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Laika, LLC (stylized as LAIKA) is an American independent
production company A production company, production house or production studio is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television show, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video ...
specializing in
stop-motion animation Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...
and forthcoming live-action
feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...
s, commercial content for all media,
music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
s, and
short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...
s. The studio is best known for its stop-motion feature films, ''
Coraline ''Coraline'' () is a 2002 British dark fantasy horror children's novella by author Neil Gaiman. Gaiman started writing ''Coraline'' in 1990, and it was published in 2002 by Bloomsbury and HarperCollins. It was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for ...
'', ''
ParaNorman ''ParaNorman'' is a 2012 American animated comedy horror, comedy horror film produced by Laika, LLC, Laika. Directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler (filmmaker), Chris Butler (the latter's feature directorial debut), and written by Butler, the film ...
'', ''
The Boxtrolls ''The Boxtrolls'' is a 2014 American animated fantasy comedy film produced by Laika and loosely based on the 2005 novel '' Here Be Monsters!'' by Alan Snow. Directed by Graham Annable (in his feature directorial debut) and Anthony Stacchi an ...
'', ''
Kubo and the Two Strings ''Kubo and the Two Strings'' is a 2016 American animated fantasy film directed by Travis Knight and written by Marc Haimes and Chris Butler. Produced by Laika, the film stars the voices of Charlize Theron, Art Parkinson, Ralph Fiennes, Roone ...
'', and ''
Missing Link Missing link may refer to: Biology * Missing link (human evolution), a non-scientific term typically referring to transitional fossils * Piltdown Man, a hoax in which bone fragments were presented as the "missing link" between ape and man Geog ...
''. It is owned by
Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine giv ...
co-founder
Phil Knight Philip Hampson Knight (born February 24, 1938) is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist who is the co-founder and chairman ''emeritus'' of Nike, Inc., a global sports equipment and apparel company. He was previously its chai ...
and is located in
Hillsboro, Oregon Hillsboro ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County, Oregon, Washington County. Situated in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city hosts many High tech, high-te ...
, part of the
Portland metropolitan area The Portland metropolitan area is a metropolitan area, metro area with its urban area, core in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington (state), Washington. It has 5 principal cities, the largest being Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Man ...
. Knight's son,
Travis Knight Travis Andrew Knight (born September 13, 1973) is an American animator, producer, director, actor, and former rapper. The son of the Nike co-founder Phil Knight, he has worked as the lead animator and current CEO for the stop-motion animation s ...
, acts as Laika's president and CEO. Laika previously had two divisions, Laika Entertainment for feature films and Laika/house for commercial content. The studio spun off the commercial division in July 2014 to focus exclusively on feature film production. The new independent commercial division is now called HouseSpecial.


History

In the late 1990s,
Will Vinton Studios William Gale Vinton (November 17, 1947 – October 4, 2018) was an American animator and filmmaker. Vinton was best known for his Claymation work, alongside creating iconic characters such as The California Raisins. He won an Oscar for his wor ...
, known for its stop-motion films and commercials, sought funds for more feature-length films and brought in outside investors, which included
Nike, Inc. Nike, Inc. (stylized as ''NIKE'') is an American athletic footwear and apparel corporation headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon. It is the world's largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment, ...
owner
Phil Knight Philip Hampson Knight (born February 24, 1938) is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist who is the co-founder and chairman ''emeritus'' of Nike, Inc., a global sports equipment and apparel company. He was previously its chai ...
, whose son
Travis Knight Travis Andrew Knight (born September 13, 1973) is an American animator, producer, director, actor, and former rapper. The son of the Nike co-founder Phil Knight, he has worked as the lead animator and current CEO for the stop-motion animation s ...
worked at the studio as an animator. In 1998, Knight made his initial investment. In 2002, Phil Knight acquired the financially struggling Will Vinton Studios to pursue feature-length productions. The following year,
Henry Selick Charles Henry Selick Jr. (; born November 30, 1952) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his work in stop motion animation and for directing the films ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ''James and the Giant Peach (film) ...
, director of ''
The Nightmare Before Christmas ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (formerly known as ''Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas'') is a 1993 American stop motion Animation, animated Gothic film, gothic musical film, musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick in his f ...
'', joined the studio as a supervising director. In July 2005, Will Vinton Studios was rebranded as Laika – named after
Laika Laika ( ; , ; – 3 November 1957) was a Soviet space dog who was one of the first animals in space and the first to orbit the Earth. A stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow, she flew aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecraft, launched into lo ...
, the dog sent to space by the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
in 1957. It opened two divisions: Laika Entertainment for feature films and Laika/house for commercial work, such as advertisements and music videos. They also announced their first projects, the stop-motion film ''
Coraline ''Coraline'' () is a 2002 British dark fantasy horror children's novella by author Neil Gaiman. Gaiman started writing ''Coraline'' in 1990, and it was published in 2002 by Bloomsbury and HarperCollins. It was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for ...
'', and the CGI animated film ''Jack & Ben's Animated Adventure''. The studio laid off a significant portion of its staff in 2008, when its second planned feature, ''Jack & Ben's Animated Adventure'', was cancelled. The following year, the studio released its first feature film, ''Coraline'', directed by Selick. which received a nomination for the
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature is an Academy Awards, Academy Award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for the best animation, animated feature film. An animated feature is defined by the a ...
, a nomination at the
BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...
s for Best Animated Feature, a nomination for the
Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film The Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film is a Golden Globe Award category that was awarded for the first time at the 64th Golden Globe Awards in 2007. It was the first time that the Golden Globe Awards had created a separate categor ...
, and eight nominations at the
Annie Awards The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in American cinema and television. Origi ...
, winning three, for Best Music in an Animated Feature, and Best Character Design and Production Design in a Feature Production. After directing '' Moongirl'' and ''Coraline'' but having been unsuccessful in renegotiating his contract, Selick departed Laika in 2009. At the end of the year, the studio laid off more staff in its computer animation department to focus exclusively on stop-motion. Their second stop-motion feature film, ''
ParaNorman ''ParaNorman'' is a 2012 American animated comedy horror, comedy horror film produced by Laika, LLC, Laika. Directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler (filmmaker), Chris Butler (the latter's feature directorial debut), and written by Butler, the film ...
'', directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler, opened on August 17, 2012. It received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, as well as a nomination for Best Animated Feature at the BAFTAs, and eight nominations at the Annie Awards, winning two, for Character Animation and Character Design in an Animated Feature Production. After working on stop-motion commercials for clients such as Apple Inc., Fox Sports, ESPN and Coca-Cola, Laika spun off its advertising portion in July 2014, to focus on feature film production exclusively. The new independent commercial division is now called HouseSpecial. Their third film, ''
The Boxtrolls ''The Boxtrolls'' is a 2014 American animated fantasy comedy film produced by Laika and loosely based on the 2005 novel '' Here Be Monsters!'' by Alan Snow. Directed by Graham Annable (in his feature directorial debut) and Anthony Stacchi an ...
'', was released on September 26, 2014. It was based on Alan Snow's fantasy-adventure novel, '' Here Be Monsters!'', and was directed by
Anthony Stacchi Anthony Stacchi is an American animator, effects animator, storyboard artist, screenwriter, and film director. Stacchi graduated from California Institute of the Arts with a BFA in Film in 1986. His student films screened at the 1987 Annecy and ...
and
Graham Annable Graham Annable (born June 1, 1970) is a Canadian cartoonist and animator. He is the creator of ''Grickle'', published by Alternative Comics, and one of the founders of the ''Hickee'' humor anthology (also published by Alternative Comics). Annable ...
. It received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature, a Golden Globe nomination for Best Animated Feature, and nine nominations at the Annie Awards, winning two, for Voice Acting and Production Design in an Animated Feature Production. Their fourth film, ''
Kubo and the Two Strings ''Kubo and the Two Strings'' is a 2016 American animated fantasy film directed by Travis Knight and written by Marc Haimes and Chris Butler. Produced by Laika, the film stars the voices of Charlize Theron, Art Parkinson, Ralph Fiennes, Roone ...
'', directed by Travis Knight, was released on August 19, 2016. It received two nominations at the Academy Awards, for Best Animated Feature and Best Visual Effects (as only the second animated film to receive that nomination, after ''
The Nightmare Before Christmas ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (formerly known as ''Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas'') is a 1993 American stop motion Animation, animated Gothic film, gothic musical film, musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick in his f ...
''). It won the BAFTA for Best Animated Feature. It also received a nomination for Best Animated Feature at the Golden Globes, and ten nominations at the Annie Awards, winning three, for Character Animation, Production Design and Editorial in a Feature Production. Laika had considered
Philip Reeve Philip Reeve (born 28 February 1966) is an English author and illustrator of children's books, primarily known for the 2001 book '' Mortal Engines'' and its sequels (the 2001 to 2006 '' Mortal Engines Quartet''). His 2007 novel, '' Here Lies Ar ...
's fantasy book ''Goblins'', for a potential feature film adaptation. In March 2015, the company announced it would expand the studio in an effort to allow for production of one film per year. Their fifth film, ''
Missing Link Missing link may refer to: Biology * Missing link (human evolution), a non-scientific term typically referring to transitional fossils * Piltdown Man, a hoax in which bone fragments were presented as the "missing link" between ape and man Geog ...
'', directed by Chris Butler, was released on April 12, 2019. It received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature and eight nominations at the Annie Awards. It also won a Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature. On February 8, 2021, Laika signed a distribution deal with
Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...
for the United States, covering the studio's first four films. On March 31, 2021, Laika announced their first live-action film based on the action thriller novel ''Seventeen'' by John Brownlow, who is said to be a fan of Laika's previous work. In September of that year it was also confirmed that the studio is currently working on their sixth stop-motion animated film, '' Wildwood'', after the film was originally announced in 2011. The film is based on a novel by
Colin Meloy Colin Patrick Henry Meloy (born October 5, 1974) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and author best known as the frontman of the Portland, Oregon, indie folk rock band the Decemberists. In addition to vocals, he performs with an acousti ...
and directed by Travis Knight and is set to release in 2025. On April 27, 2022, a new Laika stop-motion film titled ''The Night Gardener'' was announced as being in the works, based on an original story by ''
Ozark The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, as well as a small area in the southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cov ...
'' creator
Bill Dubuque Bill Dubuque is an American screenwriter known for such films as '' The Accountant'', '' A Family Man'', '' The Judge'', and the television series ''Ozark''. Biography Dubuque was born in St. Louis, Missouri, spending time working on the Lak ...
, with Travis Knight penned to direct it. On October 21, 2022, former director for the studio, Selick, openly admitted that he would consider returning to Laika; specifically to helm an adaptation of another
Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...
novel, ''
The Ocean at the End of the Lane ''The Ocean at the End of the Lane'' is a 2013 novel by British author Neil Gaiman. The work was first published on 18 June 2013 through William Morrow and Company and follows an unnamed man who returns to his hometown for a funeral and rememb ...
''. Having previously pitched the adaptation to the studio after the release of ''Coraline'', Selick stated that though Gaiman took the rights back for a time, the filmmaker asked for another chance with it, and that any future development on the film with Gaiman and Laika would depend on the success of his latest film, ''
Wendell & Wild ''Wendell & Wild'' is a 2022 American gothic stop motion-animated comedy horror film directed by Henry Selick from a screenplay written by Selick and Jordan Peele (who are also producers), based on Selick's and Clay McLeod Chapman's unpublishe ...
'' (2022). On February 7, 2023, the studio announced that former
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
executive Matt Levin was appointed as the President, Live-Action Film & Series, and will oversee the studio's entire live-action output, reporting directly to Travis Knight. In May 2024 it was announced that ''Laika: Frame x Frame'', an exhibition showcasing "the art, science and innovative wizardry of the studio’s epic films" would be hosted between August and October 2024 at
BFI Southbank BFI Southbank (from 1951 to 2007, known as the National Film Theatre) is the leading repertory cinema in the United Kingdom, specialising in seasons of classic, independent and non-English language films. It is operated by the British Film Inst ...
in London as part of a stop-motion season supported by the studio. In June 2024, it was announced that Laika had acquired the rights to adapt
Susanna Clarke Susanna Mary Clarke (born 1 November 1959) is an English author best known for her debut novel '' Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell'' (2004), a Hugo Award-winning alternative history. Clarke began ''Jonathan Strange'' in 1993 and worked on it durin ...
's novel '' Piranesi'' into an animated feature film, to be directed by Travis Knight. In July 2024, Laika announced their original live-action film ''Crumble'', with
Brian Duffield Brian Duffield (born November 5, 1985) is an American filmmaker. He wrote and directed the 2023 sci-fi horror film '' No One Will Save You'' and the 2020 dark comedy coming-of-age film '' Spontaneous''. His previous writing credits include '' Lo ...
writing and directing.


Filmography


Films


Short films


Contract work


Films in development


Stop-motion

Additionally, Víctor Maldonado and Alfredo Torres, best known for directing episodes together on the adult animated anthology series ''
Love, Death & Robots ''Love, Death & Robots'' (stylized as LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS; represented in emoji form as ❤️❌🤖) is an adult animation, adult animated Anthology series, anthology television series created by Tim Miller (director), Tim Miller and streamin ...
'', Pete Candeland, best known for directing many music videos for
Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett in London, England in 1998. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (gui ...
, and brothers Chris and Justin Copeland, directors for ''
Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts ''Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts'' is an animated science fantasy action television series created by Radford Sechrist and developed by Bill Wolkoff, adapted from Sechrist's 2015 webcomic ''Kipo''. The series is produced by American company Dr ...
'' and several
DC Animated Universe The DC Animated Universe (DCAU, also referred to as the Timmverse or Diniverse by fans) is a Shared universe, shared fictional universe based on DC Comics properties and media franchise produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It began with ''Batman ...
films respectively, are working on animated films for the studio.


Live-action


Unproduced films

When Laika Entertainment opened, they announced their first projects, the stop-motion film ''Coraline'', and the CGI animated film ''Jack & Ben's Animated Adventure''. The latter film was cancelled in 2008, which resulted in the closure of Laika's CGI film division. Characters from the scrapped film were used in a short film, ''The Mouse that Soared''. Another CGI film was ''The Wall And The Wing'', the earliest reference to which dates back to 2005, before the publication of Laura Ruby's novel of the same name. Henry Selick was set to direct the film. In 2010, it was announced that
Jan Pinkava Jan Jaroslav Pinkava (born 21 June 1963) is a Czech-British-American producer, director, writer, and animator. He directed the Pixar short film '' Geri's Game'' and served as co-director and co-wrote the story for ''Ratatouille'', both of which ...
would be directing an original film based on Pinkava's own idea for Laika titled, ''Little White Lie'', with Chris McCoy as co-writer. Pinkava left Laika in 2011, effectively cancelling the film. There have been plans for a ''ParaNorman'' CGI sequel series, but nothing has come of the project. In 2012, it was announced that Laika was set to adapt
Philip Reeve Philip Reeve (born 28 February 1966) is an English author and illustrator of children's books, primarily known for the 2001 book '' Mortal Engines'' and its sequels (the 2001 to 2006 '' Mortal Engines Quartet''). His 2007 novel, '' Here Lies Ar ...
's book ''Goblins'', with Mark Gustafson set to direct. No further updates were given, and Gustafson died in 2024.


Reception


See also

*
List of companies based in Oregon This is a list of companies based in Oregon. Oregon is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, ninth largest by area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 27th most populous of the List of U.S. states, 50 United Stat ...
*
Arthouse animation Arthouse animation is a combination of art film and animated film. Examples of arthouse animated films 20th century *''El Apóstol'' (1917; now considered a lost film) *'' Fantasia'' (1940) *''Neighbours'' (1952) * '' Journey to the Beginning of ...
* American independent cinema


References


External links

* {{Authority control American companies established in 2005 Companies based in Hillsboro, Oregon American animation studios Film production companies of the United States Mass media companies established in 2005 Privately held companies based in Oregon 2005 establishments in Oregon