Latest news with #Gromit
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Wallace and Gromit's dedicated fans in South Korea
They are much loved in the UK, but Aardman characters Wallace & Gromit now also have a huge following on the other side of the in particular, has become a huge phenomenon in South Wallace's sidekick and faithful helper is able to communicate through his facial expressions, Gromit has become a useful tool in schools to teach English to he's' also a merchandise moneymaker - pens, keyrings and soft toys of him can be found in the capital Seoul and other large cities in the country. Susan Bolsover, Aardman's Senior Licence Manager, said about 20 to 25% of the commercial revenue from Wallace & Gromit currently comes from South said the Bristol-based company "loves" that the pair have travelled across the world."I think that's one of the great things about Wallace and Gromit - because Gromit communicates everything through his face, he travels around the world because there's no language barrier," Ms Bolsover said."They're [Wallace and Gromit] very loyal to each other and I think that's something they really love and embrace about them as well." South Korean student Sunwoo Chung, who is studying in Bristol, first encountered the Aardman characters in primary told the BBC's Andy Howard that she couldn't believe it when she saw a statue of Gromit on her first visit to said: "In elementary school we started learning English from year three."Because we were young, the teacher had to use some animation and one of those materials was clay animation - Shaun the Sheep, Chicken Run or Wallace and Gromit for sure." The student said people in South Korea "love dogs" and thinks that was a trigger for the Gromit said: "I think because we also have animation - there's a dinosaur that doesn't talk - so I think we were all quite familiar with non-talking characters."But who would have known it came from here! The first time I came here, it [Gromit statue] was around the BRI [Bristol Royal Infirmary] and I was like - why is this thing here? "It's embedded in our childhood memory," she added. "Korea loves Wallace and Gromit." Lewis Hooper, a Bristolian now living in South Korea, said he was "quite surprised" to see Wallace & Gromit figures in some many shops when he arrived five years said: "You have Gromit pretending to be a pilot, with the goggles, and a few different outfits to cater or upsell more of the key chains. "I think a lot of products have been tailored to the Korean market to upsell and gain interest that way."Coming from Bristol, you can be quite proud that some local animation made its way to South Korea"
BBC News
11-03-2025
- Health
- BBC News
'Gromit art trail charity was lifeline during our baby's hospital stay'
"It's just one less thing to worry about when you've got a poorly child in hospital."For Emma-Louise and Scott, a home funded by money raised from Bristol's well-loved Gromit Unleashed art trails "was a lifeline".Their son, Ronnie-James, is five years old and living with Dandy-Walker Syndrome, a rare condition affecting the part of the brain that controls movement, balance and the Cots for Tots House, Emma-Louise says she and Scott would have needed to travel an hour to hospital every day to visit their son. Ronnie-James is one of thousands of children in Bristol who have been supported by money raised from the Gromit art 2013, more than £20m has been donated to The Grand Appeal, with funds providing a "home away from home" for families across the west of England when they need to visit St Michael's Hospital or the Bristol Royal Hospital For was born with a hole in his diaphragm, which meant his stomach had been moved into his chest, squashing a lung and moving his heart. Emma explained that Ronnie-James suffers from headaches and is "in pain". She said the family had used the accommodation provided by the charity from the very start of Ronnie-James' life."We came into the house the day I had him," she said. "It was good because you had everything that you needed and everything was sorted for you."She added that if the family had needed to travel to and from their home near Cheltenham it "would have been so expensive" and she did not want to leave her baby "ages away". Scott said: "At first it was worrying because you didn't know what was going to happen."But, he said, when he met other parents in the house, "they know what we've gone through because we've gone through the same so it was the best of both worlds".Emma explained that doctors had told her and Scott that Ronnie-James would most likely not be able to walk or talk."One day he just stood up, then he started walking, then he started crawling."Now he's found his voice." This June, the third instalment of the Gromit Unleashed art trail, inspired by Aardman's Wallace and Gromit universe, will be landing on the streets of sculptures, funded by local businesses, will go on to be sold at auction and raise further funds for The Grand Appeal, run by Bristol Children's Hospital operates three accommodation houses: Cots for Tots House, Pauls House and Grand Appeal for Tots House alone has seen more than 2,000 families director of The Grand Appeal, Anna Shepherd, said: "Our families don't only come from Bristol, they come from Devon, Cornwall, South Wales. "It takes away that anxiety of 'where am I going to stay?'. Some of our families come unexpectedly," she said.
The Independent
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Wallace and Gromit fans call out ‘absolute disrespect' for film at Oscars 2025
Fans have been left disappointed after Wallace and Gromit missed out on an Oscar during the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday (2 March). Vengeance Most Fowl was the franchise's first film to be released in ten years. T he stop-motion animated comedy stars Wallace, a cheese-loving inventor, and Gromit, his loyal beagle. The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film, but lost out to Flow, a fantasy adventure starring a cat and featuring no dialogue. The claymation duo donned a fancy outfit for the ceremony, with Gromit wearing a sparkly red bow tie and Wallace sporting a sparkly green suit in the same shade and style as his recognisable sweater vest. However, the team have won Oscars in the past. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit won in the same category in 2006, while The Wrong Trousers picked up a trophy for Best Short Film in 1994. But fans were left furious. 'Wallace and Gromit was robbed,' one person hit out on X/Twitter. 'The absolute f**king disrespect that Wallace and Gromit didn't win Best Animated Feature,' said another supporter. 'Wallace and Gromit were more deserving,' explained another. 'More effort goes into stop-go animation and it was funny.' In a four-star review, The Independent 's film critic Clarisse Loughrey, wrote: ' Vengeance Most Fowl is proof the traditional can still thrive – not only in how a film looks, but even in the barrage of puns (one magazine reads: 'Gardens of the Galaxy') and corny dad jokes. 'There are some timely updates, including a pitch-perfect gag about online Captcha verification tests. But I'm not sure any other studio could get away quite so cleanly with dropping a Shawshank Redemption prison gag in the year 2024. That's how you know Aardman has earned a privileged place in British culture.' The Academy Award winning films originally starred Peter Sallis, who first agreed to do the role in exchange for a £50 donation to a children's charity. Once the franchise took off, he became the regular lead in the popular films, also acting as the eccentric creator in adverts and video games on occasion. Sallis died in 2017, aged 96. Creator Nick Park said that it had been difficult to work on it without its veteran star, Sallis. He was replaced by Ben Whitehead, 47, who worked with Sallis on The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
What is Flow, the animated indie movie that beat Disney to the Oscar?
One of the biggest surprises of this year's Golden Globes and Oscars came in the Best Animated Feature category. Rather than an enormous Disney hit, the awards went to Flow — a dialogue-free, independent animation from Latvia. Flow's win is all the more impressive because it's not as if this was a particularly lean year for animation at the Globes. The category contained two mammoth Disney movies in the shape of Pixar sequel Inside Out 2 — the highest-grossing film of 2024 — and song-and-dance sequel Moana 2, which crossed the billion-dollar mark worldwide. Even away from Disney, the category also included emotionally potent DreamWorks hit The Wild Robot, the triumphant return of Wallace and Gromit for Vengeance Most Fowl, and the dark stop-motion story Memoir of a Snail. So how did Flow rise to the top? Directed and co-written by Gints Zilbalodis, Flow is an inventive and emotional adventure story about a cat trying to survive when its home is ravaged by a near-biblical flood. The cat jumps on a sailboat for safety and, over the course of the film, is joined by various other animals. Just like its fellow nominee The Wild Robot, it's a fantastical story with a resonant eco-parable undertone to it. These aren't anthropomorphised, talking Disney animals. They only communicate via animal noises — in most cases provided by the real animals depicted. The exception is the capybara character, whose noises are actually provided by a baby camel. The movie, which was made without major studio backing and rendered using the open source graphics program Blender, has been embraced by critics. It could even end up competing on multiple fronts at the Oscars, as it's Latvia's official entry for the Best International Feature category. It's the first time the country's entry has made the 15-film shortlist. Read more: Flow Is the Perfect Movie for Animation Fans, Animal Lovers, and Environmental Doomsayers (Rolling Stone, 5 min read) Flow stands out as something truly unique in a category that, far too often, rewards very similar films each year. There is a sense, though, that the tide is turning a little. The last two winners at both the Oscars and the Globes were Studio Ghibli's The Boy and the Heron and Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio — Netflix's innovative stop-motion take on the classic story. The days of Disney domination may well be over. Read more: How Flow, a Latvian Animated Movie with No Dialogue, Is Upending the Awards Race (People, 3 min read) The simplicity of the storytelling also helps. Without any dialogue to translate, any prejudice against "foreign" films disappears immediately. What's left is a universal survival tale, assisted by some very handsome animation in a visual style that looks nothing like the smooth, computer-generated sheen often relied upon by the major studios. Flow could also have been the beneficiary of a year in which a selection of equally strong studio movies split each other's votes. Inside Out 2 and The Wild Robot — and some would argue Moana 2 — are impressive blockbuster animation achievements, which may have opened the door for Flow to come through as the scrappy underdog. Flow will be released in the UK on 21 March, when it's getting a cinema release courtesy of Curzon. It's only likely to play in a very limited number of screens, but will be available to stream shortly after via the Curzon Home Cinema platform. Read more: The Budget for Animated Hit 'Flow' Was So Tight, the Film Has No Deleted Scenes (IndieWire, 3 min read) Over in the US, the film got a cinema release in November 2024 and broke distributor Janus Films' box office record, earning $2.6m (£2.1m). There's no sign of a streaming release just yet but, with the Golden Globes success in its back pocket, its cinema run will almost certainly expand. Flow is in UK cinemas from 21 March.
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Bristol in pictures: Springing into action
We're only just into March but the first signs of spring being on the way have been seen in and around Bristol with a few days of rare sunshine. The past week also included international rugby action at Ashton Gate, the vicar at one of the city's key churches stepping down, and a cancer breakthrough at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. More than 1,000 people also went to an open day in Horfield. Sky on fire: Visitors to the harbourside on Saturday night were treated to a spectacular sunset enhanced by the lights from various bars and boats. Welcome back sunshine: Visitors have been enjoying the picturesque scenes at Tyntesfield, the ornate Gothic revival house close to Bristol, as clear sunny days returned. International action: England A took on Ireland A at Ashton Gate last weekend, with the red rose men winning the contest 28-12. Time to reflect: On Monday, the city marked three years since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Crowds marched through the streets and there was a poignant photo exhibition in Broadmead Shopping Centre, showing how once-thriving communities have been affected by the war. Moving forward: Doctors have made a breakthrough at the Bristol Royal Infirmary as they announced a new-start up firm that could revolutionise cancer scans. Astral Systems has developed technology that can now make radioisotopes - used to pinpoint the growth of cancer in patients - in hospitals on demand. Saying goodbye: After 12 years as vicar of "the fairest, goodliest and most famous parish church in all England", Canon Dan Tyndall announced this week he will be leaving St Mary Redcliffe Church. Mr Tyndall, who will give his final service at Redcliffe on 13 July, said the role has been "a huge privilege, a real honour, and great fun". Fit to burst: Families enjoyed a fun-filled open day at Horfield Leisure Centre last weekend, as the facility celebrated its recent refurbishment by welcoming more than 1,000 people through its doors. Follow BBC Bristol on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630. Bristol in Pictures: Emerging from the gloom Bristol in Pictures: Faces in the crowd Bristol in Pictures: Royals, Rovers and remembering Bristol in Pictures: Let there be light Bristol in pictures: Reasons to be cheerful Bristol in pictures: Lanterns light up the gloom Bristol in pictures: Scenes from across the city Bristol in pictures: Emotional moments of 2024 Bristol in pictures: Not long to go now... Bristol in Pictures: Just a few more lights... Bristol in pics: It's beginning to look a lot like... Bristol in pics: Wintry scenes, Gromit and elves Bristol in pictures: Mary Poppins and circus nights Bristol in pictures: Fireworks and chilly swimmers Bristol in pictures: Images from across the city Bristol in pictures: Images from across the city Bristol in pics: Wildscreen and national football Bristol in pics: Northern Lights and scary sights Bristol in pictures: England cricket and the Bears Bristol in pictures: Bears' derby delight Bristol in pics: Round-up of images from the city Bristol in pictures: Crocodiles and cricket Bristol in pictures: Forwards, Dogfest and sunny skies Bristol in pictures: The proms and Massive Attack Bristol in pictures: It's home sweet home Bristol in pictures: Balloons, rallies and sunsets Bristol in pictures: A scorching week in the city Bristol in pictures: Balloons, bingo and boats Bristol in pics: Harbour Festival and graduations Bristol in pictures: Pride, politics and zombies Bristol in pictures: Riding the waves into summer Bristol in pictures: All you need is love Bristol in pictures: Marathons and music Bristol in pictures: A taste of summer in the city Bristol in pictures: Rising from the ashes Bristol in pictures: Paint, pirates and protest Bristol in pictures: Anyone for cricket? Bristol in pictures: Faith, foxes and Filwood Bristol in pictures: Big beasts are waking up Bristol in pictures: Parades, concerts and a Grinch Bristol in pictures: From park runs to pilots Bristol in pictures: Snow and the Severnside derby Bristol in pictures: Images from across the city
