[CPProt.net] 30 years of animated heritage destroyed in blaze

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

30 years of animated heritage destroyed in blaze 
 
PHIL MILLER, Arts Correspondent 

October 11 2005 
 
The creators of animated movie stars Wallace and Gromit should have been
popping champagne corks last night to celebrate the box office success of
their latest film in the US.
Instead, Oscar-winner Nick Park and his colleagues at Aardman Animations
were hit by a fire which reduced around 30 years of the company's history to
ashes.
An early-morning blaze "gutted" the firm's warehouse near Bristol's Temple
Meads station, destroying props, sets and models from the Wallace and Gromit
and Chicken Run films, as well as material from its earlier Morph and
Creature Comforts shows.
The fire came on the day Aardman learned that The Curse of the Were-Rabbit,
its first full-length movie featuring inventor Wallace and his dog, Gromit,
had topped the US box office with £9.1m in ticket sales on its opening
weekend.
Arthur Sheriff, a company spokesman, said: "Today was supposed to be a day
of celebration, with the news that Wallace and Gromit had gone in at number
one, but instead our whole history has been wiped out – it's turned out to
be a terrible day."
Mr Park, however, said the devastating earthquakes in Pakistan helped put
the albeit "dreadful" loss of the company's archive into perspective.
"Even though it is a precious and nostalgic collection and valuable to the
company, in light of other tragedies, today isn't a big deal," he said.
The Avon Fire and Rescue service said the roof and three interior walls of
the Victorian warehouse collapsed in the blaze, which broke out at around
4.30am. The cause of the fire is being investigated.
Mr Sheriff added: "Everything has gone, from as far back as Morph, and all
the way through to Chicken Run, including all the Wallace and Gromit films,
Creature Comforts, it's all there – everyone is devastated."
 
Clay to Fame
Aardman Animations was set up by Peter Lord and David Sproxton in Bristol in
1976. A year later, the duo created Morph.
Nick Park joined the firm in 1985, winning an Oscar in 1990 for Creature
Comforts.
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit is the second of five feature
films Aardman is making under a £155m deal with Steven Spielberg's
DreamWorks. The first was 2000's Chicken Run.

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