Laika

Credits

Descriptions by
EnormousRat and TheLogoFan2004

Background

Laika is an American stop-motion animation studio, formed in 2005 as the successor to Will Vinton Studios. It is named after Laika, the dog sent to space by the Soviet Union in 1957. The company's first four films (Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls and Kubo and the Two Strings) were distributed by Focus Features with international distribution (except Canada) handled by Universal Pictures. Their fifth film, Missing Link was distributed in the US by Annapurna Pictures through United Artists Releasing with international sales handled by AGC International.

1st Logo (August 13, 2007-2012)

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Visuals: There is the white text "LAIKA", arranged in a tilted-to-the-left perspective with a yellow ribbon twining around the word in four turns.

Variants:

• On Coraline, the logo is sewn on a brown fabric, and has "A" and "Production" around it.
• When the movie ends is the normal logo on a black background.
• On the trailer for Coraline, there were no additional words.
• On the video game adaptions of Coraline, the background is white, and "ENTERTAINMENT" is added below.
• On Slacker Cats, the logo is black and white, and the company name fades in a bit.

Technique: None normally; fading effects for the animated variant.

Audio: Depends on the variant. Generally, it's either silence or the opening theme of the movie or trailer.

Availability: See the "Variants" section for this logo's appearances.

2nd Logo (August 17, 2012-)

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Visuals: Similar to the last logo is the text "LAIKA", which is in a different style on every film and trailer it appears on. The logo keeps the slanted position as the last logo, but "LAIKA" is in a thin font and the ribbon is gone.

Variants:

• On the trailer for ParaNorman, the logo is yellow, in 3D and on a space background. This is also seen at the end of the aforementioned movie.
• On ParaNorman, the logo is grungy-looking and blood red, with old film effects on it and a copyright stamp below.
• On the 2022 10th anniversary re-release of said film, the copyright stamp is removed and it slowly zooms in.
• On the trailer for The Boxtrolls, the logo is brown and zooms in. A still version of this variant also appears at the end of the movie.
• On The Boxtrolls, the screen pans in a room to see the Laika logo in a special design on an old box.
• On the trailer for Kubo and the Two Strings, the logo is sky blue, and appears on a sheet of blue paper that flies across a sleeping Kubo.
• On Kubo and the Two Strings, both this and the Focus Features logo are formed from origami paper. The logo itself is colored in red.
• On the trailer for Missing Link, the logo is printed on a map (with the Annapurna Pictures logo next to it).
  • On the Mexican trailer, the Buena Vista International logo replaces the Annapurna Pictures logo, and also stacked as well.
  • On the British trailer, the Lionsgate Films logo replaces the Annapurna Pictures logo, and also stacked as well.
• On Missing Link, the logo slowly fades in, at first appearing to be a set of icicles molded into the logo.

Technique: Depends on the variant.

Audio: Same as the last logo.

Availability: Same as the last logo.

3rd Logo (December 15, 2015-)

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Visuals: There is the Laika logo drawn in a sketchy style, and a door falls down on the bottom gap of the first "A", and the cat from Coraline runs to the right. Suddenly, the "A" turns into a rounded rectangle with a zombie hand popping out of the ground in it, and the second "A" morphs into a silhouette of Norman's head (from ParaNorman). Both "A"s then morph into silhouettes of the titular trolls from The Boxtrolls, and they accidentally push the rest of the right letters down and fall down through them. A silhouette of Kubo pops out of the "L" and he makes a series of poses as he moves to the right, which is left behind as a stroboscope-esque animation. The logo then fades out.

Variants:

• On the original video this appeared on, after the logo fades out, a stylized number "10" fades in, with the Laika logo cut inside of the "0".
• On Missing Link, after Kubo makes his poses, a spotlight moves away from him and to lead character Susan, who walks across some trees shaped like "LAIKA" and then hides behind one in a panic. The spotlight moves to the tree, and the Laika logo reforms before fading out. This is also seen on their YouTube channel's end cards.

Technique: Traditional animation by David Vandervoort.

Audio: Pencil sketching sound effects, then the cat meowing, then some zombie growls and Norman (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee) yelling, the Boxtrolls making noises, and then a series of Japanese drums, ending in a harp/piano tune. Kubo and the Two Strings uses the ending theme of the movie. Missing Link has Susan (voiced by Zach Galifianakis) briefly gasp during his appearance and the ending music is slightly shortened.

Availability: First seen at the end of a 10-year anniversary video put out by Laika in December 2015, it later made its first theatrical appearance at the end of Kubo and the Two Strings. Used in tandem with the previous logo. The Missing Link variant was also used as a de-facto home video logo on both Shout! Factory re-issues and 4K Ultra HD releases of all of their films except the latter.

◄ Will Vinton Studios

Laika