By Wildwood director Travis Knight’s own admission, Laika’s upcoming stop-motion YA fantasy epic is “the hardest film” the Portland based studio has undertaken to date — an “incredibly ambitious” animated movie over a decade in the making. As such, it’s great to see that rather than paving the path to Wildwood‘s release later this year with huge trailers right off the bat, the studio is keeping its starry cards (Carey Mulligan! Mahershala Ali! Angela Bassett! Tom Waits!) close to its chest, opting instead to spotlight the artistry that’s gone into the movie. A few months back we saw how Laika is bringing Wildwood’s magisterial General to life on-screen — and now we’re heading into Portland’s iconic Pittock Mansion with the latest BTS teaser. Check it out below;
“A landmark reimagined by the artists and artisans of Laika” — this is how the narrator of Wildwood‘s ‘Where Mystery Dwells’ featurette describes the mansion nestled at the heart of Travis Knight’s adaptation of Colin Meloy’s beloved YA fantasy novel. And what a reimagining! In this new BTS clip — which combines astonishing in-film glimpses at the imposing manor with similarly astonishing shots of Laika’s team meticulously painting, decorating, and preparing what the folks at Weta might understatedly call a ‘bigature’ — we see the place where Wildwood‘s plucky young heroine Prue McKeel finds herself while questing to save her kidnapped three-year-old brother. “A place where humans and beasts live hand in paw and talon,” Pittock Mansion is a pivotal location from Meloy’s book, described by Knight to Empire as “an American Narnia”; seeing that Laika has taken upwards of a decade getting it right speaks to the scale of the project as a whole. It’s also a never more timely reminder of the beauty and value of handcrafted artistry.
For those unfamiliar with Wildwood, the story — per the book at least — follows seventh-grade Portlander Prue as she journeys into the titular enchanted forest in pursuit of a murder of crows who snatch her baby brother, Mac. There, she and dorky classmate Curtis embark on a transformative adventure filled with danger, magic, talking animals, and surprisingly sophisticated political intrigue for a tween-targeted YA book series. Or, as Laika’s succinct logline puts it: “Wildwood is a tale of love, loss, sacrifice and secrets, and of the magic you can find on your doorstep, if you’re willing to look for it.”
We don’t have a locked-in release date for Wildwood just yet, but we do know that it’s expected to arrive in cinemas this year. Watch this space!
