‘Chicken Run 2’ Hens In Feminist Heist Sequel With Mother-Daughter Story

After 23 years, fans finally get a sequel to Chicken Run.

The first movie was an escape film, where Rocky (Mel Gibson) and Ginger (Julia Sawalha) decide to escape from a chicken farm when they learn that their owner is plotting to kill them. This time, the sequel titled Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget will be a heist film. According to the team behind the movie, a feminist film too.

Speaking at the BFI London Film Festival, writer Karey Kirkpatrick (who also penned Chicken Run) revealed what makes Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget a heist film.

“The last one was an homage to escape films, and this one is an homage to heist films,” said. Kirkpatrick. “John [O’Farrell] and I started on this movie in 2014, and we started out with an inside joke, actually. We knew it was a heist film, but what’s the diamond in this heist for chickens? They don’t care about money. So we thought, the diamond is a kid.”

O’Farrell added that the movie would also be a feminist film, centering a mother-daughter story instead of the originally planned father-son story.

“We did two drafts of a father-son story, and then all the women at Aardman went, ‘What are you doing? This is a feminist classic!’” O’Farrell said. “Ginger is a feminist hero, an icon, and so we said, ‘OK you’re right, we’re going to make it a mother-daughter story.’”

The sequel has been well-received thus far, with its score sitting at an impressive 83 percent on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing. Critics have called it a worthy follow-up to the first movie and has sung praises for its likability and modern family entertainment value.

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget stars Thandiwe Newton (Mission: Impossible 2) as Ginger and Zachary Levi (Shazam!) as Rocky. Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us) voices the pair’s daughter Molly. Miranda Richardson (The Hours) and Jane Horrocks (Corpse Bride) return as Mrs Tweedy and Babs respectively.

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget releases on Netflix on 15 December.