Everything has been coming upLAIKAlately, and it’s about to get even better. Right now, the studio is enjoying abig payday at the box office with the re-release ofCoralinefor its 15th anniversary, and today, news broke that a live-action feature is on the way. It’s the first day of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), so what better time to share the announcement that Oscar-nominated screenwriter,Jon Spaihts, will be celebrating his directorial debut with the yet-to-be named project? Billed as a sci-fi thriller, the movie follows a woman who’s struggling with a bout of memory loss. To make matters worse, something eerie happened to her that has slipped her mind, leading her on a journey for the truth.
Although he first gained recognition for his Black List script forPassengersin 2007, it would be nearly 10 years until Spaihts saw his hard work hit the screen in theMorten Tyldum-helmed movie that starredJennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt. Prior to that, the scribe had already found success as the writer behindRidley Scott’sPrometheus,which was his sophomore piece followingChris Gorak’s sci-fi flick,The Darkest Hour. Jumping into the MCU, Spaihts penned 2016’sDoctor Strangebefore taking a swing at adaptingFrank Herbert’s beloved novels inDuneandDune: Part Two. For his work in the former, Spaihts was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
In a statement paired with the reveal, Spaihts said:
“This is an original passion project I’ve been eager to turn to for a while and I couldn’t ask for better partners. LAIKA has a clear creative vision, and a tradition of meticulous, bespoke storytelling that suits this project very well.”
What Else Does LAIKA Have Cooking?
At this point, LAIKA might want to just keep re-releasingCoralineevery year to add some extra cash to their payroll. But, when it comes to new features, the studio has quite a few exciting titles on the way. Along with Spaihts’s flick,Brian Duffield will also be adding to the studio’s lineupof live-action films withCrumble, which he will write and direct with dynamic duoPhil LordandChris Millerproducing. In the vein of animation, LAIKA is hard at work on a stop-motion dark fantasy movie titledWildwood. Directed byTravis Knight(Kubo and the Two Strings) and written byChris Butler, the film will pull its story fromColin Meloy’s 2011 novel of the same name.
Stay tuned to Collider for more information about LAIKA’s upcoming slate of features, both live-action and animated. For a limited time, you can seeCoralinein theaters.
