Synopsis

On a Yorkshire chicken farm, resourceful hen Ginger repeatedly attempts to lead her fellow prisoners to freedom. When Rocky, an American rooster, crash-lands in the yard, Ginger believes he can teach the flock to fly. Their hopes rise, but the Tweedys have developed a machine that could turn every chicken into a pie, forcing the escape plan into a desperate race against time.

Factoids & Trivia

• Chicken Run was Aardman Animations' first full-length theatrical feature. It was produced in partnership with DreamWorks Animation and Pathe.

• The story was conceived as The Great Escape with chickens. Several sequences deliberately echo the 1963 war film, including the tunnel escape, the ball-bouncing scene, and musical touches.

• Principal photography began in January 1998 and finished in June 1999. Production used 30 sets, with approximately 80 animators and 180 people working overall.

• The production completed roughly one minute of finished film per week, a reflection of the painstaking nature of stop-motion animation.

• Babs' knitting was made for real, with toothpicks serving as knitting needles.

• Ginger and Rocky were named after two pet chickens belonging to co-writer Nick Park during his childhood.

• The film became the highest-grossing stop-motion animated feature at the time and helped establish stop-motion animation as a major theatrical format.

• Its popularity and the lack of an Academy Award category for animated features were among the factors associated with the introduction of Best Animated Feature at the 74th Academy Awards.