DreamWorks, Aardman End Production Agreement

GLENDALE, January 31: DreamWorks Animation and Aardman
Animations are discontinuing their exclusive partnership to create animated
films together.

DreamWorks and Aardman previously collaborated on Chicken
Run (2000), Wallace & Gromit:
The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) and Flushed
Away (2006). The multi-picture deal between
the two companies began in 1999 as an exclusive arrangement under which Aardman
would produce and deliver up to five pictures to DreamWorks Animation.

In announcing the end of the relationship, Jeffrey
Katzenberg, the CEO of DreamWorks Animation, noted the studio’s reduced output,
with plans for two CGI features per year and a film slate planned out until
2010. “While I will always be a fan and an admirer of Aardman's work, our
different business goals no longer support each other," he said.

Peter Lord and David Sproxton, co-owners of Aardman
Animations, noted: "Both companies are aware that our ambitions have moved
apart, and it feels like the right time to move on. Aardman has an ambitious
slate of feature film projects in development and we will announce our future
production and distribution plans shortly."