The Oregon-based animation studio Laika has
been bringing gorgeous, exciting, and most
importantly unique films to the screen with its
past three features—Coraline , ParaNorman, and
The Boxtrolls —and now the stop-motion
animation studio has revealed its next project.
Production is underway on a “sweeping,
swashbuckling adventure set in mythical ancient
Japan” called Kubo and the Two Strings, and the
project is noteworthy for a number of reasons.
First of all, it marks the directorial debut of Laika
President and CEO Travis Knight, who himself
has worked as an animator on all of the studio’s
films to date. Second, it features the studio’s
most high-profile cast to date, including Matthew
McConaughey and Charlize Theron .
Hit the jump for more on the film, which will hit
theaters on August 19, 2016.
A couple of months ago, Laika and Focus
Features renewed their partnership with a new
three-picture deal, and today it was announced
that Kubo and the Two Strings will mark the first
of those three films. In addition to McConaughey
and Theron, the voice cast for the 3D stop-
motion feature includes Rooney Mara, Ralph
Fiennes , and Brenda Vaccaro, with Game of
Thrones alum Art Parkinson (aka Rickon Stark)
providing the voice of the title character Kubo.
The Laika folks are big Game of Thrones fans it
seems, as Isaac Hempstead Wright led the voice
cast for The Boxtrolls.
Knight calls Kubo a “gripping yarn woven from
Japanese folktales and mythology, with lost
civilizations, mystical origami, noble heroes, star-
crossed lovers, and blood-curdling monsters.” It
sounds like Laika’s most ambitious feature yet,
and as a big fan of their output thus far, I can’t
wait to see the finished results. Check out the
full, official synopsis for Kubo and the Two
Strings below:
In the epic fantasy, scruffy, kindhearted Kubo
ekes out a humble living while devotedly caring
for his mother in their sleepy shoreside village. It
is a quiet existence – until a spirit from the past
catches up with him to enforce an age-old
vendetta. Suddenly on the run from gods and
monsters, Kubo’s chance for survival rests on
finding the magical suit of armor once worn by
his fallen father, the greatest samurai the world
has ever known. Summoning courage, Kubo
embarks on a thrilling odyssey as he faces his
family’s history, navigates the elements, and
bravely fights for the earth and the stars.
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