LAIKA’S THIRD ANIMATED FEATURE FILM “THE BOXTROLLS” TO SCREEN OUT OF COMPETITION AT 71ST VENICE FILM FESTIVAL ON AUGUST 31st
Skwigly
VOICE CAST INCLUDES BEN KINGSLEY, ISAAC HEMPSTEAD WRIGHT, ELLE FANNING, TONI COLLETTE, JARED HARRIS, NICK FROST, RICHARD AYOADE, TRACY MORGAN, SIMON PEGG
[Portland, OR; July 24th, 2014] –The Boxtrolls, the new stop-motion/CG animated film from LAIKA, the studio behind the Oscar®- nominated Coraline and ParaNorman, will screen out of competition at the 71st Annual Venice Film Festival on Sunday, August 31st.
“This is an incredible honor for LAIKA and our film” said Travis Knight, President and CEO of LAIKA as well as Producer and Lead Animator on the film. “To be singled out by one of the world’s most prestigious film festivals is an utter joy and an enormous validation for the hundreds of artists whose talents make our films come to life.”
The Boxtrolls (www.theboxtrolls.com) will begin its theatrical rollout on September 12th in several international territories including the United Kingdom and Mexico; and will be released in Italy on October 2nd. The film will bow nationwide in the United States and in Canada on September 26th. The film is being released by Focus Features in the U.S., eOne Films in Canada, and Universal Pictures International in all other territories.
Fueled by the vision of its owner, NIKE Inc. Co-Founder and Chairman Phil Knight, and its President and CEO Travis Knight, LAIKA is an animated feature film company located just outside Portland, Oregon dedicated to creating bold, distinctive, and enduring works of art. LAIKA’s first feature film, Coraline, released in February 2009, was the first stop-motion animated feature film to be conceived and photographed in stereoscopic 3D. The movie was nominated for an Academy Award® and a BAFTA® Award for Outstanding Animated Feature and won the prestigious Cristal Award at the Annecy International Animation Festival. ParaNorman, also Oscar® and BAFTA®-nominated, was released in August 2012. For more information please visit www.laika.com.
LAIKA’s third film is The Boxtrolls, based on Alan Snow’s bestselling novel Here Be Monsters. Introducing audiences to a new breed of family – The Boxtrolls, a community of quirky, mischievous creatures who have lovingly raised an orphaned human boy named Eggs (voiced by Isaac Hempstead Wright) in the amazing cavernous home they’ve built beneath the streets of Cheesebridge. When the town’s villain, Archibald Snatcher (Academy Award® winner Ben Kingsley), comes up with a plot to get rid of the Boxtrolls, Eggs decides to venture above ground, “into the light,” where he meets and teams up with fabulously feisty Winnie (Elle Fanning). Together, these soft-boiled detectives uncover the hidden connections in Eggs’ past and devise a daring plan to save his unique family.