon movie is coming to theaters August 7! pic.twitter.com/1J0MQHF2W0
— Lionsgate Movies (@lionsgatemovies) April 24, 2015
Based on the Shaun the Sheep TV series, which is a spin-off of the larger Wallace & Gromit franchise, the film was released in its native country of Britain back in February and grossed $54 million internationally.
In the US, Shaun the Sheep Movie will be released during a relatively quiet period for animated feature. August is normally viewed as a relatively dumpy slow-down period for the summer blockbuster season before it transitions to fall. As such, most of the animation industry tends to ignore August as a release window. However, LAIKA’s ParaNorman and Disney’s Planes were released during the month of August. This may work to Aardman’s advantage, however, as the next major animated feature (Hotel Transylvania 2) will be released in September 25. Consequently, the film only shares its release month with the English-language release of Underdogs, which will bow one week later. This will give Shaun the Sheep an opportunity to lure in audiences without getting drowned out.
Written and directed by Richard Starzak and Mark Burton, from a story conceived by Burton, the film is now in theaters in Britain and will arrive stateside in the US on August 7.
Any thoughts on this news? If you live in the US, are you excited for the film?
Edited by: Hannah Wilkes
