Laika

Laika to Adapt WILDWOOD, the Youth Novel by The Decemberists Lead Singer Colin Meloy

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: September 7th, 2011 at 8:12 pm

The Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy was always more storyteller than singer, so it’s about time he put down the guitar and try a full-on novel.  The wise folks over at Laika think it’s good—or at least good enough for a movie.  The animation studio behind Coraline has optioned the rights to Meloy’s young-adult fantasy novel Wildwood.  The story is set in alternate version of Portland, Oregon, where both Laika and The Decemberists are based.  The book is intended to be the first in a trilogy about Prue McKneel, “a young lady who must confront a world filled with magic and danger after her younger brother is kidnapped, forcing her to enter the Impassable Wilderness.”  Laika president Travis Knight hopes the movie will be the first in a trilogy.

Hit the jump for more from Knight (including a Lord of the Rings comparison) and a full synopsis of the book.

Jon Brion to Score Laika’s 3D Stop-Motion Animated Feature PARANORMAN

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: June 14th, 2011 at 1:09 pm

Musician Jon Brion has some great scores to his name.  He’s done subtle, moving music for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Synecdoche, New York, but can just as easily do light-hearted upbeat work like he did with Step Brothers, Other Guys, and my personal favorite, I Heart Huckabees.  Now Laika and Focus Features have sent out a press release annoucning that Brion will provide the score for their upcoming 3D stop-motion animated comedy Paranorman.  The film revolves around Norman (voiced by Let Me In‘s Kodi Smit-McPhee), a young boy who can speak to the dead and must use his abilities to save his town from zombies, ghosts, witches, and dim-witted adults.

Hit the jump for the press release, which includes a statement from Brion on why he decided to make Paranorman his first animated film.  Paranorman is due out August 17, 2012.

Focus Features Signs Two-Picture Distribution Deal with CORALINE Studio LAIKA; Will Release PARANORMAN Next August

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: May 4th, 2011 at 11:59 am

Focus Features will reteam with Coraline animation studio LAIKA for two upcoming pictures.  Focus will distribute the first film under the deal, ParaNorman, on August 17, 2012.  The film will be only the second stop-motion animated film to be released in 3D.  Directed by Sam Fell (Flushed Away) and Chris Butler (storyboard supervisor on Coraline), ParaNorman is a comedy thriller about a local boy (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee) who can speak with the dead, which comes in handy when his town becomes under siege from zombies, ghosts, witches, moronic grown-up, and a centuries-old curse.  The voice cast also includes Casey Affleck, Jeff Garlin, John Goodman, Leslie Mann, Christopher Mintze-Plasse, Bernard Hill, Tempestt Bledsoe, Elaine Stritch, and Anna Kendrick.

The yet-to-be-named second picture will be released by Focus in 2014.  Hit the jump for the full press release.

CORALINE Director Henry Selick Leaves Laika Studios

by David Corbin    Posted: October 6th, 2009 at 9:00 pm

Talk about a major free agent.  Henry Selick, the acclaimed director of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is leaving Laika, the studio behind his latest success, “Coraline.”  The move is surprising since Selick’s work had almost singlehandedly built up Laika’s reputation as a premier producer of animation.  Selick arrived in 2004, right as Nike executive Phil Knight acquired Will Vinton studios and immediately began to turn around the studios fortunes.  2005 saw the award-winning short “Moongirl” and again this past year saw the critical and commercial success of “Coraline.”  To find out why Selick is moving on, frame by frame, hit the jump.

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