Paranorman animation studio working on new stop-motion animation film The Boxtrolls with Ben Kingsley

February 7th 2013, 1:38pm

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Laika studios enjoyed success with last year’s PARANORMAN and are currently in production on THE BOXTROLLS, based on Alan Snow’s bestselling fantasy adventure novel “Here Be Monsters.” The stop-motion/CGI hybrid 3D pic is directed by Anthony Stacchi (co-director of OPEN SEASON) and Graham Annable (story artist on CORALINE and PARANORMAN) with the voice talents of Ben Kingsley, Elle Fanning, Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Toni Collette, Jared Harris, Tracy Morgan, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, and Richard Ayoade.

Focus Features will release the film, just as they did with PARANORMAN, which is set for an October 2014 release. You can check out the author’s website to find out more, but in the meantime, here’s the synopsis for THE BOXTROLLS.

The Boxtrolls is a comedic fable that unfolds in Cheesebridge, a posh Victorian-era town obsessed with wealth, class, and the stinkiest of fine cheeses. Beneath its charming cobblestone streets dwell the Boxtrolls, foul monsters who crawl out of the sewers at night and steal what the townspeople hold most dear: their children and their cheeses. At least, that’s the legend residents have always believed. In truth, the Boxtrolls are an underground cavern-dwelling community of quirky and lovable oddballs who wear recycled cardboard boxes the way turtles wear their shells. The Boxtrolls have raised an orphaned human boy, Eggs, since infancy as one of their dumpster-diving and mechanical junk-collecting own. When the Boxtrolls are targeted by villainous pest exterminator Archibald Snatcher (Kingsley), who is bent on eradicating them as his ticket to Cheesebridge society, the kindhearted band of tinkerers must turn to their adopted charge and adventurous rich girl Winnie (Fanning) to bridge two worlds amidst the winds of change — and cheese.

THE BOXTROLLS is set to debut in 3D on October 17, 2014.