NEW YORK — As artificial intelligence continues to reshape Hollywood and digital tools can now generate entire worlds with a few clicks, one animation studio is taking a dramatically different path.

Laika is building its next world by hand.

The stop-motion studio behind Coraline, ParaNorman and Kubo and the Two Strings is preparing to release what it calls its most ambitious film yet: Wildwood, a sprawling fantasy adventure that took years of development and required hundreds of handcrafted puppets and elaborate physical sets.

And in an era increasingly dominated by AI-generated images and video, Laika CEO and Wildwood director Travis Knight believes the painstaking process has become something more than filmmaking.

It is, as he puts it, a quiet act of rebellion.

‘Wildwood’ Trailer Goes Viral With More Than 90 Million Views

Knight said he was not prepared for the overwhelming reaction to the teaser for Wildwood.

The trailer quickly went viral and surpassed 90 million views on YouTube, with viewers praising the apparent scale, emotional depth and unmistakably handcrafted look of the upcoming film.

For Knight, the reaction may reflect something audiences increasingly crave in a world where technology can instantly generate images and digital environments.

The human touch still matters.

Laika’s approach to animation is built around the idea that the people who make the art leave something of themselves behind in the finished product — something audiences can feel even if they cannot immediately explain why.

That philosophy has helped the Portland-based studio build a loyal following over the past two decades, despite stop-motion animation remaining one of the most difficult and time-consuming forms of filmmaking.

AI Can Generate a World in Seconds. Laika Builds One Frame at a Time.

Wildwood represents the biggest challenge in Laika’s history.

The film runs for 132 minutes, an unusually lengthy runtime for an animated feature — and even more extraordinary for a stop-motion production.

Its production involved:

• 136 physical sets
• 231 practical puppets
• Thousands of handcrafted elements
• Years of technological and artistic development

One of the film’s characters, a golden eagle known as The General, reportedly required approximately 3,000 hours to create.

That level of detail helps explain why Laika’s films take years to produce.

Stop-motion animation requires artists to physically move puppets in extremely small increments, photograph each movement and repeat the process frame by frame until an entire sequence comes to life.

It is a process that moves slowly in an entertainment industry increasingly obsessed with speed.

And that is precisely the point.

Laika Calls Handmade Animation a ‘Quiet Act of Rebellion’

Artificial intelligence has become one of Hollywood’s biggest debates, with studios, artists and audiences wrestling with questions about automation, creativity and the future of human-made entertainment.

Laika is not rejecting technology entirely.

The studio has long combined traditional craftsmanship with modern computer-generated tools.

But Knight believes there is something uniquely powerful about taking the time to physically create a world.

In a modern era where digital technology can produce elaborate images almost instantly, the decision to spend years carefully building miniature sets and characters has become a statement about the value of artistic labour.

Entertainment Weekly recently highlighted the studio’s behind-the-scenes work on Wildwood, with Knight describing the film as Laika’s most expansive and ambitious project to date.

For Laika, the question is not whether technology should be used.

The question is whether technology can replace the emotional connection audiences feel when they recognise that real people carefully brought something to life.

What Is ‘Wildwood’ About?

Wildwood is based on the 2011 fantasy novel by Colin Meloy, with illustrations by Carson Ellis.

The story is set in Portland and follows teenage girl Prue McKeel, whose infant brother is kidnapped by a flock of crows and taken into an enchanted forest.

Prue is then drawn into a dangerous and magical world as she attempts to find him.

The film’s voice cast includes:

• Peyton Elizabeth Lee
• Carey Mulligan
• Mahershala Ali
• Jake Johnson
• Jacob Tremblay

Additional reports on the production have also highlighted appearances from Awkwafina, Angela Bassett and other major names.

The film combines fantasy and adventure with darker emotional themes, particularly grief — territory that has become familiar to Laika audiences.

A Personal Story About Grief

For Knight, Wildwood is not simply another fantasy film.

The story’s exploration of grief carries personal meaning.

Knight has spoken about losing his older brother, Matthew, while his wife also experienced devastating family losses.

Those experiences influenced how he connected with the story and helped shape the emotional core of the film.

Laika has built its reputation on animation that refuses to treat family entertainment as something that must always be bright, simple or cheerful.

From the eerie alternate world of Coraline to the emotional journey of Kubo and the Two Strings, the studio has consistently explored darker and more complicated themes.

Wildwood, notably, is rated PG-13, setting it apart from many mainstream animated releases.

Knight’s vision has always been to create stories with both darkness and light — films that entertain audiences while also asking them to confront more difficult emotions.

Why ‘Coraline’ Still Matters to Laika

Laika’s first film, Coraline, released in 2009, remains its most beloved and commercially enduring title.

The studio received a major reminder of the film’s lasting appeal when a 2024 rerelease generated US$52.4 million worldwide.

The success demonstrated that audiences were still willing to return to theatres for handcrafted animation — even years after the original release.

It also offered Laika a powerful signal.

There is still an audience for films that feel tactile, strange and deeply personal.

That success comes after a difficult period for the studio. Laika’s most recent original release, Missing Link in 2019, struggled at the box office.

But Wildwood is now positioned as a major new chapter for the company.

A Film 16 Years in the Making

The journey to bring Wildwood to the screen has been extraordinarily long.

Knight reportedly acquired the rights to the story before the novel was even released.

The adaptation has since spent approximately 16 years in development.

During that time, Laika continued developing the tools and filmmaking techniques needed to handle the story’s enormous scale.

By the time production reached its most ambitious stage, the studio had accumulated years of experience from its earlier films.

But even then, Wildwood presented challenges unlike anything Laika had previously attempted.

The result is expected to be the studio’s largest and most technically complex production yet.

‘Wildwood’ Marks a New Era for Laika

Laika was founded in 2003 after Nike co-founder Phil Knight acquired Vinton Studios.

His son, Travis Knight, began as an animator before eventually becoming the studio’s CEO and one of its most important creative figures.

Over the years, Laika has carved out a unique identity in the animation industry.

Its films are often darker and stranger than the output of major animation giants such as Pixar and Illumination.

The studio has embraced gothic imagery, emotional storytelling and handcrafted artistry at a time when much of the industry has moved toward increasingly polished computer animation.

Now, with AI rapidly entering creative industries, Laika’s approach feels more distinctive than ever.

The Big Question: Can AI Replace the Human Touch?

That may be the real story behind Wildwood.

The film arrives at a moment when AI can generate videos, images, music and digital characters faster than ever before.

But Laika is betting that speed is not the same as meaning.

A puppet may be made of silicone, plastic and other materials.

A miniature forest may be built from tiny handcrafted objects.

But when artists spend years giving those objects movement and emotion, the studio believes audiences can feel the difference.

Wildwood may ultimately succeed or fail like any other movie.

But its production is already making a statement.

At a time when machines can generate almost anything instantly, Laika is asking audiences to remember the value of something that takes time.

And perhaps that is why the studio’s new trailer has already struck such a powerful chord.

Because in an increasingly automated world, there may be something revolutionary about knowing that someone actually made it — by hand.

Wildwood is scheduled to open in theatres on Oct. 23, 2026.

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