Aardman is officially hatching a sequel to Chicken Run – and the film will be flying to Netflix.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Aardman’s much-loved poultry heist, which remains the highest-grossing stop-motion animated film of all time. Now, the animation studio has confirmed that, after waiting for a “sequel idea worth of Chicken Run”, they’ve finally cracked it – and this time, the chickens are breaking in.

Chicken Run 2 will see Ginger, having pulled off a death-defying escape from Tweedy’s farm, finally enjoying her dream – a peaceful island sanctuary for the whole flock, far from the dangers of the human world. When she and Rocky hatch a little girl called Molly, Ginger’s happy ending seems complete. But back on the mainland the whole of chicken-kind faces a new and terrible threat. For Ginger and her team, even if it means putting their own hard-won freedom at risk – this time, they’re breaking in.

The Chicken Run sequel is directed by Sam Fell (Flushed Away, ParaNorman) and produced by Steve Pegram (Arthur Christmas) and Leyla Hobart. Peter Lord, Carla Shelley and Karey Kirkpatrick will be returning as executive producers. The script is written by Karey Kirkpatrick, John O’ Farrell and Rachel Tunnard. Nick Park (creator of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep) will have a consulting role on the film.

Original distributors Studiocanal and Pathé have closed a deal with Aardman to allow the transfer of the sequel rights to Netflix.

Peter Lord, Aardman Co-Founder and Creative Directorm says; “We’re delighted to announce, on the 20th anniversary, that we’ve found the perfect story. Netflix feels like the ideal creative partner for this project too: they celebrate the film-maker, which means we can make the film we want to make – the one we really care about – and share it with a global audience.”

The sequel is expected to go into full production in 2021.