LAIKA’s ‘ParaNorman’ Returns to Theaters for Halloween in Remastered RealD 3D with New Short Film

From Annecy today, LAIKA announced that its award-winning stop- motion animated film ParaNorman will once again haunt the big screen this Halloween for a one-week theatrical engagement. Offered in newly remastered RealD 3D and 2D formats and accompanied by a brand-new CG-animated short, he film’s return launches a year-long 20th Anniversary celebration of LAIKA.

As with the record-breaking 15th Anniversary 2024 re-release of Coraline in 2D and RealD 3D, LAIKA will bring the remastered ParaNorman (originally released in 2012) to global audiences in partnership with Trafalgar Releasing in international markets (premiering Thursday, October 23) and Fathom Entertainment in the U.S. (premiering Saturday, October 25).

LAIKA’s second feature film, which garnered multiple accolades including Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations, as well as multiple Annie Awards, was written by Chris Butler (Missing Link) and directed by Butler and Sam Fell (Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget).

Synopsis: Norman Babcock (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a teenage boy with the ability to communicate with the dead who finds himself forced to save his hometown from a witch’s curse.

Featuring a charming score by Jon Brion (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), the movie showcases the voice talents of Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, Elaine Stritch, Bernard Hill, Alex Borstein, John Goodman and more.

The studio’s new, CG animated short film, ParaNorman: The Thrifting is directed by LAIKA’s lead character designer Thibault LeClercq and written by Butler. The short features the voice work of Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard and Anna Kendrick reprising her role of Norman’s older sister, Courtney Babcock. Produced in association with Passion Pictures, the short will be attached to the re-release screenings.

“ParaNorman was a breakthrough film for LAIKA — emotionally rich, visually daring, and proudly weird in all the right ways,” said LAIKA’s Chief Marketing & Operations Officer David Burke. “Bringing it back to theaters in stunning remastered 3D, paired with a brand-new short film, is an invitation for audiences to rediscover the heart and humor of Norman’s world — or experience it for the first time. Today, horror has become a shared family ritual, and ParaNorman sits right at the intersection of spooky and meaningful. It’s the perfect ‘starter horror’ —a gateway into genre storytelling that’s as thoughtful as it is thrilling.”

Coraline’s re-release success last year signaled an audience desire for repertory cinema as moviegoers re-discover older films, especially accessible horror titles that families can enjoy together. Coraline’s return scored $56 million in worldwide box office, making it one of the biggest global film re-releases of the past decade and the highest grossing stop-motion movie of all time.

”Fathom is very pleased to extend our distribution partnership with LAIKA and bring the critically acclaimed ParaNorman back to U.S. audiences this Halloween in both 2D and RealD 3D and with the exclusive consumer added value feature, ParaNorman: The Thrifting,” said Ray Nutt, Fathom Entertainment’s Chief Executive Officer. “Coraline consumers voted with their wallets last year, resulting in approximately 70% of the record-breaking $34M+ U.S. theatrical box office coming in 3D. ParaNorman is the ideal, spooky follow-up for audiences to enjoy on the big screen later this year.”

Kymberli Frueh, SVP of Programming and Content Acquisitions at Trafalgar Releasing, commented, “Following the incredible global response to Coraline‘s theatrical re-release, which surpassed its original box office run in some international markets, we’re thrilled to partner with LAIKA once again to bring ParaNorman back to the big screen this Fall. ParaNorman is a visually stunning, emotionally resonant film that deserves to be experienced in theaters — both in 2D and in vividly remastered RealD 3D. We can’t wait for audiences around the world to rediscover this groundbreaking stop-motion classic.”