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Ever since its founding in the early 1970s, Aardman has moulded its characters from Lewis Newplast – a modelling material named after one Mr Lewis, an art teacher from Chislehurst who concocted the stuff in his garden shed.
This Plasticine-like substance is an animator's dream: it's easy to mould, yet keeps its shape under hot studio lights. But in March this year, the only factory that made it, on the outskirts of Torquay, shut up shop. When its closure was announced, Aardman bought up every last block of Lewis Newplast that remained in the warehouse – enough for just one more film: the new Wallace & Gromit, coming in 2024. After that, until a suitable replacement can be found, or invented, that's it.
truly devastating news. Wallace & Gromit are iconic characters, and losing out on their animation style is a big loss to claymation as a whole.
Aardman could switch to 2D or 3D CGI animation (which was previously done with Telltale's video game adaption.) but some of the magic would be gone.