Hammy Short to Accompany Hedge DVD

Thursday, May 25, 2006
By: Ryan Ball

Sources at DreamWorks Animation tell us the animation crew is working on a short film starring the hyperactive, red squirrel from the studio’s hit CG feature, Over the Hedge. The short will be included in the upcoming home video release of the film, and will most likely screen in theaters with DreamWorks next feature toon, Aardman’s Flushed Away, which will debut on Nov. 3.

Voiced by Steve Carell (The 40 Year Old Virgin, NBC’s The Office), Hammy is one of the forest pals who raid suburbia in Over the Hedge. The compuer-generated toon bowed in theaters last weekend and earned more than $37 million despite being overshadowed by the cultural phenomenon that is The Da Vinci Code.

There’s no word yet on what the scene-stealing Hammy will be doing in the short, but he just may give Fox Animation and Blue Sky’s Scrat from Ice Age a run for his money. A primitive variety of squirrel, Scrat has appeared in two shorts that expand his supporting role in both Ice Age films.