ParaNorman

ParaNorman is a 2012 American independent stop-motion animated comedy horror film produced by Laika. Directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler and written by Butler, the film stars the voices of Kodi Smit-McPhee, Jodelle Ferland, Bernard Hill, Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, Elaine Stritch, Jodelle Ferland, and John Goodman. It is the first stop-motion film to use a 3-D color printer to create character faces. In the film, Norman Babcock (Smit-McPhee), a young boy who can communicate with ghosts, is given the task of ending a 300-year-old witch's curse on his Massachusetts town. The idea of ParaNorman came from Butler, who thought making such a movie for kids could help express the challenges kids face growing up, after realizing that zombie films often contained a degree of social commentary. Production of the stop-motion animation took place at Laika's studio in Hillsboro, Oregon for three years, with the animating stage of production lasting about two years and beginning in late 2009. Instead of using traditional 3-D format cameras, the studio had sixty Canon EOS 5D Mark II DSLR cameras film the movie. Jon Brion composed the film's musical score. ParaNorman was released on August 17, 2012, by Focus Features. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised its animation and script, and was a modest box office success, earning $109 million against a budget of $60 million. The film was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA for Best Animated Film.