Pixar’s Pinkava to write for Laika

Laika Entertainment, the animation studio responsible for last year’s brilliant Coraline, are to develop Little White Lie, from writers Chris McCoy and Jan Pinkava.

Chris McCoy does not yet have any filmic credits to his name, although he reportedly has two comedies set up at DreamWorks. Jan Pinkava on the other hand, is a Pixar veteran – he has worked as an artist and animator on Toy Story 2 and A Bug’s Life, co-directed Ratatouille, and he also wrote and directed the incredibly clever short Geri’s Game. His new feature Little White Lie will apparently draw from a childhood experience, although essentially nothing else is known about it.

Coraline was one of my favourite films of last year, due in part to its absolutely beautiful visuals and attention to detail. I’m excited to see anything more from Laika, particularly if it’s from anyone at Pixar; Geri’s Game is a very witty, funny short film and probably the best that Pixar has produced thus far. The combination of that humor, Pinkava’s experience with fellow geniuses at Pixar, and Laika’s fantastic animation, should turn out great.

The Hollywood Reporter gave the first report, and they also have a couple of sentences about two other features in production at Laika:

Laika has an adaptation of Alan Snow’s “Here Be Monsters!” in development along with the original feature “Paranorman,” about a 13-year-old protecting his small town from a zombie attack.

Looking forward to this one. And those two.