First came The Flintstones. Then, came Ice Age and The Croods. Now, from the world-renowned Aardman Animation studio comes the newest prehistoric animated comedy epic.
From director Nick Park (Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run) comes the trailer for his next stop-motion feature entitled Early Man. The film tells the story of a caveman named Dug, played by Eddie Redmayne (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), and his faithful boar Hognob as they go up against the villainous Lord Nooth, played by Tom Hiddleston, (Thor: Ragnorok, Kong: Skull Island) to save their home and reunite their tribe.
Director Nick Park gave some details regarding the supporting cast:
“Today we get to meet Dug’s tribe, a loveable bunch of misfits voiced by some exceptional British talent. They’re essentially a group of inept cavemen and women including Treebor, played by Richard Ayoade (The Boxtrolls, The Watch), a gentle giant scared of his own shadow; Magma, Treebor’s no nonsense mother voiced by Selena Griffiths and Mark Williams (Harry Potter franchise) as Barry, whose best friend is a rock. Chief Bobnar, voiced by the brilliant Timothy Spall (Enchanted, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), leads the pack as their long-suffering leader, and father figure to his tribe of idiotic brutes.”
The film’s production traces its roots to the previously mentioned DreamWorks feature The Croods. The CGI-animated feature was originally envisioned as a stop-motion picture done by Nick Park and the Aardman team, but wound up going the CG route under directors Chris Sanders (Lilo and Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon) and Kirk De Micco after Dreamworks’ deal with Aardman ended.
The film is due out in the U.K. on January 26, 2018 and likely to see an American release later that year.