Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is a 2023 British animated comedy film directed by Sam Fell and written by Karey Kirkpatrick, John O'Farrell, and Rachel Tunnard. It is the sequel to Chicken Run, and was produced by Aardman Animations for Netflix. The film stars Thandiwe Newton, Zachary Levi, Bella Ramsey, Romesh Ranganathan, David Bradley, Daniel Mays, Jane Horrocks, Imelda Staunton, Lynn Ferguson, Josie Sedgwick-Davies, Peter Serafinowicz, Nick Mohammed, and Miranda Richardson. The story follows Rocky and Ginger who lead a rescue mission when their daughter has been abducted to a highly-advanced poultry farm run by their old enemy Mrs. Tweedy.
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget had its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on 14 October 2023, and was released by Netflix on 15 December 2023. The film received generally positive reviews from critics.
Plot
Since the chickens escaped from Mr. and Mrs. Tweedy's Farm, they have settled in an idyllic sanctuary on an island in a lake, where they can live happily, safe from humans. Ginger and Rocky start a family with a hatchling named Molly. The rats Nick and Fetcher visit periodically with supplies.Molly grows into an adventurous young girl, whom Ginger and Rocky try to protect from the outside world. The appearance of trucks and construction on the mainland concerns Ginger, who fears that another chicken farm is being built. With her more cautious perspective as a parent, she leads her community in hiding more effectively.
Molly's curiosity leads her to sneak away to the mainland, where she is saved from being run over by another young chicken named Frizzle. The two friends stow away on a truck full of chickens being transported to Fun-Land Farms, which initially appears appealing to them. Ginger and Rocky form a search party with Babs, Bunty, Mac, and Fowler. They give chase and discover that the "farm" is actually a highly advanced poultry processing plant bristling with security systems.
Inside, Molly and Frizzle discover an expansive amusement area, where the other chickens — all wearing numbered electronic collars — go on rides, play games, and more. Rocky impulsively catapults into the compound, inadvertently activating various security systems and providing Ginger and the others with the information they need to infiltrate. They are joined by Nick and Fetcher, who become separated from the group but eventually reunite with Rocky.
Molly and Frizzle discover that the collars, when activated, turn the other chickens into carefree, mindless drones. Frizzle is captured by the facility’s scientist, Dr. Fry, and fitted with a collar. Molly escapes, promising to come back for her.
Ginger reunites with Molly, and learns in horror that her nemesis Mrs. Tweedy is running the operation alongside Dr. Fry, her new husband. The collars serve to suppress the chickens' fear, to make tastier chicken nuggets for Reginald Smith, a fast-food chain businessman looking for new food items. Mrs. Tweedy captures Ginger and puts a collar on her, which she resists unsuccessfully, but Rocky intervenes and Molly frees her. The hens, rooster, and rats are reunited in a corn silo, which they escape by turning it into popcorn. Molly mourns the fate of Frizzle, prompting Ginger and the others to turn back and help the other chickens as well.
Mrs. Tweedy orders Dr. Fry to begin production of chicken nuggets, triggering a struggle for the remote control that brainwashes the chickens. Rocky, Ginger, and Molly battle Mrs. Tweedy for control, while the rest of the rescue squad tries to hold back the chickens as they march mindlessly toward the processor. The trio wins the fight, sending Mrs. Tweedy tumbling into the nugget machine, where she is breaded like a chicken nugget. Meanwhile, the entire population of chickens—and the rats—escape in a truck. Mrs. Tweedy tries to stop them, but Fowler knocks her into the compound’s moat, where she is apprehended by the facility’s security as the site explodes from the chickens’ sabotage.
The chickens return to the island, and their life returns to normal, now with Molly and Frizzle doing aerial reconnaissance for chicken farms on the mainland and the chicken crew liberating those they find.
Production
After completing Chicken Run in 2000, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the then-CEO of DreamWorks Animation and one of the film's executive producers, proposed to Aardman Animations the idea of making a sequel. However, Aardman declined as they felt unready to make a sequel as well as its employees feeling exhausted after completing the original film and instead moved on to different projects. Since then, ideas and talks of a sequel floated around for years until numerous crew members of the first film agreed to continue the story.A sequel to Chicken Run was reported in April 2018 with Aardman Animations, StudioCanal and Pathé set to produce. DreamWorks had no involvement due to ending their partnership with Aardman after the box-office underperformance of Flushed Away in 2006. Sam Fell directed, with Paul Kewley producing. Fell was approached by the film's original co-director Peter Lord in 2016 at a party and convinced him to return to Aardman to direct the sequel. The original Chicken Run writers Karey Kirkpatrick and John O'Farrell returned to write for the sequel. Aardman co-founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton served as executive producers along with the original film's co-director Nick Park.
On 16 October 2019, the film officially began pre-production. Because very few props and models from the original film survived after being destroyed in a warehouse fire in 2005, Fell and his team resorted to using reference photos from the original film's making of book. Aardman said that Mel Gibson was not asked to return as Rocky. In June 2020, Fell released more details about the sequel, which would follow from the ending of the first film, where the chickens have settled into their new safe area. Molly, the chick of Ginger and Rocky, begins to outgrow the area, just as word of a new threat to the chickens arrives. In July 2020, Julia Sawalha, the voice of Ginger in the first film, revealed Aardman's intention to recast her role, saying her voice now sounded too old, and commented "I have officially been plucked, stuffed & roasted". The decision was met with criticism, with some finding the decision ageist.
Principal photography commenced in early 2021. In January 2022, Zachary Levi, Thandiwe Newton, David Bradley, Romesh Ranganathan and Daniel Mays replaced Gibson, Sawalha, Benjamin Whitrow, Timothy Spall and Phil Daniels as the voices of Rocky, Ginger, Fowler, Nick and Fetcher, while Jane Horrocks, Imelda Staunton and Lynn Ferguson reprised their roles as Babs, Bunty and Mac from the first film, with the film's title revealed as Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget. Bella Ramsey, Nick Mohammed and Josie Sedgwick-Davies voiced three new characters, Molly, Dr. Fry and Frizzle, respectively. In September 2023, it was announced that Miranda Richardson would reprise her role as the voice of Mrs. Tweedy and that Peter Serafinowicz also joined the cast as Reginald Smith, a "slightly bemused businessman".
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the clay models were put in quarantine for 10 days after the animators had finished. The clay models were put in a tent with ultraviolet lights.