Aardman Animations has made a name for itself with its lovable stop-motion animated characters, including Wallace and Gromit, as well as Shaun the Sheep. Creator Nick Park has managed to deliver a plethora of characters, mostly animals, who have captured the hearts and imaginations of the public, propelling him on to four Academy Award wins for his work. Shaun the Sheep made his debut in 1995, in the short film, Wallace and Gromit: A Close Shave. Owing to his popularity, Shaun the Sheep was then given his own TV series on British Children’s Channel, CBBC, where his antics, along with the adventures of the rest of his flock, have been entertaining children since 2007.

In 2015, Shaun the Sheep made his big screen debut in his own, self-titled movie, Shaun the Sheep Movie. The film was well received by both critics and audiences alike; earning great reviews as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature. The Shaun the Sheep Movie took over $100 million worldwide, with its biggest takings coming from the U.K. and North America. In partnership with Studio Canal, Aardman Animations made the movie for less than $25 million, thereby making a healthy profit. As such, it’s little surprise that a sequel has been announced.

Shaun the Sheep Movie 2 will go into pre-production in January 2017, with no release date set as yet; hardly a surprise given the amount of detail and effort needed to produce a full-length, stop-motion animated film. Shaun the Sheep 2 will reunite Richard Starzak (Shaun the Sheep Movie, Creature Comforts) as director and Paul Kewley (Shaun the Sheep Movie, The Farmer’s Llamas) as producer. It’s also likely that Justin Fletcher will return as the long-standing ‘voice’ of Shaun. No plot details are revealed as yet, other than Aardman promising that Shaun and the Flock will return for “another epic and hilarious journey, in what will be their biggest and most exciting adventure yet.”

shaun sheep 2 teaser poster Shaun the Sheep Movie 2 Officially Confirmed By Aardman Animations
2015 proved to be a good year for Studio Canal, in terms of family films featuring favorite Children’s characters. The studio also released Paddington to great critical acclaim, and a sequel to that film is now in production, so it seems that this is a company that really knows what today’s audiences want from a family film. The Shaun the Sheep Movie‘s success is perhaps all the more surprising given that there is no dialogue in the entire film, other than animal noises of the intelligible mumblings of the Farmer. However, that doesn’t stop the plot coming across, and the film was packed full of humor, too.

To tie in with the release of the Shaun the Sheep Movie, the Shaun in the City trail was also launched; a trail of 50 giant Shaun sculptures around London and 70 in Shaun’s hometown of Bristol, U.K.. This trail raised over £1 million for the Wallace and Gromit Grand Appeal, a charity that supports Children’s hospitals around the U.K.. It is not known if any such plans are being made to tie in with the release of the sequel, but fans of Aardman will be eager to see this sequel get made.