Acclaimed animation studio Aardman has partnered with Ubisoft to co-produce a pilot and several shorts based on the publisher's deranged
Raving Rabbids characters.
Introduced four years ago in Wii launch title
Rayman Raving Rabbids, the oddly-shaped, anthropomorphic rabbits have starred in four shipped titles that have sold more than eight million copies worldwide. A fifth Rabbids game,
Travel in Time, is due in November.
Best known for its stop-motion animation, Bristol, UK-based Aardman has produced a number of award-winning feature films, television series, and commercials, including
Wallace & Gromit,
Shaun the Sheep, and
Flushed Away. The
Wallace & Gromit series has itself been adapted into a series of episodic adventure games by Telltale Games.
This isn't the first time Aardman has created animation in association with a major video game publisher. Last year, the animation house teamed up with Nintendo and Hatena to work on exclusive animated shorts created and posted online with the Nintendo DSi's free
Flipnote Studio software. Aardman's in-house digital agency has also previously worked with Ubisoft to create a website promoting
Travel in Time.
"The not-so-subtle humor of the Rabbids has made them into icons in and beyond video games," says Xavier Poix, managing director at Ubisoft’s French studios. "Aardman perfectly understands that humor and we are extremely excited to be working with them to bring the Rabbids to a new medium and a new audience."
