For one reason or another, Henry Selick is departing Laika after directing Coraline and the CGI short Moongirl for the company while being its supervising director of feature development for about five years. Selick’s contract was up and the word circulating around is that he took the opportunity to leave since there wasn’t yet a new feature film greenlit to focus on. Laika is still expected to announce what it’s next film will be within the month, but I’ve also seen word that another director was always in place for it, leaving Selick without a spot to get his hands dirty.
Laika recently laid off the staff of its computer animated division, deciding to focus entirely on stop-motion, ala Coraline. Before moving to Laika, Henry Selick was known for directing The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach and Monkeybone. There’s no word on what he might have planned for the future. Maybe there’s a chance he could become involved in Tim Burton’s stop-motion expansion/remake of his short film Frankenweenie?
For more comments and information about Laika and Selick’s departure, check out Oregon Live and Variety.
