Movies
‘ParaNorman’ Director Discovers the ‘Missing Link’
LAIKA, the animation studio behind the Academy Award-nominated Kubo and the Two Strings, The Boxtrolls, ParaNorman, and Coraline, announces its fifth and most ambitious film to date: Missing Link.
“The charismatic Sir Lionel Frost (voiced by Hugh Jackman) considers himself to be the world’s foremost investigator of myths and monsters. The trouble is none of his small-minded high-society peers seems to recognize this. Sir Lionel’s last chance for acceptance by the adventuring elite rests on traveling to America’s Pacific Northwest to prove the existence of a legendary creature. A living remnant of Man’s primitive ancestry. The Missing Link.
Zach Galifianakis is Mr. Link: the slightly silly, surprisingly smart and soulful beast upon whom Sir Lionel’s dreams depend. As species go, he’s as endangered as they get; he’s the last of his kind, and he’s lonely. Proposing a daring quest to seek out his rumored distant relatives, he enlists Sir Lionel’s help in an odyssey around the world to find the fabled valley of Shangri-La.
Together with Adelina Fortnight (voiced by Zoe Saldana), an independent and resourceful adventurer who possesses the only known map to the group’s secret destination, the unlikely trio embarks on a riotous rollercoaster of a ride. Along the way, our fearless explorers encounter more than their fair share of peril, stalked at every turn by dastardly villains seeking to thwart their mission. Through it all, Mr. Link’s disarming charm and good-humored conviction provide the emotional and comedic foundation of this fun-filled family film.”
“Bursting with humor, heart, and a profound message of acceptance and finding one’s place,” Missing Link is written and directed by Oscar nominee Chris Butler (ParaNorman). LAIKA’s head of production and Oscar nominee Arianne Sutner (ParaNorman, Kubo and the Two Strings) is producing with Mr. Knight, who earned an Academy Award nomination and BAFTA win for his directorial debut on Kubo.
In addition to Jackman, Saldana and Galifianakis, the estimable voice cast boasts a roster of internationally renowned and award-winning actors from all corners of the world. Oscar winner Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility), Stephen Fry (The Hobbit), Timothy Olyphant (Justified, The Crazies), Matt Lucas (Alice In Wonderland), David Walliams (Little Britain), Amrita Acharia (Game of Thrones) and Ching Valdes-Aran (Nurse Jackie) bring their extraordinary talents to this globe-trotting spectacle.
Missing Link will be distributed in the U.S. by Annapurna Pictures in 2019.
In the wake of Backrooms and Obsession, everyone is prowling YouTube for horror shorts to adapt and horror filmmakers to scoop up, so don’t be surprised to see a whole bunch of upcoming articles about YouTube success stories crossing over into theaters. One horror short that’s already been picked up for expansion is Dolly director Rod Blackhurst’s Alone Time.
The 12-minute short was uploaded in 2014 and has amassed nearly 2 million views at the time of this article being written, and Deadline reports that it’s getting a feature adaptation.
Witchcraft Motion Picture Company & Fever Dream will turn the viral short into a feature film.
Alone Time follows Ann Saunders, a young NY professional whose carefully constructed life begins to unravel following a devastating personal loss. “Seeking refuge from a collapsing relationship, a deteriorating family situation, and mounting emotional trauma, Ann reluctantly joins her closest friend on a remote camping trip deep in the Adirondack wilderness.”
The synopsis continues, “When her friend mysteriously disappears, Ann becomes convinced that an unseen figure is stalking her through the forest. What begins as a survival nightmare slowly transforms into something far more disturbing as fractured memories, conflicting realities, and hidden truths force Ann to confront the possibility that the greatest threat may not be lurking in the woods at all, but buried deep within her own psych.”
“Alone Time has quietly followed me for over a decade,” director Rod Blackhurst said in a statement. “What began as a short film about isolation and the weight of life now feels more relevant than ever. The original short found its audience organically online long before that was considered a legitimate path for filmmakers. Bringing it to life as a feature allows us to explore those themes on a much larger and more psychologically unsettling canvas.”
Blackhurst is directing the feature length expansion.
You can watch the original Alone Time short film below.