In a stunning development for Laika, the indie animation studio behind CORALINE that was hoping to be the stop-motion version of Pixar, director Henry Selick has left the studio. While Selick had no formal position with the studio, he was something of a creative director who helped establish the upstart with the surprise success of CORALINE. Recently the studio announced that it was dropping CGI animation to focus solely on stop-motion animation and that they, and Selick, would be announcing their next project soon.
But after a number of layoffs and some cash flow problems, Selick’s contract had run out and he had yet to be able to secure financing for his next film. Says Variety, “those close to [Laika] suggest the director seemed frustrated without a new project to occupy him.” So Selick has left to work on his next project elsewhere while Laika still maintains that it intends to greenlight a new project within the month.
This was looking to be a solid entry into the animation world and without someone of Selick’s considerable talent, I find myself concerned they can keep themselves focused enough to compete successfully with both Pixar, DreamWorks, Sony Animation and Fox Animation…
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