Dreamworks ‘Flushed Away’ Aardman

It looks like Flushed Away did very poorly at the box office, which is costing Aardman their relationship with Dreamworks:

The ‘Flush’ brush-off
D’Works takes writedown on Aardman pic

“DreamWorks Animation said Wednesday it will likely take an unspecified write-down in the fourth quarter on “Flushed Away,” the Aardman Animation pic that opened early this month. The film has taken in about $40 million since its unimpressive bow. Studio said it cost $149 million. It still awaits release in some foreign markets, including the U.K. and France.

Daily Variety reported earlier this week that the five-picture deal between DreamWorks and Aardman, of “Wallace & Gromit” and “Chicken Run” fame, could be history, and the Brit producers might seek a new distributor for their next pic, “Crood Awakening”.”

…maybe this will force Aardman to rethink their use of CGI instead of claymation?