British animation studio Aardman Features have announced a deal with Sony this week, as they look ahead to an upcoming slate of four possible projects including a new Wallace and Gromit movie. The agreement is a three-year, first-look deal, which will help Sony inject more animated and family-friendly fare into their line-up. It’s nice to see Aardman bounce back after their relationship with Dreamworks deteriorated in the wake of the disappointing Flushed Away (which, incidentally, still turned a profit I believe).

According to the article in Variety, there is a key difference in the mentalities of both Dreamworks and Sony; Dreamworks wanted to focus on one or two major releases in a year (placing more importance of maintaining a broad appeal) while Sony is distributing 20 movies a year and doesn’t want to put many restrictions on the filmmakers. Aardman have been busy rethinking their own process as well, making a commitment to work on more projects with varying budgets and mediums, and increasing their in-house technology. I’m not much more than a casual fan of Aardman’s stuff, but I’m glad to see that there’s still studio interest in their work. As far as I’m concerned, the more alternatives we have to cookie-cutter CG films, the better!