this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2026
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Today I Learned

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Basically, the only modern studio consistently putting out stop motion animation movies, is Laika Studios. And yet, Laika has only had one financially successful movie, Coraline from 2009, while all their other movies have under performed.

However, Laika is currently led and owned by Travis Knight, son of Phil Knight, the owner of Nike. This has enabled Knight to continually bank roll Laika whenever they under perform, essentially making the entire stop motion animation film industry a nepo baby's pet project.

That being said, this is actually a positive story, and reminiscent of how artists previously would be financially supported by wealthy benefactors.

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[–] thespcicifcocean@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago

Are you not counting claymation? Because i'm sure that Wallace and grommit would like a word.

[–] bassad@jlai.lu 9 points 1 day ago

Aren't all artists dependent of some rich guys or rich guy's wifes?

I saw an art exhibition recently, I am not able to buy a 200€ pillow.

[–] Elshender@sh.itjust.works 103 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Me when people forget about Wallace and Gromit.

[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Would you like a spot of wensleydale old chum?

[–] Flamekebab@piefed.social 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Speaking of propping things up - Wensleydale were propped up by Wallace & Gromit.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 3 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Yeah because the truth is it's actually pretty rubbish cheese. I'm allowed to say that, you can't, but I can.

[–] Hansae@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago

Yarg best cheese or a blue west country Brie.

[–] silasmariner@programming.dev 1 points 1 day ago

Lancashire is generally the better white crumbly, but there are certainly good examples of both

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[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

Yes I heard they were failing until they got the free advertising. Me I'm a Y Fenni fan.

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[–] B0rax@feddit.org 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What do you mean „financially successful“? The movie Kubo from 2016 had more revenue than budget. Is that not successful?

It is a damn good movie btw.

[–] titanicx@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] Krelis_@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Isn't that standard Hollywood accounting?

E.g. Return of the Jedi never made a profit either, on paper

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[–] B0rax@feddit.org 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Ah, so basically Marketing is not included in the budget. And theaters take a big cut from the revenue.

[–] titanicx@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

Yep. Things we normally don't look at when budget to revenue conversations happen.

[–] imeansurewhynot@sh.itjust.works 160 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (19 children)

i heard about this on a podcast. it is great news for stop-motion, and considering how many shitty rich people there are, it's nice to know there's a couple good ones promoting art.

Also their movies are good and all but one of their movies made tens of millions of dollars.

for stop-motion, a very niche art-form, making 10-130 million dollars profit per film is laudable.

went too big with missing link though, which i haven't seen yet.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

breaking even with stop motion is laudable. because like we won awards with our films but i think we earned like 5 grand total. we spent way more than that over the years on tacos for the crew alone.

Exactly, making $100 million profit on stop-motion is like feverishly, lovingly crafting a bespoke hot air balloon with a thousand discarded model airplane kits and then realizing you've somehow survived landing on the moon.

[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 34 points 2 days ago (4 children)

I don't know if motion animation is the same as other types of films, but for most of the industry you need box office sales to be double of the film budget for it to be considered profitable. Mainly due to marketing budgets and the huge percentage of profit that theaters get for the first few weeks of a film's release.

[–] imeansurewhynot@sh.itjust.works 24 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (7 children)

It's pretty different from live action according to creators and producers, it's such a small market and stop motion is so difficult to explain and get off the ground and promote that financial expectations are much more realistic.

You're right that if a live-action movie costs $100 million to make grosses $180 million, the producers are upset, but that's a greedy, ego-driven convention of the modern studio system, they are still making tens of millions of dollars before everything on the back end is added in.

The stop-motion world has a more realistic perspective on production and the artists love every single piece of art they create, so also making $40 million as evidence that their art style can succeed in mainstream culture is the cherry on top of any project that even gets to be fully produced.

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[–] Rusty@lemmy.ca 38 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago

I think about this scene so much whenever I'm doing a project

[–] FluorideMind@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sounds like the type of things normal dudes say when asked what they'd do if they won the lottery. Maybe Travis is a normal dude under the nepotism?

[–] Bacano@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I think that's what the last section of the post was referencing

yeah, the

reminiscent of how artists previously would be financially supported by wealthy benefactors.

i need to find myself a wealthy benefactor who likes [music form not appreciated outside one town in the eastern US and i like where i live dammit]

[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 30 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Aardman also produces stop-motion, so it is untrue that Laika is alone.

Not such a positive story for Will Vinton, who had a hostile takeover of his studio, and then was fired and replaced by the new owner’s son.

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[–] Crashumbc@lemmy.world 39 points 1 day ago

I mean at least he's doing something productive with his wealth. That puts him insanely far ahead of most wealth babies.

[–] NoForwadSlashS@piefed.social 58 points 2 days ago

'Propping up the stop motion film industry' is quite the statement. Aardman Animaton has been releasing feature length stop motion movies since 2000 and all have done very well. Also Laika only worked on Corpse Bride of Tim Burton's multiple very successful stop motion movies.

[–] svcg@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 points 1 day ago

Aardman Animations: excuse me?

[–] _NetNomad@fedia.io 3 points 1 day ago

i don't know the full story but iirc that was how the band Supertramp stayed afloat until they were successful, patronage from some rich guy

[–] LaLuzDelSol@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Funny timing I just saw a trailer for Wildwood and it looks SICK

[–] blargh513@sh.itjust.works 26 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I liked Kubo and the Two Strings a lot.

However, Mathew McConaughey? He was a very strange choice for voice talent in that film. It did not fit the aesthetic at all, he stuck out like a sore thumb. That southern drawl thing he's got in a movie that has primarily Asian characters? Well all right all right all right.

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[–] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 33 points 2 days ago (6 children)

Isn't Aardman (shaun the sheep, wallace & gromit) still consistently put out stopmotion? Or are they just cheating the visual style with 3d animation?

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[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If I had that dude's wealth I would be putting so many artists on my payroll.

[–] SaneMartigan@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago (2 children)
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[–] prettybunnys@piefed.social 32 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Wes Anderson put out a wildly successful stop motion picture in 2009.

Consistently, sure, but that doesn’t actually mean it’s dead.

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[–] Mac@mander.xyz 9 points 1 day ago

In a non-cap society, do stop motion movies still get created by enthusiasts?

I think so.

wait what.

oh whew i thought you were talking about my buddy who used to be at Will Vinton. he's not rich.

this is actually a positive story, and reminiscent of how artists previously would be financially supported by wealthy benefactors

Idk that sounds profoundly negative to me lmao

[–] Snapz@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Did he fall far away from that shit family tree, or does he have his dad's politics?

As long as you don’t piss off your patron.

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