Back on August 22nd, Laika released a 3-D remaster of their hit film, Coraline. It attracted veteran movie-goers and curious film watchers to experience the magic of Laika’s stop-motion masterpiece. Coraline plans to return to theaters again with a special preview of Laika’s newest project, Wildwood.
Colin Meloy’s Wildwood
Wildwood is a folklore fantasy novel written by Colin Meloy and illustrated by Carson Ellis. Meloy became heavily influenced by his hometown, Portland, Oregon due to its natural forest environment. The story involves young teenager Prue McKeel is searching for her baby brother Mae who got kidnapped by a murder of crows. With her classmate Curtis, she sets off to find him in the Impassable Wilderness. Prue must travel with caution as many dangerous creatures and people will chase her away.
Kubo and the Two Strings director Travis Knight pursue to bring the novel to life for he is an Oregon native himself. Wildwood will be the studio’s sixth stop-motion film that will combine animation techniques from The Missing Link and Kubo. The film has been under production for over a decade, allowing Knight’s production partner, Caleb Deschanel to learn them. In an interview with the Empire, Wildwood was held back from a 2024 release for a battle scene. Knight and Deschanel expressed the difficulty in two words, “Oh God.”
Coraline 15th Anniversary
In late August, Laika’s Coraline returned to theaters remastered in 3-D. The studio wanted both new and veteran viewers to experience the animation with redefined processing. Many watchers noticed characters have more fluent motions rather than static movements. For its limited run, Coraline Remastered joined the Box Office’s Top 10 one weekend with $50 million.
Around the same time, Laika released Wildwood’s announcement trailer with a special tribute to Kubo, Paranorman, and Coraline. Knight showed Laika fans their dedication to improving sop-motion with 3-D engineering techniques. Anyone who has missed Coraline Remaster will have a chance to see it this Halloween (Oct. 31st) and Nov. 1st. This time, Laika added an incentive to watch a special preview of Wildwood after the film.
Final Thoughts
By the trailer alone, Laika had made drastic improvements and innovations in stop-motion. By using 3-D rendering software, they created fluent motion without sacrificing clay art. Wildwood also shows signs of how much of their iconic character design is less cartoonish. On Laika’s official website, visitors can get a glimpse of Prue McKeel. She has a natural human appearance and her carved hair feels real. The forest’s dark atmosphere and sharpness give off a threatening presence matching Carson Ellis’ illustrations.
Wildwood shows a promising future for Laika’s future animation projects including Piranesi by Susanne Clarke. It’s unknown if the film will become a trilogy for Meloy wrote three books for the series. The second book is Under Wildwood and the third is Wildwood Imperium. During this time, the folklore fantasy film is set to release in 2025.
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