LOS ANGELES, July 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Today the Academy Software Foundation (ASWF) officially welcomes LAIKA as a Premier Member. Based in Portland, Oregon, LAIKA is an award-winning feature film animation studio known for its distinct artistry and beloved films such as Coraline, ParaNorman, and Kubo and the Two Strings.
LAIKA has been a technological trailblazer in the animation industry since the studio’s inception in 2005. Its first feature film, 2009’s Coraline, was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature, and was the first-ever stop-motion film to be conceived and photographed in stereoscopic 3D and to integrate VFX and 3D printing technology. In 2016, LAIKA received a Scientific and Technology Oscar® for pioneering the use of rapid prototyping for character animation in stop-motion film production, enabling artistic leaps in character expressiveness, facial animation, motion blur, and effects animation.
“We have seen tremendous value in the work of the Academy Software Foundation,” says Jeff Stringer, CTO at LAIKA. “We embarked on a complete rebuild of our production pipeline recently and relied heavily on the open-source projects supported by ASWF. Their stewardship is keeping these essential projects healthy and makes it easy for studios to contribute and share the responsibility. We are thrilled to join the Foundation officially and support its work.”
LAIKA has been a longtime contributor to the Academy Software Foundation, with engineers active within the Open Shading Language project, the MaterialX project, and the OpenUSD Working Group, among others. As an official member of the Foundation, LAIKA can support the health of these foundational projects and contribute directly to expanding the Foundation’s mission and addressing the needs of smaller studios. LAIKA is also eager to participate in the Summer Learning Program and other mentorship programs to discover and develop diverse new talent.
Stringer, along with other members of the LAIKA leadership team, will be giving a keynote talk on “Transforming the LAIKA Pipeline with Open Source” at Open Source Days on August 10th in Vancouver and virtually. Hosted by the Academy Software Foundation, Open Source Days is the leading event dedicated to furthering open source software development for the visual effects, animation, and digital content creation industries. Registration is complimentary.
“Every studio is different, but LAIKA is more unique than most,” said David Morin, Executive Director of the Academy Software Foundation. “By combining the tradition of stop motion photography with the use of leading edge digital technology, including open source software, they elevate the process to a whole new level. We are delighted to welcome LAIKA to the Foundation, and very excited for their future contribution.”
The Academy Software Foundation welcomes new member companies to support its mission of fostering a healthy open source ecosystem. To learn about more about becoming a member, visit https://www.aswf.io/join/.
About LAIKA:
Founded in 2005 just outside Portland, Oregon and celebrating its 20th Anniversary, LAIKA has produced five films: Missing Link (2019), Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), The Boxtrolls (2014), ParaNorman (2012) and Coraline (2009). All were 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 with a screenplay to be written by Dave Kajganich.
LAIKA’s Live Action subsidiary has a range of projects in development including feature films based on the action thriller novel Seventeen by screenwriter John Brownlow; an original script Crumble, written and directed by Brian Duffield (Spontaneous) with Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Spider-verse films) producing, and an original project from Oscar®-nominated screenwriter Jon Spaihts (Dune). Captain Marvel filmmakers Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck will write and direct LAIKA’s live action adaptation of #1 New York Times bestselling author Taylor Jenkins Reid’s new novel Atmosphere. www.laika.com
About Academy Software Foundation
Developed in partnership by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Linux Foundation, the Academy Software Foundation was created to provide a world-class home for open source software developers in the motion picture and broader media industries to share resources and collaborate on technologies for image creation, visual effects, animation and sound. The Academy Software Foundation is home to DPEL, MaterialX, OpenAssetIO, OpenColorIO, OpenCue, OpenEXR, OpenFX, OpenImageIO, Open Shading Language, OpenTimelineIO, OpenVDB, Open Review Initiative, OpenAPV, rawtoaces, and Rez. For more information about the Academy Software Foundation, visit https://www.aswf.io/.
Media Contact
Emily Olin, Academy Software Foundation
pr@aswf.io
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SOURCE Academy Software Foundation
