Why CHICKEN RUN’s Sequel Came 23 Years Later
By Movieguide® Contributor
Director Sam Fell explained why it took his team 23 years to create a sequel to their stop-motion hit CHICKEN RUN.
“At the end of the first one, you’re kind of a bit sick of chickens. It takes about three or four years to make these things so I think everyone wanted to do new things,” Fell explained.
“At the time,” he added, “aminated sequels weren’t a big thing back then. TOY STORY 2 was probably the first great animated sequel.”
While the CHICKEN RUN team disbanded after the movie to work on different projects, they quietly worked on ideas for a sequel in the background. When Fell ran into the original movie’s co-director, Peter Lord, in 2016, they realized they had everything they needed for a sequel.
“We got it, we figured it out,” Fell said. “This time, they’re breaking in. [That] opened up a whole sort of opportunity with a while new kind of film like a heist movie.”
With the plot for the movie set, the pair got to work bringing the movie up to the times. Along with addressing modern issues, the team felt that working with Netflix to bring the movie to life would help it soar beyond its nostalgic pull.
“We’ve also got this really unique challenge of trying to bring all of that [heritage] but also create something new and I think Netflix was the perfect partner to help us find our way into the new era,” Fell said.
“We wanted to make the film for now; it’s not just a nostalgia piece,” he continued. “We do work in big timeframes and big universal themes, like the big universal theme of life and death…And surviving.”
“This gang of underdogs living away from the human world. How do you bring up a family in a hostile, very dangerous world? There are themes around how the world works that naturally fit into this,” Fell added. “We did aim for big things… But the main thing for us is to make a super entertaining film that maybe makes you think a little bit.”
CHICKEN RUN: DAWN OF THE NUGGET follows Ginger and Rocky as they settle into their new life after escaping the farm. The pair starts a family when they hatch a little chick named Molly, but there is trouble in paradise as the family learns of a new threat that faces all of chicken-kind.
Starring Thandiwe Newton, Zachary Levi and Bella Ramsey, DAWN OF THE NUGGET releases on Netflix on Dec. 15.
Movieguide® previously reported:
Netflix just dropped the trailer for CHICKEN RUN: DAWN OF THE NUGGET, the sequel to the 2000 stop-motion animated movie CHICKEN RUN.
“Featuring an all-new voice cast, “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget” follows Ginger (Thandiwe Newton), as she sets up a peaceful sanctuary far from the human world having recently escaped from the evil Tweedy farm. Finally, with the hatching of Molly (Bella Ramsey), Ginger and Rocky (Zachary Levi) seem to have their ‘happily ever after.’ But, unknown to them, outside their peaceful world chicken-kind faces a new and terrible threat,” Variety wrote.
The plot picks up shortly after where its predecessor left off. This time, Mrs. Tweedy develops a whole new complex operation. But instead of sneaking away like in the last movie’s plot, these already-freed chickens sneak in.
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