From numerous sources including Cartoon Brew, we have learned about LAIKA’s upcoming fifth stop-motion animated film. Planned for a while now, LAIKA’s next production will be titled Missing Link and will take us into the world of mythical monsters, in particular, an ancestor of the human known as “the missing link.”
The official synopsis is as follows:
“The charismatic Sir Lionel Frost (voiced by Hugh Jackman) considers himself to be the world’s foremost investigator of myths and monsters. The trouble is none of his small-minded high-society peers seems to recognize this. Sir Lionel’s last chance for acceptance by the adventuring elite rests on traveling to America’s Pacific Northwest to prove the existence of a legendary creature. A living remnant of Man’s primitive ancestry. The Missing Link.
Zach Galifianakis is Mr. Link: the slightly silly, surprisingly smart and soulful beast upon whom Sir Lionel’s dreams depend. As species go, he’s as endangered as they get; he’s the last of his kind, and he’s lonely. Proposing a daring quest to seek out his rumored distant relatives, he enlists Sir Lionel’s help in an odyssey around the world to find the fabled valley of Shangri-La.
Together with Adelina Fortnight (voiced by Zoe Saldana), an independent and resourceful adventurer who possesses the only known map to the group’s secret destination, the unlikely trio embarks on a riotous rollercoaster of a ride. Along the way, our fearless explorers encounter more than their fair share of peril, stalked at every turn by dastardly villains seeking to thwart their mission.”
Other confirmed members of the voice cast include Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson, David Walliams, Timothy Olyphant, Matt Lucas, Amrita Acharia, and Ching Valdes-Aran. The film will be produced by Arianne Sutner (ParaNorman, Kubo and the Two Strings) and Travis Knight (ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings) and directed by Chris Butler (ParaNorman). The film is set to debut in U.S. cinemas in the spring of 2019.
Are you excited about LAIKA’s next feature film? What do you think of the plot and the voice cast? Let us know in the comments below!
Edited by: Kelly Conley