Tag Archives: LAIKA

Movie trailer round-up: “In Saturn’s Rings” takes you into real space, Laika’s next animated pic “The Boxtrolls” & more

There are countless movies that take us into the great unknown called space. The recent summer blockbuster Star Trek Into Darkness wowed audiences with its grand special effects as the USS Enterprise battled the Vengeance among the stars. With today’s advanced computer technology filmmakers can make us truly believe we are witnessing action taking place in space. However, if you’re looking to actually journey into space in theatres, you might want to put In Saturn’s Rings on your radar.

With the aid of equipment set up in Saturn’s orbit, filmmaker Stephen van Vuuren has been capturing over a million extremely high-resolution images and stitching them all together to form a 45-minute trek around the sixth planet from the sun. He notes:

The film is 100% created using only flat 2D photographs (often hundreds or thousands per frame) stitched together for massive hundred megapixel+ resolutions that are scaled and zoomed using techniques developed by the filmmaker, based on Ken Burns and 2.5D photo animation processes. No 3D models, texture mapping, 3D CGI, camera projection, cloning or painting or any other VFX techniques are used – every pixel is what was captured in the photograph. The photographs are processed as minimally as possible – much less than your average Instagram photo.

Catch a first look at the breathtaking film in a teaser embedded above. Experience space like never before when In Saturn’s Rings comes exclusively to IMAX theatres in spring 2014.

Jump after the break for more trailers. Continue reading Movie trailer round-up: “In Saturn’s Rings” takes you into real space, Laika’s next animated pic “The Boxtrolls” & more

Stop-motion animation studio LAIKA is back with ‘ParaNorman’ [trailer inside]

Here’s a nice Halloween treat for us all: a teaser poster and trailer for the upcoming stop-motion animated feature ParaNorman. The movie is from Focus Features and LAIKA, the same partnership that produced 2009’s critically-acclaimed Coraline. ParaNorman is directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler; Butler imagined and penned the original story. The voice cast includes Kodi Smit-McPhee, Casey Affleck, Anna Kendrick, John Goodman, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Elaine Strich, Tempestt Bledsoe, Bernard Hill, and Alex Borstein. The trailer, embedded after the break, doesn’t reveal much of the plot as it includes zero dialogue, but this quick synopsis should suffice:

A misunderstood boy who can speak with the dead takes on ghosts, zombies and, worst of all, grown-ups, in order to save his town from a centuries-old curse. Norman Babcock is an outcast in his small New England town. When a horde of zombies is unleashed on the populace, Norman learns he must use his paranormal powers to make things right again. That’s not an easy task when you’re only eleven. And you’ve just been grounded. 

The movie poster and teaser trailer make ParaNorman out to be a strange, dark, and visually stunning piece of work worthy of much anticipation. It releases wide August 17, 2012 in 3D. Continue reading Stop-motion animation studio LAIKA is back with ‘ParaNorman’ [trailer inside]