Riot here! While working on our Event Gallery category here in the archive, our team discovered a very interesting release from the Academy’s press office. For those unfamiliar, the Academy refers to The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, known more commonly as the folks who do the Oscars and operate the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. This museum, located in L.A., is home to the world’s largest film collection and previously hosted a LAIKA celebration (not an exhibition) in 2022.

This press release is from June of 2023 and while the main focus is on artifacts from recent Best Picture Winner, Everything Everywhere All At Once, if you scroll down to the Production Objects section there are three familiar names.

That’s right! The Academy is in possession of three Missing Link puppets. It reads as the following: Adelina Fortnight, Lionel Frost and Mr. Link puppets from Missing Link (2019); Gift of LAIKA. At the time of posting, it is unknown if Sir Lionel, Susan, and Adelina are currently on display at the museum or what versions of the puppets are in their possession as we were not able to find any photos of the trio.

22,01,2020

Sorry i haven’t been posting much, I’ve desperately been trying to sort out my university application.

I found a perfect example of people being hypocritical about remakes and reboots when original films are released, particularly when they request for more original ideas.

The other day, I found a poll on a Facebook page that discussed film, asking who wanted to see the upcoming film Missing Link. This is the latest film from Laika, the same animation studio that brought us Coraline, The Boxtrolls, Paranorman, and Kubo and the Two Strings. Many of these films were not very successful at the box office despite being outstanding films, which backs up the argument I’m about to give. If you’ve seen trailers, you’re probably aware that Missing Link is a family film like most of Laika’s works. This one features a Bigfoot-like creature named Mr. Link, and follows him and his human friend as he tries to integrate himself within human society after years of living in the woods.

The poll had a considerable amount of people saying “no.” Normally, I’d understand if it was any other film coming out, especially if said film was made by newcomers to certain positions like director. But again, we’re talking about a pretty major name in animation.

Of course, I shouldn’t be too quick to assuming that these are the same people denouncing remakes such as the upcoming Aladdin or Child’s Play remakes among others, but there are a lot of complaints on such movies ranging from “No one asked for this,” “Hollywood has run out of ideas,” or “Come up with original concepts,” much like how the poll was filled with negativity from the get-go.

Yes, it’s an animated film. But time and time again, animation has been telling us numerous times that being a medium originally meant for kids doesn’t mean it’ll automatically be unenjoyable for adults. We quite literally just had that proven again with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.