The Oregonian reports that Nike co-founder Phil Knight’s Portland movie studio Laika laid off 63 people in its computer animation department on Friday after deciding to focus exclusively on stop-motion features.
The studio’s first film, the stop-motion pic Coraline, earned $120.2 million at the worldwide box office.
Laika had originally planned to develop both stop-motion and computer-animated films, but will now only use computer animation on a limited basis, to augment stop-motion.
The layoff reduces Laika’s work force from 243 to 180. In December, the company laid off 65 after scrapping a computer-generated feature called Jack and Ben’s Animated Adventure.
Coraline director Henry Selick continues to develop new features for the studio as Laika’s supervising director. The studio is in the final stages of choosing its next project and plans to announce its selection in the next several weeks.
