Laika Plans First Live-Action Movie as It Options John Brownlow's 'Seventeen'

The animation studio behind 'Coraline' and 'Kubo and the Two Strings' is also working on its sixth animated feature.

Laika, the studio behind animated films such as Oscar-nominated Coraline, ParaNorman and Kubo and the Two Strings, is making its foray into live-action.

The Oregon studio has optioned Seventeen, the upcoming first novel by John Brownlow, with plans to adapt the title as its first live-action production. Further details including a director were not disclosed.

Brownlow is the screenwriter of the film Sylvia (2003), starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig, and he wrote and executive produced the three-part BBC limited series The Minaturist, which starred Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit). He also wrote the four-episode limited series Fleming, which starred Dominic Cooper as James Bond author Ian Fleming.

“For the past 15 years, Laika has been committed to making movies that matter,” Laika president and CEO Travis Knight said in a released statement. “Across mediums and genres, our studio has fused art, craft and technology in service of bold, distinctive and enduring stories. With Seventeen, Laika is taking that philosophy in an exciting new direction."

He went on to describe Seventeen as "a thriller with soul, a sinuous adrenaline-fueled actioner with a sincere heart beating underneath its rippling pectorals.”

Said Brownlow in a released statement, "as a longtime fan of Laika's movies for their vision, heart, craft, intelligence and ambition, I couldn’t have hoped for the novel or the universe it inhabits to have found a better or more exciting home.”

Knight himself made his directorial debut with Laika's Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), followed by his first live-action movie, 2018's Bumblebee, which he helmed for Paramount. Laika is currently in production on its sixth animated feature, whose title hasn't yet been announced.

U.K. publisher Hodder & Stoughton has preemptively acquired worldwide publishing rights to Seventeen. Hanover Square will publish the book in the U.S. in 2022.

Laika was represented in the deal by CAA.  Brownlow is represented by George Davis at Nelson Davis, Jessica Sykes at Independent Talent Group and CAA.