Wallace & Gromit director returns to the chair with Early Man set for 2018

October 5th 2016, 7:27am

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

The beacons! The beacons are lit! There will be a day when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! Ahem, sorry. I’m just very excited about this news, news of a great director returning to his dusty, yet patiently waiting, director’s chair.

Nick Park, the Oscar-winning director of WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT, has begun filming on his newest film, EARLY MAN, which has dropped its first image (as above) and teaser(ish) footage (so below). Why is this special you ask? Because the man has not directed a feature-length film since WERE-RABBIT took the movie world by storm, winning Best Animated Feature at the 2006 Oscars.

The movie will be of the prehistoric variety, centering on a young caveman (an early man, if you rather) named Dug (played by Eddie Redmayne), and his pal Hognob. But this won’t be a searing adventure flick where a young man takes on the mighty wilderness. No, this movie has the extremely English plot of being about Dug as he competes against another strong tribe in the first-ever game of soccer. English, very English indeed.

This is great news for anyone who’s a fan of not just Nick Park’s work, but Aardman Animation as well. The studio, like Laika, offers great non-Pixar animated treats that also receive critical acclaim and the occasional Oscar-nom. Aardman's most recent effort, SHAUN THE SHEEP, ended-up with a tremendous 99% Rotten Tomatoes score, and was nominated for Best Animated Feature at this year’s Oscars. Needless to say, if EARLY MAN is able to meet the same standards as WERE-RABBIT, it could be a real force to be reckoned with, and could be the studios biggest hit in years. At the very least it sounds like it will be a quirky, hilarious outing from a reliable studio that will offer a nice alternative to the offerings from the ruler that is Disney. Bring them down! Bring them down! Ahem, sorry again.

EARLY MAN is set for a 2018 release starring Eddie Redmayne, and take a look at the footage below!