The Boxtrolls - LAIKA Studios

The Boxtrolls

Orphaned at infancy, Eggs (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) was raised by Boxtrolls, underground dwellers who scavenge the streets of Cheesebridge by night. A surprise encounter with a human girl (Elle Fanning) leads to unexpected discoveries about his mysterious past and his imprisoned real father.

The Boxtrolls

The "found" buttons on Eggs's Blue costume consisted of a coat check disc, poker chip, old typewriter key, rusty nut, two clock cogs, an old bead, and a button.

It took about 3 hours to print a single Eggs face on a 3D color printer, and about 3 more hours to process and prepare it for shooting on stages.

A principle character in The Boxtrolls could have as many as 8,000 3D-printed replacement faces. A range of individual brow and mouth pieces allowed a character to have approximately 1.5 million possible facial expressions.

The VFX (Visual Effects) department created a unique population of CG characters to supplement the main puppets, including 81 CG Boxtrolls and 96 CG humans. It took approximately 3 months to create each CG character, from design to shot production.

A single shot that was 56 seconds long took 4 months for a single animator to shoot. Including blocking and rehearsal time, this animator worked on the same shot for over 5 months.

Construction of the three dozen unique sets required 18 carpenters, 18 model builders, 6 riggers, 12 scenic painters, 11 greens artists, and 10 sets dressers, who worked together over a period of roughly 18 months.

In order to fill a 70-foot movie theater screen, Eggs's face had to be magnified 560 times. Great care was taken to make sure there were no inconsistencies or blemishes in the finished faces that would be only too obvious at that magnification.

Over 8,500 stage-quality replacement faces were printed for The Boxtrolls, roughly half of which were for Eggs, the main character. His largest kit of faces consisted of 311 unique mouth parts.

The hair on the puppets' wigs was made completely out of sustainable, all-natural hemp, which was then combed, cut, bleached, dyed, and glued into over 144 different heads. More than 120 pounds (or 4,800 feet) of hemp was used—enough to cross 13 football fields.

Silicone, which was used in puppet head and body fabrications, starts as a liquid and turns solid through a chemical reaction. Everyday household material used to cast and seam the silicone puppets included cellophane, Vaseline, pantyhose, felt, and face powder.

THE BOXTROLLS FILMMAKERS DESCRIBE THEIR PROCESS

The dance sequence — less than 2 minutes of the film — took Laika 18 months to animate.

THE BOXTROLLS MOVIE REVIEW: LAIKA FOLLOWS UP CORALINE WITH NEW PIC

In The Boxtrolls, the monsters are the good guys.

THE BOXTROLLS OPENS UP A QUIRKY WORLD OF FUN

Adults are monsters and cute underground beasts are the good guys in the animated The Boxtrolls.

MEET THE BOXTROLLS: WHO'S WHO UNDERNEATH CHEESEBRIDGE

They're cool, cuddly and easy to recognize because their names are right on their wearable boxes.

THE BOXTROLLS’ SET VISIT: LAIKA EMBRACES VICTORIAN STEAMPUNK

With The Boxtrolls, LAIKA tackles its first period piece as well as its first creature-oriented tale about an orphan boy raised underground by cave-dwelling trash collectors.

HOW STOP-MOTION AND 3D PRINTING BROUGHT BOXTROLLS TO LIFE

By combining handmade artistry with new technologies like 3D printing, the studio behind Coraline and ParaNorman has revitalised the 100-year-old genre.

UNPACKING THE MAGIC OF THE BOXTROLLS

Combining stop-motion, hand-drawn animations, computer graphics and stereoscopic 3D, the new film from LAIKA does things a little differently.

ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINATION

Best Animated Feature Film

BAFTA NOMINATION

Best Animated Feature Film

BROADCAST CRITICS CHOICE AWARD NOMINEE

Best Animated Feature Film

AFRICAN AMERICAN FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION, SAN DIEGO FILM CRITICS SOCIETY

Best Animated Feature

ANNIE AWARDS & NOMINATIONS

Best Voice Acting Award • Best Production Design Award • Plus 7 More Nominations

GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATION

Best Animated Feature Film

“A triumph of design and animation.”

THE BOSTON GLOBE

“Yet another triumph from LAIKA. A work of visual wonder.”

FORBES

“Breathtaking. Painstaking attention is paid to every minute detail. Thrilling action and relatable characters. Please never change, LAIKA. You’re doing everything so, so right.”

PASTE MAGAZINE

“Another winner from LAIKA. It has heart, humor and beautiful animation. What more could you want?”

DEADLINE

“Beautifully animated, The Boxtrolls will steal your heart.”

BOSTON HERALD

“Refreshingly original.”

TORONTO STAR

“A delectable treat.”

USA TODAY

“Gloriously inventive, wonderfully funny and gorgeous to look at.”

ROGEREBERT.COM

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