travis knight

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SEVENTEEN: ‘Kubo And The Two Strings’ Helmer’s Studio Expands Into Live Action For Adaptation Of Upcoming Novel

Filmmaker Travis Knight’s LAIKA, the studio behind Academy Award-nominated animated films such as Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings and Missing Link, is expanding into live-action with Seventeen, after securing the rights in an intense bidding war on Wednesday. The project is based on the upcoming novel by acclaimed screenwriter John Brownlow (The Minaturist, Sylvia).“For the past 15 years, LAIKA has been committed to making movies that matter,” says Knight, LAIKA President & CEO. “Across mediums and genres, our studio has fused art, craft, and technology in service of bold, distinctive, and enduring stories. With Seventeen, LAIKA is taking that philosophy in an exciting new direction.”“Seventeen is a stiff cocktail of wicked wit, exhilarating action, and raw emotion,” Knight continues. “John has such a wonderfully unique voice. He’s crafted a brilliant universe with its own powerful identity. Seventeen is a thriller with soul, a sinuous adrenaline-fueled actioner with a sincere heart beating underneath its rippling pectorals.”Author and screenwriter John Brownlow is well known for his film and television credits. He is the screenwriter of the feature film Gwyneth Paltrow starrer, Sylvia, penned and exec produced three-part BBC limited series The Minaturist, which starred Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit), and also wrote the four-episode limited series Fleming, which starred Dominic Cooper as James Bond author Ian Fleming.“I am absolutely thrilled to be developing Seventeen for the screen with LAIKA,” says Brownlow. “As a long-time fan of LAIKA’s movies for their vision, heart, craft, intelligence and ambition, I couldn’t have hoped for the novel or the universe it inhabits to have found a better or more exciting home. I’m beyond honored to be part of their plans for the future.”UK publisher Hodder & Stoughton has preemptively acquired worldwide publishing rights to Seventeen. Hanover Square will publish the book in the US in 2022.

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BUMBLEBEE Buzzes With Title Track, “Back To Life” By Hailee Steinfeld

I don’t normally listen to a lot of contemporary popular music, but I like what Hailee Steinfeld’s latest audible with “Back To Life” is doing for Paramount’s latest, Bumblebee, from director Travis Knight. Knight’s Kubo And The Two Strings was a fun little adventure and so I’m keen on believing he might help bring the Transformers franchise from entropy with the new sci-fi thriller, and a good soundtrack also helps. This was a catchy listen. Peep it, and then go see Bumblebee this Christmas!

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BUMBLEBEE: Meet Decepticons Shatter And Dropkick!

BUMBLEBEE: Meet Decepticons Shatter And Dropkick!

Anthony Breznican at Entertainment Weekly is running his latest exclusive for Travis Knight’s upcoming Hasbro treatment, Bumblebee. The photo above marks the first reveal of two Decepticon characters in the form of Shatter, a cherry-red Plymouth Satellite (voiced by Black Panther co-star Angela Bassett), and Dropkick, a blue AMC Javelin, (voiced by Justin Theroux).

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BUMBLEBEE Lands A First Trailer And Poster For The New Transformers Prequel

The Transformers film series has seen its share of both good times and bad. Apart from reviews, the franchise had been a box office hit for all four Michael Bay-directed films up until last year’s Transformers: The Last Knight which saw earnings take a dip.

Nowadays, things are in a bit of flux with a sixth linear film removed from its 2019 date while Hasbro revamps its film agenda with other lucrative IP. However, the franchise, centered on alien autonomous robotic warriors now brings its focus to the center of a new prequel with Bumblebee starring Hailee Steinfeld and John Cena.

The film is directed by Travis Knight who dealt quite the serving of cake to anyone who doubted his LAIKA-produced animated adventure, Kubo And The Two Strings. Bumblebee marks his big screen rebound with the coming-of-age story of Charlie, on the eve of her 18th birthday in 1987 in a Californian junkyard beach town where she discovers this particular car is no ordinary Volkswagen.

Cena, who teased the Tuesday morning arrival of the official trailer this week, stars as Agent Burns of Sector 7, the black-ops clandestined unit previously fronted by John Turturo’s character in the initial trilogy.

The trailer definitely feels like a less-clunkier offering and a slightly more affable, character-centric tale. Bay’s films were all nothing short of showstopping spectacle tacked on with overdrawn, quirky dialogue and some pretty questionable leniencies that made them all pretty love/hate worthy while Knight’s efforts feel a little more refreshing in terms of pacing and tone.

More than ten years and five films in, as much as this film may possibly rate better among critics, this may take some getting used to. Of course, time will tell if this bodes any different but, ahead of its December 21 release from Paramount, so far so good. Yes? No?

Comment your thoughts to us on social media about the trailer.

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KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS Strums A New Trailer And Poster Art

Based on an original screenplay by Marc Haimes and Chris Butler (ParaNorman) and marking the directorial debut of Mr. Knight, Kubo And The Two Strings is a sweeping, swashbuckling adventure set in a mythical ancient Japan that will be brought to life with the voices of Matthew McConaughey, Charlize Theron, Rooney Mara, Ralph Fiennes, Brenda Vaccaro and Art Parkinson (who will voice the character of Kubo). 

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