Coraline/Nightmare Before Christmas Director Henry Selick Returns To Disney/Pixar
Henry Selick, the Oscar-nominated stop-motion animation director ofCoraline,The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, andMonkeybone,will be returning to Walt Disney Pictures. Selick began his animation career at the mouse house in the 1970’s, and will be returning to the Burbank-based studio in an exclusive long-term deal to make films for the company. Selick is probably the biggest working American director today associated with the art of stop-motion animation.
The filmmaker will set up shop at Pixar’s Emeryville studio in Northern California, where he will write and direct features based on both original ideas and optioned book properties. According toVariety, “Selick hopes to benefit from the Pixar brain trust and technology, but will continue to produce toons using his trademark stop-motion style.”
It is unclear if Selick’s films will be released under the Disney or Pixar logo. It is also unclear if Selick will develop computer animated features in addition to stop-motion projects. Selickactually directeda computer animated short for Laika titledMoongirl, which won the Short Film Special Jury prize at the Ottawa Film Festival. The short was a test for Selick, who originally planned to filmCoralineas a computer animated feature.But stop-motion animation seems to have come into a resurgence. At least four stop-motion features were released last year:Fantastic Mr. Fox, Coraline, Mary and MaxandA Town Called Panic.
I really wanted Laika to be the next Pixar. I know that is such a bold statement to make, especially after only one movie. But I felt like the animation studio possessed all the ingredients. Their first feature film, the groundbreaking 3D stop-motion animated filmCoraline, was not only critically acclaimed, but also a financial success. The 3D stop-motion animation company has already built up some powerful brand recognition in the world of animation. Like Pixar, the company operates out of the Hollywood system, based in Oregon, far away from the LA smog. Selick to me was as much a part of the company as John Lasseter was to the early days of Pixar. So it was very surprising to learn that SelickleftLaika.
Apparently the filmmaker’s contract was up, and Selick had become frustrated waiting for another feature to oversee. He decided to move on because Laika wasn’t presenting any interesting options. Selick was not only a filmmaker working for the Portland-based animation studio, but also Laika’s supervising director for feature film development. He had been with the company for five years.
Laika recently cut their computer animation division (128 employees), deciding to focus strictly on stop-motion animation for future projects. The studioannouncedin February thatChris McCoyand former Pixar director/story artistJan Pinkavaare writing a new project for the studio titledLittle White Lie", which Pinkava will direct. Laika is also developing eight other projects, including an adaptation of Alan Snow’s bestselling bookHere Be Monsters!, about a 12-year-old boy who lives underground in London in the 1850’s, andParanorman, an original idea from Laika story supervisorChris Butlerabout a 13-year-old boy who must save his cursed small town from a zombie attack.
