Their third film, The Boxtrolls, was released on September 26, 2014. The new independent commercial division is now called HouseSpecial. 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.Īfter 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. Their second stop-motion feature film, ParaNorman, directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler opened on August 17, 2012. At the end of the year, the studio laid off more staff in its computer animation department to focus exclusively on stop-motion. The following year, the studio released its first feature film, Coraline, which received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, a nomination at the BAFTAs for Best Animated Feature, a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film, and eight nominations at the Annie Awards, winning three, for Best Music in an Animated Feature, and Best Character Design and Production Design in a Feature Production.Īfter directing Moongirl and Coraline, and unsuccessfully renegotiating his contract, Selick departed Laika in 2009.

The studio laid off a significant portion of its staff in 2008, when its second planned feature, Jack & Ben's Animated Adventure, was cancelled. Laika's headquarters in Hillsboro, Oregon They also announced their first projects, the stop-motion film Coraline (based on the book of the same name), and the CGI animated film Jack & Ben's Animated Adventure. It opened two divisions: Laika Entertainment for feature films and Laika/house for commercial work, such as advertisements and music videos. In July 2005, the successor to Will Vinton Studios, Laika, was founded, and named after Laika, the dog sent to space by the Soviet Union in 1957. In 2002, Phil Knight acquired the financially struggling Will Vinton Studios to pursue feature-length productions.The following year, Henry Selick, director of The Nightmare Before Christmas, joined the studio as a supervising director.

In 1998, Knight made his initial investment and his son Travis started work at the studio as an animator. In the late 1990s, Will Vinton Studios, known for its stop-motion films and commercials, sought funds for more feature-length films and brought in outside investors, which included Nike, Inc.

Laika studios