Fans of Wallace and Gromit and other Aardman Animations creations can now find a host of the company’s animated shorts and TV productions available for download from the iTunes Store in the U.K.(www.itunes.com/uk). For ‘1.89 per download, customers can enjoy the Oscar-winning half-hour Wallace and Gromit adventures A Close Shave, The Wrong Trousers and A Grand Day Out, as well as the Cracking Contraptions collection of nine shorts featuring the plasticine pals. Other offerings include 25 one-minute-long episodes of Angry Kid, 13 ten-minute installments of the cult television comedy series Rex the Runt, and the new 2D short, The Pearce Sisters, which won the Special Jury Price at Annecy and the Cartoon D’Or at Cartoon Forum last year.
‘We are delighted that some of our key shows will now be available to new viewers through the world’s most popular online TV store,’ remarks Robin Gladman, digital rights manager for Aardman.
The Bristol-based company has been aggressively expanding into the digital arena, striking deals last year with Joost, Rhythm, Atom Films and Player X. Further big-screen plans include a trio of films in development via a three-year, first-look deal with Sony Pictures Animation. The lineup includes a stop-motion heist pic titled The Cat Burglars, an adaptation of Gideon Defoe’s The Pirates! book series and a Christmas toon dubbed Operation Rudolph.
