It’s been six years ago the release of “missing link”, The Sixth Stop-Motion animated film From the Portland-based animation house Time. If you don’t remember, it is because the movie of $ 100 million was a financial bomb that only brought in $ 26.5 million globally. Previous Laika films were all budgeted in the range $ 60 million and were almost all consistent artists at checkout with approximately $ 100 million globally, but reports at that time estimated “Missing link” could have dropped over $ 100 million after expenses.
The emergence of Covid-19 at the beginning of 2020 did not help Laika to bounce back. Pandemin seriously hindered the company’s ability to work by hand in its tactile animation facility in Oregon Woodlands, so that the production of the company’s Next ambitious Stop-Motion Epic, “Wildwood,” Did not Start formally until September 2021. The founder of the company, Travis KnightIn the meantime, have been busy with the upcoming Live-Action “Masters of the Universe” tentpole movie for Amazon MGM.
But Laika has not sat down during the six years that have passed. After the failure of ”Missing link“The studio has taken the time, just like they do with each of their films, rebuild bit by bit. They are now striving to let a new audience know who they are, again.
“It has not been a silent phase for us,” David Burke, Laikas CMO, told IndieWire. “It has really been more of a quiet building. It is not we are dormant. We have used that time to reflect on who Laika is and what the audience needs from us now and also realize that the industry is changing. We are not just adapting. We adapt to what makes Laika Singular.”
“Wildwood” is as good for a reintroduction as everyone. The fantasy film is based on the first in a trilogy of YA novels by Colin Meloy, better known as the main singer and songwriter for the Portland-based indie rock band The Decemberists. But the project is also at home for Laika, as it is located in a secret forest just outside Laika’s home in Portland and follows a girl whose child brother is taken into the forest, just to discover an exotic world of talking animals and bandits. It sounds like she might have stumbled upon Laika’s studio facility.
“Wildwood” was Headliner as part of Laika’s Annecy presentation, where the company annoys its upcoming projects – both animated and in Its new live-action division – It has in the works. It also reminded the audience that a six -year layover did not mean that the audience completely forgot them.
Last year, Laika released Laika in collaboration with Fathom events Henry Selick’s 3D River “Coraline”, shook in $ 56 million at the checkout and does one of the most successful release ever. The company will hope that Lightning will strike twice and plan to be released “Paranorman” Remastered and in 3-D on October 25 in the United States, and it will also be accompanied by a new short film, “Paranorman: The Thriving.”
The short one is a good example of how Laika goes beyond her roots and has outsourced some of the animation work to a French company called Passion Pictures, while the creative is creative. But in addition to outsourcing, Laika has used the time to increase the infrastructure internally and now has a beef development slat. Given that during the first 20 years ago, Laika was founded in 2005 has only made six films so far, the studio seems to be set up to make many more films in its next 20.
It means live-action productions that Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck take on a Taylor Jenkins Reid novel or Jon Spaiths debuts on a sci-fi thriller. And it also means – decisive – the ability for Laika to produce several films at one time, with both Fantasy adaptation “Piranesi” and Neo-Noir Folktale “The Night Gardner” Both in active development. The Annecy presentation also announced new projects in the works from the Animatorduon called Headless (Victor Maldonado & Alfredo Torres), Chris Butler, Sam Fell and Copeland Brothers.
“We have always been about operating the boundaries of what is possible in stop-motion animation, and now we take that way of thinking and apply it to filmmaking in general,” Burke said. “I think the world will see is that when” wildwood “is released and there is more visibility about our broader creative strategy, there will be a greater understanding of expressions for it.”
But the long Layover has meant that Laika must become more aggressive when it comes to positioning “wildwood” to the audience, even before the company has secured a distributor to release it (Burke said that the company is in active discussions with several potential distributors for the film). The theater seems to be prioritization because four of six of their films were released through focus features, while “Missing Link” was one of the last broad editions from Annapurna Pictures and United Artists Release.
Laika has evaluated her event strategy and consumer product strategy in recent years. It has worked with branding affinity, deeper audience connections and simple awareness for Laika’s films with younger audiences.
The “Hidden World” exhibition at the Seattles Museum of Pop Culture as early as 2023 was a cog in that flywheel (it will move to the Academy Museum in December 2026 to September 2027), with Laika who trot out real dolls and sets for viewing. Other targeted Tiktok marketing by making rolls for films such as “Coraline” and “The Boxtrolls” has been another. Burke says that the success of “Coraline” emissions is the product of several years of effort when it comes to generating awareness and not a surprise overnight. And the door is open to release of its other titles as well.
“We could not only rely on traditional marketing strategies to lead the release of” Wildwood, “said Burke.” We had to be a little more intentional, a little more strategic and really take responsibility for growing the audience in the house and introducing a number of strategic initiatives. “
Still, these films must be financially sensible in a way that “missing link” did not. Burke said that the goal during this period has been to develop better workflows, adjusting its process, getting technical solutions and becoming more efficient, all without sacrificing quality. He insists that they do it even when Knight juggles many projects at once.
It is not just Laika that navigates in a tricky place in animation. There is as much demand for children and family movies as ever, but just ask Pixes about the challenges of launching an original property in theaters these days. Even Netflix, who has seen a large number of licensing lighting films, have not seen the same results with their original animations.
So whether “Wildwood” and future Laika films are more sensible for a streamer or in theaters, Laika renies that “Wildwood” is the face of an exciting next chapter on the company’s journey.
“What we strive to do is really that” wildwood “as a destination film for not only laika fans, not just animation fans, but audience in general, and we feel we have something that is really unique, it is of the culture,” said Burke. “There is something that is really reasoning right now that feels right for Laika, and I would say that there is all confidence in us to deliver on an animation movie with ‘Wildwood.’ “Coraline” emphasizes that we can mobilize our fans and animation fans, but we can also mobilize new audiences. ”
