‘Wildwood’ Trailer: Laika Heads to the Forest for an Epic Fantasy Adventure — SkimNews
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- Laika released the trailer for "Wildwood," a stop-motion fantasy adventure set in Portland, Oregon, after six years of production, following the studio's "Coraline" and "Kubo and the Two Strings."
- "Wildwood" adapts a 2011 children's novel by The Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy, whose wife Carson Ellis illustrated the book; the story follows 12-year-olds Prue and Curtis, voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee and Jacob Tremblay, pulled into a forest where humans and talking animals coexist.
- Travis Knight, Laika's CEO and lead animator, directs from a Chris Butler screenplay; the two previously collaborated on "Kubo and the Two Strings" (2016) and this year's live-action "Masters of the Universe."
- The ensemble voice cast includes Carey Mulligan as villain Alexandra, plus Mahershala Ali, Awkwafina, Angela Bassett, Tom Waits, Jemaine Clement, and Amandla Stenberg, with Caleb Deschanel as cinematographer and Dario Marianelli composing the score.
- Fathom Entertainment will release "Wildwood" in theaters nationwide on October 23 — notably marking one of the company's first non-event theatrical releases, a shift beyond its event-cinema broadcast model.
Why it matters: Fathom Entertainment's move into non-event theatrical distribution marks a notable business expansion beyond its event-cinema broadcast roots, while Laika continues its six-year-per-film stop-motion cadence with Knight still at the helm despite his recent live-action detour on "Masters of the Universe."
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