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A lot of great cultural exports have come from Britain–like The Beatles, Bovril, and Shaun of the Dead–and one of its finest is easily Wallace and Gromit. Often seen as the gold standard in the art of claymation, the iconic duo has starred in several shorts and a feature-length film over the years, and if you’re looking to own some cracking good entertainment, you can check out this extremely limited box set coming out soon. Only 5,000 copies of Wallace and Gromit: The Complete Cracking Collection are being made, and Amazon has discounted the collection to $100 (was $120) ahead of its December 10 release. It’s just one of the many discounts on Blu-rays you can get this week, many of which are tied to Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days sale and are eligible for buy two, get one free.
Inside, you’ll find the following Wallace and Gromit specials:
A Grand Day OutThe Wrong TrousersA Close ShaveA Matter of Loaf and DeathWallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-RabbitCracking Contraptions
The first four Wallace and Gromit specials have been remastered in 4K and can be found on that UHD-format disc. If you don’t have a 4K player, there is a standard Blu-ray disc with all the shorts included, as well as The Curse of the Were-Rabbit film and Cracking Contraptions–a series of micro-episodes about Wallace’s weird ideas to make your life easier. You’ll also get audio commentaries on all four of the short films, an interview with creators Nick Park and Peter Lord, a stills gallery, and several behind-the-scenes features for a grand collection of content, overall.
The box set is also something to put on a shelf and display, as the box resembles Wallace’s signature suitcase and inside you’ll find blueprints and stickers for some of his inventions. Just make certain that a nefarious penguin doesn’t get his evil little flippers on it.
If you’ve never watched a Wallace and Gromit adventure, then you’ve missed out on something special. The series kicked off in 1989’s A Grand Day Out and saw the duo head to the moon in search of cheese, and a few years later in 1993, the pair tangled with the infamous penguin Feathers McGraw, who was hellbent on stealing a pair of technologically advanced trousers from Wallace. The cheese-loving inventor and his dog would return in 1995’s A Close Shave, 2005 saw them head to the big screen, and they’d pop up in a short feature again in 2008’s A Matter of Loaf and Death.
Sadly, Wallace’s original voice actor Peter Sallis died in 2017, but the pair will return in Vengeance Most Fowl, which is set to be released on on Netflix on December 25, 2024. Beyond Wallace and Gromit, Aardman Animation has also produced a few other cult-classic movies.
Chicken Run is still a highly regarded escape film, and the animation studio ventured into CGI-animation with the superb Flushed Away, starring the voice of everyone’s favorite Wolverine actor–Hugh Jackman–as an aristocratic mouse looking to escape the sewers and a genocidal toad voiced by Sir Ian McKellen.
Flushed Away (DVD) — $10Chicken Run (Standard Blu-ray) — $10.70 ($15)
