Some good news:
Many of the sets and plasticine characters used for the filming of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit turned out to be the only survivors of Monday's fire at a Bristol, England warehouse that destroyed the rest of Aardman Animation's sets, props, storyboards, and characters, the company said today (Monday). The Were-Rabbit artifacts, it disclosed, were saved because they were being exhibited elsewhere in England (including the Imperial War Museum) to promote the movie. Director Nick Park said that he had been carrying the Wallace & Gromit characters from the latest film in his suitcase. He told the London Sun: "They have been going with me on a world tour. I keep them safe in a special suitcase. They were with me at my house when the fire happened. ... I rang up the office this morning to find out how the film had done in the US. I was told the great news that it was Number One and then they said there was some bad news as well." In reporting on the aftermath of the fire the London Times observed today: "Not since Ben Hur's chariot went up in smoke when Cecil B DeMille's original wooden studio caught fire has the film world suffered such a loss."