Laika's 'Wildwood' Closes Animation Is Film Festival — SkimNews
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- Laika's "Wildwood" has been set as the closing night film of the Animation Is Film Festival, screening Oct. 19 at the Academy Museum's Geffen Theater in Los Angeles
- Travis Knight, who directed and produced "Wildwood" and serves as Laika's president and CEO, will hold a post-screening conversation with filmmaker Jason Reitman
- The film's story follows teenager Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) into an enchanted forest near Portland, Oregon, to rescue her brother from a murder of crows, with a voice cast including Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Tom Waits, Carey Mulligan, Awkwafina and Richard E. Grant
- "Wildwood" opens theatrically Oct. 23 via Fathom Entertainment in the US, with FilmNation Entertainment handling international sales; the production took 15 years to complete and adapts Colin Meloy's 2011 novel illustrated by Carson Ellis
- The ninth edition of AIF runs Oct. 16-19 with its main program at TCL Chinese 6 Theatres in Hollywood, also premiering Louis Clichy's "Iron Boy," Leah Nelson's "Tangles," and "Julián"
Why it matters: AIF's selection of Laika's most ambitious and longest-gestating project gives the four-day festival (Oct. 16-19) a marquee closing slot, while giving Laika a final pre-release showcase just four days before the wide Oct. 23 theatrical launch through Fathom Entertainment — a tight runway for a 15-year stop-motion production aimed at establishing Laika's next franchise.
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