[Hillsboro, OR: October 21, 2024] – LAIKA continues to expand its animation division’s creative roster with key hires. Filmmakers Chris and Justin Copeland (seen in photo left to right), known collectively as The Copeland Brothers, have joined the award-winning studio (Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings) to develop animated feature projects, it was announced today by Travis Knight, President & CEO.
Separately, Chris and Justin Copeland have established themselves on high-profile titles with Chris directing on DreamWorks’ Emmy, GLAAD and NAACP-nominated series Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts and Justin directing on the DC original films Wonder Woman: Bloodlines and Batman: Hush. Together they worked inside the DC Universe as storyboard artists on a host of original animated films and series including Batman: The Killing Joke; Batman: Soul of the Dragon; Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, and The Death and Return of Superman as well as Marvel’s animated Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers Assemble series, among others.
Over the past five years, The Copelands have been developing for both DreamWorks feature and television divisions. Recently the duo wrapped writing and directing a soon-to-be released animated short film. Born and raised in Chicago, Chris studied at the Illinois Institute of Art and Justin attended Columbia College focusing on Film/Cinema.
The Copeland Brothers are represented by Jason Burns and Strawn Dixon at UTA; manager Jairo Alvarado at Redefine Entertainment and the law firm of Raymond Tambe at Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.
Photo Credit: Iván Lizarde
About LAIKA
LAIKA was founded in 2005 in Oregon by President & CEO Travis Knight. The studio’s five films Coraline (2009), ParaNorman (2012), The Boxtrolls (2014), Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) and Missing Link (2019) have all been nominated for the Academy Award® for Outstanding Animated Feature. Kubo and the Two Strings won the BAFTA® Award for Best Animated Film and received an additional Oscar® nomination for Visual Effects. Missing Link was awarded the Golden Globe® for Best Animated Film. LAIKA was awarded a Scientific and Technology Oscar® in 2016 for its innovation in 3D printing. LAIKA is currently in production on its next animated film Wildwood. The studio is developing the animated feature films The Night Gardener, from an original idea by Bill Dubuque, creator of the hit series Ozark, and Piranesi, based on the NYT bestselling novel by Susanna Clarke. LAIKA has launched a Live Action subsidiary with a range of projects in development including feature films based on the action thriller novel Seventeen by screenwriter John Brownlow and an original script Crumble, written and directed by Brian Duffield (Spontaneous) with Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Spider-verse films) producing. Oscar®-nominated screenwriter Jon Spaihts (Dune) will write and make his directorial debut on an untitled original live-action film project. www.laika.com
