Vinton Studios, which was acquired by Nike co-founder and chairman Phil Knight in 2003, is finally being re-branded after its namesake, Will Vinton, was laid off from the company he created 30 years ago. The animation studio is now operating under the banner LAIKA Ent., and has a number of feature film projects in the pipeline. A sneak peek at its first CG short, the Henry Selick-directed Moongirl, can be seen online at www.laika.com.
"For the past year, we’ve been creating the infrastructure of a new, independent feature film animation studio,” Knight comments. “Now, with director Henry Selick bringing his unique vision to our creative efforts, our first CG-animated short film is about to make its mark on the film festival circuit, and with a feature film pipeline established, it seemed an appropriate time to tell the world about LAIKA.”
LAIKA intends to produce animated films in the $50 million to $70 million range, and has greenlit Selick’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Hugo Award-winning children’s book, Coraline, as its first full-length production. Selick will direct the CG feature, which LAIKA will produce in association with former Fox Filmed Entertainment Chairman and CEO Bill Mechanic and his Pandemonium films. Mechanic is the producer of the horror flick Dark Water, currently in theaters, and exec producer of Terrence Malick’s upcoming release, The New World.
It appears that LAIKA will mine kid lit for many of its projects. The company has hired Fiona Kenshole, former publishing director of Oxford University Press Children’s Books, to head its worldwide literary scouting operations. She will be responsible for identifying hot literary properties to adapt for the screen.
Remarking on the company’s progress, Selick says, “It reminds me of the early days at Skellington Studios where, with the same blend of super strong artists, storytellers and brilliant technicians, The Nightmare Before Christmas was made. Nightmare broke the rules for what family animation was supposed to be and succeeded. And that’s what we’re going to do here at LAIKA, with a great roster of projects including a buddy comedy, a ghost story, a mystical fairytale, and an alternate universe crime story." Selick joined the company as supervising director in May of 2004.
The advertising division of Vinton Studios, which has produced many animated commercials worldwide, is in the process of expanding its roster of directors and will move under the LAIKA umbrella this fall.
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