LAIKA Studios Returns in First Teaser for Travis Knight’s Wildwood

With the current re-release of Henry Selick’s Coraline netting a rather staggering $11.3 million at the U.S. box office, LAIKA is back in the conversation. The Oregon-based animation studio isn’t just hanging on its laurels, however, as they are in production on their next feature Wildwood, which is set for a release in 2025, marking the longest break they’ve had between features as it’s been six years since 2019’s Missing Link.

Directed by the company’s CEO Travis Knight (who also directed Kubo and the Two Strings and Bumblebee) and written by Chris Butler, it’s based on the 2011 novel from The Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy, which featured illustrations by Carson Ellis. Featuring a voice cast of Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Awkwafina, Angela Bassett, Jake Johnson, Charlie Day, Amandla Stenberg, Jemaine Clement, Maya Erskine, Tantoo Cardinal, Tom Waits, and Richard E. Grant, cinematography comes from Caleb Deschanel.

Here’s the book synopsis: “In Wildwood, Prue and her friend Curtis uncover a secret world in the midst of violent upheaval—a world full of warring creatures, peaceable mystics, and powerful figures with the darkest intentions. And what begins as a rescue mission becomes something much greater as the two friends find themselves entwined in a struggle for the very freedom of this wilderness. A wilderness the locals call Wildwood.”

Ahead of the release next year, the first brief teaser has now arrived which highlights LAIKA’s past achievements and gives a sense of the world of their next feature.