LAIKA
Independent stop-motion animation film studio near Portland, Oregon, that uses full-color 3D printing at production scale to make replacement faces for its puppet characters.
- CEO / Founder
- Travis Knight
- Team Size
- 201-500
- Stage
- Established
- Key Investors
- Phil Knight
Technology & Products
Key Products
Stop-motion feature films: Coraline (2009), ParaNorman (2012), The Boxtrolls (2014), Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), Missing Link (2019) and Wildwood (2026). LAIKA Live Action produces films and series, with projects in development including Seventeen, Crumble and Atmosphere. The studio also sells consumer merchandise. Its in-house Rapid Prototype department 3D prints character faces and parts.
Technical position · AMPulse analysis
An in-house Rapid Prototype department, led by Brian McLean, works on Stratasys J750/J850 full-color PolyJet printers. It uses a long-term license to Fraunhofer IGD's Cuttlefish printer driver for color and texture fidelity. Faces are designed in Maya and attached with coded magnets. The studio is privately financed by Phil Knight, which supports long, technology-intensive productions.
Differentiation
Value Proposition
Produces feature-length stop-motion films that combine handcrafted puppetry with digital design and full-color 3D printing. Printed replacement faces allow nuanced facial performances at a scale that would not be practical by hand.
How They Differentiate
LAIKA focuses exclusively on feature-length stop-motion and integrates full-color 3D printing heavily into puppet facial animation. It is independent and family-owned rather than studio-owned.
Market & Competition
Target Customers
Theatrical and streaming film audiences worldwide, along with film distributors. For the AM industry, LAIKA is a high-volume end user of full-color PolyJet printing.
Industry Verticals
Film and entertainment (stop-motion animation); media and consumer merchandise
Competitors
Aardman Animations; Stoopid Buddy Stoodios; major animation studios such as Pixar and DreamWorks Animation
Growth & Milestones
Growth Metrics
362 employees (2020). Wildwood (released October 23, 2026) opened with about $12.3M domestically and had grossed about $15.2M worldwide in its opening week. The studio has six features and received Academy Award nominations for each of its first five.
Major Milestones
2002: Phil Knight acquired Will Vinton Studios. 2005: rebranded as LAIKA. 2009: Coraline, the first stop-motion feature to integrate 3D-printed (rapid prototype) faces. 2012: ParaNorman, the studio's first film using color 3D printers. 2014: commercial division spun off as HouseSpecial. 2016: Scientific and Technical Oscar for rapid prototyping in stop-motion. 2020: Missing Link won the Golden Globe. 2021: built a stop-motion studio with Bowie State University. 2026: released Wildwood, with more than 142,000 full-color 3D-printed faces on Stratasys J750/J850 printers.