Chicken Run is a 2000 stop motion animated adventure comedy film directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park and written by Karey Kirkpatrick from an original story by Lord and Park. Produced by Aardman Features in partnership with Pathé and DreamWorks Animation, it is Aardman's first feature-length film. The film stars the voices of Julia Sawalha, Mel Gibson, Tony Haygarth, Miranda Richardson, Phil Daniels, Lynn Ferguson, Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, and Benjamin Whitrow. Set in the countryside of Yorkshire, the film centres on a group of British anthropomorphic chickens in an oppressive egg farm who see an American rooster named Rocky Rhodes as their only hope for escape.
Lord and Park concieved of Chicken Run in 1995, inspired by prison escape films like 1963's The Great Escape. Pathé agreed to finance the film in 1996 and DreamWorks officially came on board in 1997, beating out other interested Hollywood studios and securing distribution in most countries. DreamWorks co-chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg had been interested in working with Aardman ever since seeing their 1989 short film, Creature Comforts. Principal photography began in January 1998 and wrapped in June 1999. During production, 30 sets were used with 80 animators working to film a minute of footage a week.
Chicken Run was released in the United States on 23 June 2000 and in the United Kingdom on 30 June 2000. It was a critical and commercial success, grossing $228 million and becoming the highest-grossing stop-motion animated film in history. At the time, this film was DreamWorks Animation's most successful release, but this was overtaken by Shrek the following year. A sequel, titled Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, was released on Netflix on 15 December 2023.
