Aardman Animations, Ltd., also known as
Aardman Studios, or simply as
Aardman, is a British
animation studio based in
Bristol. Aardman is known for films made using
stop-motion clay animation techniques, particularly those featuring
Plasticine characters
Wallace and Gromit. After some experimental computer animated short films during the late 1990s, beginning with
Owzat (1997), it entered the computer animation market with
Flushed Away (2006). Aardman films have made $971.8 million worldwide and average $162 million per film. All of their stop motion films are among the highest-grossing stop-motion films, with their debut,
Chicken Run, being their top-grossing film as well as the highest-grossing stop-motion film of all time.