Laika Entertainment House

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LAIKA is an animation studio specializing in feature films, commercials, music videos, broadcast graphics and short films. Located in Portland, Oregon. It is owned by Nike co-founder and Chairman Philip H. Knight.

LAIKA’s initial feature film Coraline will be distributed by Focus Features and released in February 2009. Written and directed by Henry Selick (Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach) and based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, Coraline is the first major stop-motion animated feature to be shot in stereoscopic 3D.

Combined with the commercial division, LAIKA/house, the company has award-winning filmmakers, designers, and animators with a cumulative 30-year animation history. In addition to numerous international honors, LAIKA's staff have won two Academy Awards, 11 Emmy Awards, 11 Clio Awards, three London International Advertising & Design Awards, five Mobius Advertising Awards and two Cannes Lion International Advertising Festival awards.

Contents

[edit] Divisions

LAIKA is divided up into two major divisions known as LAIKA Entertainment and LAIKA/house

[edit] LAIKA Entertainment

LAIKA Entertainment is the company's name for their feature film development branch. As of 2008, aside from Coraline, future projects currently in development are: computer-animated Jack & Ben, an original story of brothers set in the animal kingdom, Here Be Monsters, based on the children’s book by Alan Snow, and The Wall and the Wing, from a novel by Laura Ruby. LAIKA's CG short film Moongirl (released in 2005 and directed by Henry Selick) received multiple awards on the festival circuit.

[edit] LAIKA/house

The commercial animation studio, LAIKA/house, is complied of filmmakers, designers and animators who produce commercials and characters in most types of animation in most mediums. For example, they produce professional CG, 2D/3D, motion graphics, and stop-motion animation at one location and with the expertise of veteran artists.

A few of LAIKA/house's projects included the Ben & Jerry’s stop-motion campaign; the second year of the globally-recognized Coca-Cola Rivalries series of commercials which aired throughout South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East during the 2006 World Cup, new campaigns for both Kellogg's Eggo and Frosted Mini-Wheats, both with redesigned retro characters, and spots for Apple, Starbucks, Arby's, Honda, and Lay's/Netherlands (Smith's Food Group).

The work of LAIKA/house also appeared at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Working with director Michael Cahill, they created a 40-second animated dream sequence for King of California.

[edit] Awards

Apart from the awards earned by staff at LAIKA, recently LAIKA/house was honored with an Annecy nomination, three Annie nominations, eight Telly Awards, SICAF 2006 Special Distinction, Adweek’s Best Spots for 2005[1] and named Animation Magazine’s top AniCom Award pick two years in a row.

[edit] History

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. owner Phil Knight and his son, who had worked at the studio as an animator.

In 2002, Vinton lost control of the studio he founded after Knight became the majority shareholder and Vinton failed to garner funds for further feature production, eventually being dismissed from the studio. Vinton later sought damages for this and sued for ownership of his name. In 2005, Will Vinton Studios was renamed LAIKA.

[edit] Location

Construction will begin on a new animation campus on 30 acres of land in Tualatin, Oregon, 12 miles south of Portland, to accommodate their expanded production slate. Four buildings, designed by TVA Architects, which also designed the Nike campus, is estimated to be completed in 2010.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Adweek's Best Spots for 2005.

[edit] External links