"Unofficial reasons for departure were weak performances of the last two movies, for which DreamWorks had to take writedowns, and citing the article, "Aardman executives chafed at the creative control DreamWorks tried to exert, particularly with "Flushed Away"..." The studio had another film in development, "Crood Awakening" (eventually "The Croods"), which had been announced in 2005, with John Cleese co-writing the screenplay.With the end of the partnership, the film's rights reverted to DreamWorks.