USA’s Laika Studios has created a stop-motion animated digital cover for British film magazine Empire.
This digital cover features the studio’s well known character Coraline introducing a new character Prue McKeel from Laika’s upcoming animated feature Wildwood. Based on the bestselling novel written by musician Colin Meloy and illustrated by Carson Ellis, Wildwoods is the sixth animated film from Laika. It is a tale of love, loss, sacrifice, secrets and magic.
Coraline is a stop motion animation film by Henry Selick adapted from the Niel Gaiman horror novel of the same name. The story follows the titular character Coraline, a girl who discovers a secret door in her boarding house behind which lies an alternate world that closely mirrors her own but is better in many ways until things get creepy.
In the magazine cover, Coraline opens a door into a tunnel that leads to Impassable Wilderness – a location from the upcoming film Wildwood – where Prue is waiting. Both the films are set in Oregon, where the studio itself is based.
Laika Studios chief marketing and operations officer David Burke expressed, “Empire magazine clearly loves movies, as does Laika. A stop-motion Empire cover seemed the perfect way to introduce fans around the world to our newest leading lady, Prue. Wildwood is a love letter to Laika’s hometown of Portland, Oregon. As Coraline is celebrating her 15th anniversary this year, it felt right for our first female film heroine to pass the baton to Prue. We approached this cover with the same dedication and creativity as we do our films, enlisting the studio’s top artists and craftspeople to make it truly special. We hope Empire fans love the result as much as we do.”
The stop motion digital magazine cover took 120 days to make and was worked on by 160 members of the studio. The studio used a newly restored Coraline puppet for shooting, along with new sets and costuming to craft the digital magazine cover.