It’s been two years since the stop-motion masterminds over at Aardman Animations released their last feature, the Shaun the Sheep Movie, and we’ve been pining for more of their clever clay-based adventures ever since.
Luckily, they’ve just dropped a teaser for their next project, Early Man, which drags us back to the “dawn of time”, when Neanderthals wandered the earth alongside a host of prehistoric creatures.
The trailer shows Dug (Eddie Redmayne) and his trusty tusked sidekick Hognob on a hunting trip, ruthlessly pursuing their prey – a rabbit – as a suspenseful score drums up the tension.
In a trademark Aardman twist, their target bares its fangs and turns to chase the cavefolk instead. Considering the plot of 2005’s The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, we’re beginning to wonder whether director Nick Park has some unresolved bunny issues.
Early Man also sees Dug and the mighty Lord Nooth of Bronze Age City (Tom Hiddleston) coming head to head in a historic battle – the world’s first ever football match.
Redmayne and Hiddleston are joined by a tribe of top names, with Timothy Spall, Maisie Williams and Richard Ayoade all sharpening their spears.
Early Man looks set to have all the well-crafted design details and comic touches that we’ve come to expect from the studio. We still have a while to wait yet, though – it isn’t released until 2018 AD.
Published 16 Mar 2017
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