Laika adapts Colin Meloy’s Wildwood as ambitious stop-motion feature
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Laika has released a trailer for "Wildwood," its first stop-motion animated feature in six years, featuring new footage of a rescue mission through an enchanted forest as the studio marks its return following 2019's "Missing Link." The film reunites director Travis Knight with the studio's stop-motion roots after his live-action work on "Masters of the Universe," and Variety's awards editor Clayton Davis already has it in his best picture predictions for the 2027 Oscars.
The story follows Prue (Peyton Elizabeth Lee), who ventures with classmate Curtis (Jacob Tremblay) into a forbidden forest outside Portland, Oregon, to rescue her baby brother from a murder of crows, encountering talking animals and bandits along the way. Based on Colin Meloy's book, illustrated by Carson Ellis, the production spans 136 walkable locations, 231 practical puppets and 54 hero characters, with a voice cast including Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Richard E. Grant, Awkwafina, Amandla Stenberg, Tom Waits and Charlie Day. "Wildwood" opens in cinemas on 23 October via Fathom Entertainment.
- New "Wildwood" trailer shows Prue's forest rescue mission in full action
- Awards editor tags it as a 2027 best picture contender
- Laika's most ambitious film yet opens in cinemas 23 October
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Wildwood is a young-adult fantasy novel by Colin Meloy, best known as the frontman of the band The Decemberists, with illustrations by his wife, artist Carson Ellis. It centres on a girl who follows her baby brother into a hidden, magical forest on the edge of Portland, Oregon, populated by talking animals and warring factions. The book is the first in a trilogy published in the early 2010s.
Laika is the Portland-based animation studio behind stop-motion films such as Coraline, ParaNorman and Kubo and the Two Strings, known for painstaking handmade puppet work rather than computer animation. Its adaptation of Wildwood is directed by Travis Knight, Laika's president and CEO, who previously directed Kubo and the Two Strings and more recently moved into live-action filmmaking.
The project matters because it represents Laika's first stop-motion feature in several years and, by the studio's own account, its largest and most technically demanding production to date. It also brings together a notable voice cast for a film aimed at family and young-adult audiences ahead of its cinema release.
More coverage
- Collider — Laika's Ambitious Stop-Motion Fantasy Adaptation Officially Debuts a Jaw-Dropping New Trailer
- Deadline — ‘Wildwood’ Trailer: Laika Returns To Its Nature With Latest Stop-Motion Fantasy Adventure
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Originally published by Variety as “‘Wildwood’ Trailer: Carey Mulligan Voices a Grieving Mother Ready to Tear Apart an Enchanted Forest in New Laika Stop-Motion Film”.