The Academy Award-winning animation studio LAIKA, the stop-motion geniuses behind Coraline, Paranorman, The Boxtrolls, Missing Link, and animated all-timer Kubo and the Two Strings, have announced their intention to move into live-action filmmaking with an adaptation of upcoming novel Seventeen.
The novel, the first from screenwriter John Brownlow (Sylvia, Fleming), will be published sometime in 2022, and was at the heart of a fierce bidding war which was won by LAIKA.
The studios President and CEO, Travis Knight (Bumblebee, Kubo and the Two Strings) said “For the past 15 years, LAIKA has been committed to making movies that matter. Across mediums and genres, our studio has fused art, craft, and technology in service of bold, distinctive, and enduring stories. With Seventeen, LAIKA is taking that philosophy in an exciting new direction.”
According the Knight, Seventeen is “a thriller with soul, a sinuous adrenaline-fueled actioner with a sincere heart beating underneath its rippling pectorals.”
Brownlow, who also wrote 2017’s Anya Taylor-Joy mini-series The Miniaturist said “I am absolutely thrilled to be developing Seventeen for the screen with Laika. As a longtime fan of Laika’s movies for their vision, heart, craft, intelligence and ambition, I couldn’t have hoped for the novel or the universe it inhabits to have found a better or more exciting home. I’m beyond honored to be part of their plans for the future.”
Are you happy that LAIKA are expanding into live-action, or would you rather they continued making their animated gems? Let us know by heading to our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
