Laika’s Newest ‘Wildwood’ Footage Is a Technical Marvel

Since last year, Laika’s been retaining its newest film Wildwood underneath wraps and solely letting out tiny scraps of data. With ParaNorman briefly again in theaters this weekend, the stop-motion studio snuck in some extra footage from the movie, which it guarantees might be “their most formidable cinematic journey but.”

After an intro build up Laika’s historical past up up to now, the video exhibits off idea artwork from the movie depicting its majestic aerial views of Portland and renders of the Normal, an eagle with “unshakeable grace” voiced by Angela Bassett. Because the narrator explains, creating the Normal required fashions “impressed by nature” to create her actions, adopted by 9,000 particular person feathers going onto a pair of particular puppets—one puppet for flight scenes, and the opposite for “intricate efficiency controls.”

Directed by Travis Knight (Bumblebee) and based mostly on Colin Meloy’s 2011 children fantasy novel, the movie focuses on Portland child Prue McKeel as she and her classmate Curtis discover a magical forest in search of her lacking child brother Mac, and enlist the Normal’s assist to seek out him. The voice solid additionally contains Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, and Amandla Stenberg.

Animation is what Laika films are identified for, and in that sense, Wildwood seems to be like one other successful. Watching the animators and artists convey the Normal to life from render to puppeting her round certain is one thing, and you actually imagine it when the narration talks about “pouring creativity in each joint, feather, and body.” The studio is clearly happy with what it’s made within the Normal—notably when she takes to the skies—and its personal technical ability, because the video talks up the “artistry, innovation, and coronary heart” that went into manufacturing. We’ll see what all of it provides as much as when the movie releases in 2026.

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