LAIKA’s upcoming stop-motion feature The Boxtrolls will be screened out of competition at the 71st Annual Venice Film Festival on Sunday, August 31. The film’s theatrical rollout will kick off September 12 in several international territories, including U.K. and Mexico, and will be released in Italy on October 2 through Universal. Boxtrolls will open in the U.S. and Canada on September 26 through Focus Features and eOne, respectively.
“This is an incredible honor for LAIKA and our film,” said studio president & CEO and producer/lead animator for Boxtrolls Travis Knight. “To be singled out by one of the world’s most prestigious film festivals is an utter joy and an enormous validation for the hundreds of artists whose talents make our films come to life.”
Based on Alan Snow’s novel Here Be Monsters, Boxtrolls introduces the eponymous quirky creatures who raise an orphan human boy named Eggs (Isaac Hempstead Wright) in their underground home/mechanics lab. When villainous social climber Archibald Snatcher (Ben Kingsley) comes up with a plot to exterminate the Boxtrolls, Eggs teams up with feisty rich kid Winnie (Elle Fanning) who devise a daring plan to save his unique family. Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi direct from a script by Irena Brignull.
