Aardman Studio in Flames

Aardman are my favorite currently existing animation studio. I loved every minute of Curse of the Were Rabbit when I saw it on Saturday, but now I've come back from Uni to find out that Aardman's studios were completely destroyed in a fire today. We're talking everything they have ever produced; sets, props, models, storyboards, everything (Excluding Were-Rabbit stuff, which is currently held elsewhere) That's a whole legacy gone forever. This picture above isn't from the new movie, but I felt it represented this tragic loss. One thing to be glad about, however, is that no one was in the building at the time, so no one got hurt, which is a great relief. Also, this is by no means the end of Aardman. Today it was also annouced that Were-Rabbit has shot to the Box Office number 1 over the weekend, grossing around 16 million already, and is predicted by Cartoon Brew's Jerry Beck to become a blockbuster of Sherk 2 proportions. We're talking big money here, which could possibly go towards a new studio house. Here's hoping they can start a-new, and continue to be one of the greatest animation powerhouses in the world.

Also, Nick Park has put his word in on the events: "Even though it is a precious and nostalgic collection and valuable to the company, in light of other tragedies, today isn't a big deal". When you look at it this way, his right. It's still a loss, but it could have been a lot worse.

EDIT: The post at Aardman's official site states that the actual studio didn't go down, rather their storage apartment. Also, this won't effect their future projects.