London-based Titan Books has acquired worldwide rights to The Art of Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, a hardcover, full color, behind-the-scenes look at the new stop-action movie from three-time Academy Award winner Nick Park of Aardman Animation.  Curse of the Were-Rabbit is the first Wallace & Gromit feature film and it opens in the U.S. on October 7 and in the U.K. on October 14th.  The film is backed by Dreamworks, which means it will get plenty of exposure, and it has received raves from its limited film festival exposure, which means it is highly likely to become a cult hit. 

The plot of Curse of the Were-Rabbit revolves around Wallace and Gromit's humane pest control service, Anti-Pesto, and their attempts to safeguard the town's vegetable plots from the nightly depredations of the Were-Rabbit.  In addition to the standard hardcover edition of The Art of Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which has a cover price of $35, Titan is also releasing a limited 500-copy edition signed by Nick Park and co-director Steve Box (no price available on the limited edition yet).

In addition to the Art of Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Titan has also published a number of Wallace and Gromit graphic novel adventures including: The Bootiful Game, The Whippet Vanishes, and Catch of the Day.  In September Titan will bring out a fourth book in the W&G graphic novel series, A Pier Too Far ($12.99) and savvy retailers will no doubt be plotting how to include the graphic novels and other W&G merchandise to make the most of the debut of the first Wallace & Gromit feature in October.