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Aardman Is Heading Back To Theaters, GKIDS Picks Up U.S. Rights To ‘Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom’
After 2023’s Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget and 2024’s Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl were released on Netflix, Aardman’s next film, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, will head back to North American theaters after being acquired by leading distributor GKIDS. Produced by Studiocanal and Aardman Animations, the film is slated for a theatrical release timed to Halloween 2026.
The Beast of Mossy Bottom leans into classic monster-movie imagery, with Shaun and the farm’s residents confronting a mysterious creature terrorizing the countryside. While the premise borrows from familiar horror tropes, the film stays true to Aardman’s signature blend of visual gags, meticulous handcrafted animation, and humor that plays equally well with kids as it does their parents.
The feature marks the directorial debut of longtime Aardman collaborators Steve Cox and Matthew Walker, who are working from a screenplay by Mark Burton and Giles Pilbrow. Voice performances are led by Justin Fletcher, John Sparkes, and Kate Harbour.
GKIDS founder and CEO Eric Beckman described the deal as a long time coming:
We are so excited! I have been an Aardman super-fan since the earliest days of the studio, from the Academy Award-winning Creature Comforts and original Wallace & Gromit shorts, through Rex the Runt, Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and of course the beloved Shaun the Sheep. For decades, Aardman has forged a unique place in the hearts of fans by infusing so much love, humor, and humanity into the hand-crafted art of stop-motion. Aardman is absolutely one-of-a-kind and we could not be more thrilled to be working together at long last.
Studiocanal EVP of international sales Chloé Marquet added:
We are so delighted to announce today that Shaun the Sheep is ready for his next big U.S. adventure, and Studiocanal couldn’t ask for a better partner than GKIDS to make it happen. Their passion and expertise in animation make them the ideal home for Shaun and his very welcome return to the big screen in 2026.
The Beast of Mossy Bottom is the third Shaun the Sheep feature, following the Oscar-nominated Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015) and A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmaggedon (2020), and arrives as Aardman celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Jamie’s Take: I’m a big Netflix fan and appreciate what the company does for the animation industry. However, I believe Netflix’s greatest misstep is its approach to theatrical distribution. It’s impossible to know whether Aardman’s last two films would have had a greater cultural impact with traditional theatrical runs, but the streaming-only strategy has, in my opinion, diminished the reach of several exceptional films, and not just from Aardman. I’m glad that Mossy Bottom will at least have the opportunity to connect with audiences in cinemas.
