A Grand Day Out

A Grand Day Out is a 1989 British stop-motion animated short film. Directed, animated and co-written by Nick Park, it is the first installment in the Wallace & Gromit series at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield and Aardman Animations in Bristol. The film centres on eccentric yet good-natured inventor Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis) and his mute but intelligent pet dog, Gromit, who decide to build a home-made rocket ship and make a trip to the moon in search of cheese.

Nick Park started creating A Grand Day Out in 1982 as a graduation project for the National Film & Television School. In 1985, Aardman took him on before he finished the piece, allowing him to work on it part-time while still being funded by the school. William Harbutt's company provided Park with Plasticine for the short. Nick Park wrote to Peter Sallis asking him to voice Wallace; Although Park originally envisioned a Lancashire accent for Wallace, Sallis could only manage to do a Yorkshire accent. Nick Park initially sought for Gromit to have a voice, but ultimately he decided to keep the character mute. Julian Nott scored the film.

A Grand Day Out debuted on 4 November 1989, at an animation festival at the Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol. It was first broadcast on Christmas Eve 1990 on Channel 4. The film received critical acclaim and was followed by 1993's The Wrong Trousers, 1995's A Close Shave, 2005's The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, 2008's A Matter of Loaf and Death, and 2024's Vengeance Most Fowl. It was a Best Animated Short Film nominee for the 63rd Academy Awards.