Fun facts and impressive statistics from "Chicken Run":
Directors Nick Park and Peter Lord began developing the story in 1996. Principal photography took 20 months to complete (roughly five times as long as the typical live-action film).
The production consumed approximately 4 tons of plasticine.
At the height of production, 100 seconds of footage were shot and approved each week.
The backside of one character (Bunty) is composed of 3,077 feathers or "fluffles." It took one crew member an entire day to paint the tips.
The film used 563 puppets; 150 of them appear in a single roll-call scene.
900 pairs of eyes were manufactured. Each character's eye color is unique.
The production employed 385 people, including 125 model makers, 40 animators and 25 artists.
It took two animators three weeks to knit Mrs. Tweedy's cardigan by hand. It took another person three weeks to complete her dress, which bears a chicken's foot motif.
The show-stopping Pie-O-Matic scene lasts 4 minutes, 28 seconds. It is comprised of 150 separate shots, covering 6,432 individual frames. The sequence took 18 months to design and storyboard and nine months to film. A dozen people built the pie machine over 16 weeks.
The filmmakers tried — and failed — to work a "Why did the chicken cross the road?" gag into the movie.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.