Production On Chicken Run Sequel Underway At Aardman

The sequel to the much-loved poultry-based film was announced last year - some 18 years after the original hit the big screen.

Now Will Becher, co-director of Aardman's latest film A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon, has revealed that the talented people at Aardman's animation studios have begun crafting the chickens for the sequel.

"We have a model-making team and, at one point, it was just full of sheep, but slowly over the course of the following weeks it became overrun with chickens.

"So there is definitely an intention there and it was announced they are in pre-production on a sequel."

Bring it on.

As of yet, it is unclear whether the likes of Mel Gibson and Julia Sawalha will be returning to the voice cast. Indeed, very little is known about it at all at this stage; but still, just the fact it is happening at all is enough for us to get a little bit worked up.

The original - which was released in 2000 - grossed more than £174 million ($224 million), making it the highest-grossing stop motion animated film in history.

Its commercial success was surpassed critically, with the film earning a 97 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 88 on Metacritic.

She said: "The film, which follows Mrs Tweedy's hens as they make a bid for freedom, is essentially The Great Escape with chickens - an engagingly ridiculous tagline, which the movie lives up to with charm and verve."

Let's hope the sequel lives up to the original.