LAIKA Announce New Movie 'Piranesi'

It's been a long time since we've seen something new from LAIKA- their last film was 2018's Missing Link. The next film we're scheduled to get from them is fantasy adventure Wildwood in 2025. Unusually, the studio also announced another film was in production with "gritty neo-noir folktale" The Night Gardener, due to be directed by studio co-founder and Kubo And The Two Strings director Travis Knight. Now they have gone as far as to announce yet another film- also due to be directed by Knight.

The third film is an adaptation of the book Piranesi.The book is a fantasy novel written by Susanna Clarke, that won the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction. It follows the titular traveller, who arrives in a parallel universe made of endless corridors and rooms where newcomers begin to slowly lose their identities. 

Piranesi is Clarke's second novel- her first Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, was adapted as a BBC series.

"Piranesi is a treasure and very dear to me," Knight said. "As a filmmaker, I can scarcely imagine a more joyful experience than wandering through the worlds Susanna dreamed into being. She’s one of my all-time favourite authors, and with Piranesi, Susanna has created a beautiful, devastating and ultimately life-affirming work of art. I’m humbled that she chose Laika as her home."

Knight has a very full schedule: not only has got three movies for LAIKA in production, but he's also signed on to direct the live-action Masters Of The Universe movie for Amazon MGM Studios. He previously directed the live-action/CGI Transformers spin-off Bumblebee. Stop-motion is an extremely time consuming way of making films, so your guess is as good as ours how long we'll be waiting until we see Piranesi. It'll be a good few years at least.

Still, it's encouraging to see LAIKA with a full slate. With their last few features having underperformed at the box office many have voiced concerns about their future. But then again it doesn't hurt when you're bankrolled by a billionaire (Travis's father Nike cofounder Phil Knight).

"Animation is one of my favourite things,” Clarke said. “I’ve been inspired by so many animated movies; and LAIKA has produced such extraordinary work — movies like Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, full of beauty and wonder and weirdness. I’m thrilled that Piranesi has found a home with them and I can’t wait to see what they do."

[source]