Los Angeles, Thursday, 11 September 2025.
This past Wednesday, Laika — best known for stop‑motion hits like Coraline and Kubo — announced it’s moving deeper into live‑action by backing Audition, directed by Lulu Wang and starring Lucy Liu and Charles Melton, produced with Higher Ground. For retail and themed‑entertainment planners the most intriguing fact is the studio’s deliberate pivot: Laika intends to treat live‑action as IP fuel for cross‑platform monetisation, increasing opportunities for licensing, branded experiences and park or hospitality tie‑ins. The adaptation of Katie Kitamura’s psychological thriller positions a prestige director and bankable talent behind an asset that could translate into merchandise and guest experiences with adult, sophisticated positioning. Track budget allocation, rights ownership and distribution partnerships closely — those terms will determine exclusivity, licensing windows and co‑development potential. In short: Audition signals a strategic content diversification that could expand Laika’s B2B licensing toolkit and create new experiential product pathways for retailers and operators and partners.