At Aardman, we are working with Lightroom to present a new large-format, immersive production celebrating 50 years of animation. Larger Than Life: Starring Wallace & Gromit, Shaun, and More will open on 14 October 2026 at Lightroom’s venue in King’s Cross, London.
The experience has been developed to coincide with Aardman’s 50th anniversary and offers a new way for audiences to engage with the studio’s creative process and characters. Produced in close collaboration with the Aardman production team, the project uses Lightroom’s projection environment to present a 360-degree cinematic experience that places animation, storytelling and studio craft at its centre.
For the visitor experience sector, the collaboration reflects the growing role of immersive venues in presenting narrative-driven content drawn from established intellectual property.
Storytelling Across A Fully Immersive Canvas
The production is designed to use the full architectural scale of Lightroom’s projection environment, with visuals extending across four walls measuring 11 metres in height, as well as across the floor. The 50-minute show runs as a continuous loop, allowing venues to accommodate flexible audience flow.
The narrative traces the studio’s origins and the development of its most recognisable characters. Through a combination of archival material, newly produced animation and cinematic sequences, the experience presents how Aardman’s stop-motion productions move from early ideas to finished screen work.
Characters including Morph, Shaun the Sheep and Wallace & Gromit appear throughout the presentation, alongside behind-the-scenes material that highlights the technical and creative processes involved in stop-motion production. For operators and experience designers, the format demonstrates how studio heritage and creative development can be communicated through spatial storytelling.
Creative Partnership With 59
The project has been written and designed by 59 Productions, with design direction led by Nicol Scott. The studio has extensive experience in large-scale projection environments and immersive storytelling across theatre, exhibitions and visitor attractions.
Working alongside the Aardman production team, the creative approach brings together archival material from the studio’s history with new content developed specifically for the Lightroom environment. The result presents a visual journey through the studio’s development, from early experimental animation created by co-founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton to globally recognised productions.
The experience also includes rarely displayed materials from Aardman’s archive, offering insight into model-making, set construction, and the detailed production process behind stop-motion filmmaking.
Growing Demand For Immersive Cultural Experiences
The project forms part of Lightroom’s wider programme of immersive productions developed with creative figures from across art, film and science. Since opening in 2023, the venue has hosted shows that combine large-scale projection with narrative-led storytelling.
For Aardman, the partnership provides an opportunity to present its archive and creative legacy in a format that extends beyond cinema and television. As animation studios continue to explore location-based experiences, immersive venues offer a platform for presenting intellectual property in a spatial, collaborative environment.
The London presentation will contribute to Aardman’s wider programme of anniversary activity throughout 2026, marking fifty years since the studio was founded in Bristol. Across the sector, projects such as Larger Than Life highlight the continued convergence between media production, immersive design and cultural exhibition formats within the visitor experience economy.
