Focus Features will handle worldwide distribution of LAIKA Entertainment’s first animated feature, Coraline, it was announced today by Focus president James Schamus and Dale Wahl, president/CEO, LAIKA, Inc.
Dakota Fanning (Charlotte’s Web, War of the Worlds) will voice the title character in the stop-motion animated feature with CG effects, which has been adapted by LAIKA supervising director Henry Selick from Neil Gaiman’s international best-selling book Coraline. Mr. Selick is directing Coraline, and LAIKA Entertainment’s director of story Mike Cachuela is co-director of the feature.
Coraline is a LAIKA Entertainment production in association with Pandemonium Films; LAIKA’s Mary Sandell and Pandemonium president/CEO Bill Mechanic are producing the feature, which is in production at LAIKA Entertainment’s Portland animation studio. The popular music group They Might Be Giants will provide songs for the film.
In Coraline, a young girl (Ms. Fanning) walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an alternate version of her life. On the surface, this parallel reality is eerily similar to her real life  only much better. But when this wondrously off-kilter, fantastical adventure turns dangerous and her counterfeit parents try to keep her forever, Coraline must count on her resourcefulness, determination, and bravery to get back home.
Mr. Schamus said, “This is a project that filmgoers of all ages are eagerly anticipating, and it is fielding a dream team to craft it. The work of two visionary storytellers, Henry and Neil, as interpreted by the world’s leading young actor, will make for a unique movie experience that we are thrilled to be bringing to audiences everywhere.”
