Annecy: Laika’s ‘ParaNorman’ Returns to Theaters This Halloween With New Short

LAIKA’s “ParaNorman” is returning from the great beyond.

The 2012 feature, directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler (who also wrote the screenplay), will have a one-week theatrical run this Halloween. Trafalgar Releasing will be handling international markets, with the movie debuting on Thursday, Oct. 23 and Fathom Entertainment is handling the movie’s rollout in the United States starting on Saturday, October 25. The movie has been remastered and will be presented in RealD 3D, along with traditional 2D exhibitions.

Additionally, there will be a brand-new short film from the world of “ParaNorman” included in this release.

“ParaNorman: The Thrifting” is directed by LAIKA’s lead character designer Thibault LeClercq and written by Chris Butler and is a fully computer-animated short, produced in association with Passion Pictures. The short stars “Stranger Things” breakout Finn Wolfhard and Anna Kendrick reprising her role of Norman’s older sister, Courtney Babcock.

The re-release of “ParaNorman,” the Oscar-nominated LAIKA favorite about Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee) a strange kid who can see ghosts, follows the blockbuster re-release of LAIKA’s “Coraline” last year that racked up an astounding $56 million worldwide. Clearly they are looking to turn a theatrical outing to a LAIKA favorite into a yearly Halloween tradition.

“’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 in an official statement. “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.”

”Fathom is very pleased to extend our distribution partnership with LAIKA and bring the critically acclaimed ‘ParaNorman’ back to US 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 in an official statement. “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.”

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