Laika Announces A New Animated Feature, To Be Written By Ozark’s Bill Dubuque & Directed By Travis Knight

Laika announced today they are teaming up with “Ozark” co-creator, Bill Dubuque, to bring a new stop-motion animated feature, “The Night Gardener” to the screen.  Laika’s CEO, Travis Knight, will be directing.

The film is based on Dubuque’s original idea and is described as a gritty neo-noir folktale centered on a young man in rural Missouri, who’s fighting to keep his family together in the wake of a tragedy.

The Night Gardener is a beautiful and timeless story that quickens the pulse as often as it breaks the heart,” Knight said in a statement.

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LAIKA Is 15! Get Tickets For The OMSI Screenings & Interactive Exhibit – Starts Today!

Opening Tonight: 15 Years of LAIKA!

Explore the 15th anniversary and stop-motion fantasia of LAIKA Studios with screenings of all five of its Oscar-nominated films, from Coraline to Missing Link, at OMSI’s Empirical Theater! Delve deeper into the artistry and technical innovation behind the films with key filmmakers on hand for Q&As preceding each film.  Walkthrough displays of puppets and sets from each legendary film and explore the meticulous craftsmanship of LAIKA’s creative process. Tickets here. Continue reading... “LAIKA Is 15! Get Tickets For The OMSI Screenings & Interactive Exhibit – Starts Today!”

How the Classic #OregonMade Film “Coraline” Came To Be Set In Ashland, OR

Coraline,” the first feature created by Hillsboro-based animation studio, Laika, was released in 2009 to much critical acclaim and box office success. Recently, Oregon Film reached out to the film’s screenwriter and director, Henry Selick, to find out how the movie, based on a book by Neil Gaiman, came to be set in the small southern Oregon town of Ashland.

Selick said, “I began writing my screenplay for “Coraline” years ago at my home in Northern California.

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LAIKA Committed To Keeping Staff On Payroll Through Studio’s Temporary Closure

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Travis Knight, (CEO, LAIKA) has committed to keeping staff on the company payroll through the temporary closure of the animation studio that is due to the spread of Covid-19.  Knight said, in a memo obtained and published by the Hollywood Reporter that, “When this ends, and it will end, the world will need storytellers more than ever,”  “The world will need hope and inspiration and empathy and high-spirited joy. The world will need beauty and poetry and restorative works of art. Continue reading... “LAIKA Committed To Keeping Staff On Payroll Through Studio’s Temporary Closure”

Laika’s “Missing Link” – Oscar Nominated For “Best Animated Feature”

The 92nd Academy Awards nominees were announced this morning in Los Angeles.  Congratulations to Laika and Annapurna Pictures on their Oscar nomination for, “Best Animated Feature” for the studio’s 5th feature, “Missing Link.”

Coming off their recent Golden Globe win for, “Best Animated Feature” (also for “Missing Link“)  Laika beat out Disney’s, “Frozen 2” and “The Lion King”, DreamWorks Animation’s “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” and Disney/Pixar’s “Toy Story 4”, so it will be exciting to see how they fare at the Oscars.  Continue reading... “Laika’s “Missing Link” – Oscar Nominated For “Best Animated Feature””

Golden Globe Win For Laika With “Missing Link”

Congratulations to Laika on their first Golden Globe win for “Best Animated Feature” with “Missing Link“.  Laika beat out Disney’s, “Frozen 2” and “The Lion King”, DreamWorks Animation’s “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” and Disney/Pixar’s “Toy Story 4”.

The stop-motion feature was written and directed by Chris Butler and features the voices of Hugh Jackman, Zoe Saldana, Dabid Williams, Stephen Fry, Matt Lucas, Timothy Olyphant, Amrita Acharia, Emma Thompson and Zach Galifinakis.

Read more.

#OregonMade

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LAIKA’s “Missing Link” Receives 8 Annie Award Nominations!

Exciting news today – the 47th Annie Awards announced their 2019 nomination lineup – with Laika Studios‘ “Missing Link” receiving 8 (as did Disney with “Frozen”).

The nominations for this #OregonMade stop motion feature are:

 

  • “Best Feature” – LAIKA
  • “Best FX for Feature” – CG Look Development Lead: Eric Wachtman; Lead CG Effects Artist: David Horsley; Senior Technical Director: Peter Stuart; Lead Technical Compositor: Timu Khodzhaev; Lead CG Lighter: Joe Strasser.
  • “Best Character Animation – Animated Feature” – Rachelle Lambden; Characters: Multiple.
Continue reading... “LAIKA’s “Missing Link” Receives 8 Annie Award Nominations!”

“Missing Link” Screening, w/presentation – June 7 @ OMSI + Toffee Club

Join us this coming Friday evening, June 7, for a special $5 encore screening of LAIKA’s Missing Link at OMSI, followed by a unique presentation at The Toffee Club’s back room by LAIKA Lead Compositor Michael Cordova.   He’ll share the LAIKA filmmaking process with us from a VFX Compositor’s viewpoint.  Presented by Portland SIGGRAPH, in cooperation with OMSI and the Toffee Club.

Film at 7pm, presentation ~9pm.  More details and tickets at www.vfxpdx.com.

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Laika’s #OregonMade “Missing Link” Out April 12th

LAIKA’s fifth #OregonMade feature, “Missing Link,” starring Hugh Jackman, Zoe Saldana, Zach Galifiankis, written and directed by Chris Butler, music composed by Carter Burwell, produced by, Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner, will be released April 12,2019.

From Laika’s press release: “Missing Link is an artistic and technical wonder,” said Mr. Knight.  “Led by our visionary director Chris Butler, LAIKA has once again blended fine art, craftsmanship, and cutting-edge technology to achieve something we’ve never tried before: a raucous comedy entwined with a swashbuckling epic, underscoring the universal need to find belonging.  Continue reading... “Laika’s #OregonMade “Missing Link” Out April 12th”

Official Trailer Out For #OregonMade LAIKA Movie, “Missing Link”

A new trailer has been released for LAIKA’s latest project, “Missing Link.” Starring Hugh Jackman, written and directed by Chris Butler, music composed by Carter Burwell, producers are, Travis Knight, Arianne Sutner and will be released April 12,2019.

“The charismatic Sir Lionel Frost considers himself to be the world’s foremost investigator of myths and monsters. Trouble is, none of his small-minded, high-society peers seems to recognize this. Hoping to finally gain acceptance from these fellow adventurers, Sir Lionel travels to the Pacific Northwest to prove the existence of a legendary creature known as the missing link.” Continue reading... “Official Trailer Out For #OregonMade LAIKA Movie, “Missing Link””