The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists was Aardman’s second collaboration with Sony Pictures Entertainment. Directed by Peter Lord, the film is based on Gideon Defoe’s 2004 novel, and follows a crew of hapless pirates in their attempt to win the much coveted Pirate of the Year Award.

Hugh Grant stars in his first animated role as the luxuriantly bearded Pirate Captain – a boundlessly enthusiastic, if somewhat less-than-successful, terror of the High Seas. With a rag-tag crew at his side (Martin Freeman, Brendan Gleeson, Russell Tovey, and Ashley Jensen), and seemingly blind to the impossible odds stacked against him, the Captain has one dream: to beat his bitter rivals Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) to the Pirate Of The Year Award.