It has become something of a tradition over the last two decades for Laika Studios‘ movies to end with a credits sequence that lifts the lid on the magic that makes the Portland based stop-motion studio’s films possible — from Mr. Pickles and Mr. Trout’s ingeniously time-lapsed contemplation of their existence at the end of The Boxtrolls to the articulation of a 16-foot skeleton during Kubo And The Two Strings‘ closing titles. Now, as part of the studio’s year-long 20th anniversary celebrations, Ozzy Inguanzo’s coffee table tome LAIKA: The Magic Behind A Stop-Motion Dream Factory is set to take an even deeper and more exhaustive dive into the filmmaking — and the filmmakers — that bring Laika’s fantastical worlds and characters to life. And you can check out an exclusive gatefold image from the book, which comes out today, below;
If you think that image looks big, then we can tell you that it really is huge — the gatefold in the book is literally three feet wide! And big is very much the buzzword for The Magic Behind A Stop Motion Dream Factory, which is set to take a macroscopic look at the microscopic details that go into any given Laika production. Eschewing a soup-to-nuts, Coraline-to-Wildwood chronological look at the Oregonian outfit’s output, Inguanzo’s book — made in collaboration with Laika and featuring a foreword by former Empire editor Mark Salisbury — is instead taking a departmental approach to unspooling the studio’s secrets and telling its remarkable story, looking at everything from story development to world-building, puppet fabrication to stage animation, and the integration of visual effects as Laika has embraced pioneering new filmmaking technologies. Along the way, readers can expect to find a slew of new interviews with company CEO Travis Knight and many of his Laikan animators and production crews, and no shortage of exclusive artwork, archival material, and photography that helps capture the craftsmanship and care poured into Laika’s productions.
The first in a planned series of five collaborations between Laika and publishers Rizzoli Universe (The Art Of Wildwood is coming later this year, with The Art Of Coraline and a pair of Coraline and Laika oracle and tarot decks heading our way soon after), LAIKA: The Magic Behind A Stop-Motion Dream Factory is sure to be required reading for animation enthusiasts and movie lovers of all stripes. The book hit stores online and, well, offline — aka actual bookshops — today, so you can grab a copy literally right now. Hopefully this will be just the thing to keep us going until Wildwood takes flight and lands in cinemas in a few months’ time…