The studio optioned Colin Meloy’s novel in 2011 and built more than 200 puppets for its largest production yet.

Laika released Wildwood, its largest production to date, after a 16-year path from option to screen. CEO Travis Knight optioned Colin Meloy’s novel in 2011 and directed the film, which entered production a decade later. The stop-motion feature follows a girl named Prue who enters a wilderness to find her brother.

Cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, whose credits include The Passion of the Christ and Titanic, said the stop-motion process proved far more involved than he expected. Head of animation Brad Schiff describes the studio ethos as old-school craft paired with modern technology, a method Laika refines on every project it ships.

The production required nearly 50 animators and more than 200 puppets, plus a 12-minute battle sequence and a chase through Portland. Studios that treat each film as a platform upgrade compound gains in craft and throughput, while one-off custom builds rarely carry forward.

Laika’s director has called AI antithetical to the studio’s approach, so expect continued investment in practical rigs and in-house tooling rather than generative pipelines. The next question is whether that craft-first model keeps pace as competing animation shops adopt automated workflows.

What matters

• Laika shipped Wildwood after 16 years of development, using nearly 50 animators and 200 puppets.
• Laika layers new techniques onto each film, pushing proven methods further on the next project.
• Watch whether Laika’s tooling investments shorten its next production cycle below the current decade.

Why it matters

Watch whether Laika’s tooling investments shorten its next production cycle below the current decade.

This GenAI News article was prepared in original wording using reporting and materials published by The Verge. Source reference: https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/1017740/wildwood-stop-motion-interview-laika.

Drafted by the GenAI News review pipeline.