Chicken Run: Hatching the Movie

by Brian Sibley

Recounts the origins of the animated film, "Chicken Run," and describes the techniques employed to design and animate its characters.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art

191 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Brian Sibley is an English writer, broadcaster, and award-winning dramatist.

The author of over 100 hours of radio drama and hundreds of documentaries and features for the BBC, he is best known for his acclaimed 1981 radio adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, co-written with Michael Bakewell, as well as dramatizations of C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast novels, and Richard Adams’s Watership Down.

Sibley has also written numerous original plays for radio, presented popular BBC programmes including Kaleidoscope and Talking Pictures, and produced documentaries on figures ranging from Lewis Carroll and Ray Bradbury to Julie Andrews and Walt Disney.

His contributions to broadcasting have earned him accolades such as the Sony Radio Award and the BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Adaptation.

In print, Sibley is the author of many acclaimed film “making of” books, including Harry Potter: Film Wizardry, The Lord of the Rings: The Making of the Movie Trilogy, and Peter Jackson: A Filmmaker’s Journey, as well as companion volumes for The Hobbit films, The Golden Compass, and Disney classics. His literary works range from Shadowlands to children’s books like The Frightful Food Feud and Osric the Extraordinary Owl, with stories appearing in official Winnie-the-Pooh collections.

A noted Disney historian, Sibley has contributed essays to The Walt Disney Film Archives and recorded DVD commentaries for classic films. He is the editor of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Fall of Númenor, winner of the Tolkien Society’s Best Book award in 2023.

Sibley has served as President and Chair of The Lewis Carroll Society and is an honorary member of The Magic Circle, the Tolkien Society, and The Children’s Books History Society.

Reviews

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best behind the scenes books published. I was impressed with the huge amount of good photos of the sets and characters. It's quite a good guide for a budding animator to see how it should be done. This all might sound a little too 'educational', but it is also a lively and colourful book. I also reccommend the Cracking Animation Aardman book as a companion to it which is also lively and very inspiring.

[Gijs Grob · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Chicken Run: hatching the movie' is a lavish coffee table book documenting the production of Aardman's first feature film, its origins, its challenges and its consequences for the British studio. One wishes more animated feature films got a book like this, for 'Chicken Run: hatching the movie' dives deeper than the ordinary art book, while still boasting some beautiful artwork, as well as large screen captions of the final film. The book certainly manages in making the reader admiring the final result even more. Recommended for all animation film lovers.

[Charlotte Biddle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun little read about the making of one of my favourite films. Enjoyed learning about the writing process and the adaptions they had to make with the models and sheer number of chicken models they must have made. A little annoying that text would be broken up by pages of pictures in the middle of a sentence. 3.5 stars rounded up.

[Dennis Lynch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great cartoons, clever writing and fine detailed drawings of some stop motion model armatures. Funny stuff for fans of this swell movie.

[Jesse Bray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent behind the scenes look at the adorable Aardman Animation classic "Chicken Run". From concept to completion it's a stop motion animators dream. Fill with tips, tricks and story breakdowns.

[Kat Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

not a fan

[Imey Juliant · Rating 4 out of 5]

i like this book, this movie too, its about chicken adventure to find freedom

[Bert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful book to look through again and again. Showing the work flow of one of the best movies ever!

[Emma V. Gerstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Used this behind the scenes book to help me with an animation project. Fantastic!

[τλιϓλ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice one