Universal and Focus Features have detailed the Blu-ray release of Laika Entertainment's
The Boxtrolls. The animated adventure features the voice talents of Elle Fanning, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Ben Kingsley, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Toni Collette, Jared Harris, Richard Ayoade and Tracy Morgan, and arrives via
2D and
3D Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD combo packs on January 20, 2015.
Synopsis: An orphaned boy (
Game of Thrones' Isaac Hempstead Wright) raised by an eclectic band of underground creatures called Boxtrolls comes up from the sewers and out of his box to save his family and town from an evil exterminator named Archibald Snatcher (Kingsley). The film is directed by Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi from a screenplay written by Irena Brignull.
The 2D and 3D Blu-ray releases of
The Boxtrolls are presented in 1080p (2D/AVC MPEG-4; 3D/MVC MPEG-4) with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround. Special features include:
- Dare to be Square: Behind the Scenes of The Boxtrolls:
- Voicing the Boxtrolls – The tremendously talented cast members of The Boxtrolls discuss what it's like to voice an animated puppet, what each actor brought to his/her role, whether their personalities were similar to their characters, and more.
- Inside the Box – The directors, producers, and creative supervisor of character fabrication Georgina Hayns share the challenges of crafting characters who are inside a box.
- The Big Cheese: Allergy Snatcher – The directors and producers are joined by Brian McLean, director of Rapid Prototyping, to discuss how the animation studio LAIKA creates the faces for their puppets. The big story here – literally! – is how Snatcher's face changes shape due to his cheese allergy.
- Deconstructing the Dance – Discover how LAIKA combined traditional stop-motion animation with visual effects in order to create the beautiful ballroom dance sequence – and how costume designer Deborah Cook met the challenge of creating costumes that could flow during a dance scene.
- Think Big: The Mecha Drill – Standing 5 feet tall and weighing over 75 pounds, the Mecha-Drill is the largest stop motion puppet/prop ever created by LAIKA. Follow its creation from design to completion.
- Commentary with Directors Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable
- Preliminary Animatic Sequences, with Commentary by Stacchi and Annable:
- Baby In The Trash
- Eggs In The Underworld
- Man On A Horse
- Trubshaw's Inventorium
- Cheese Shop
- Tea And Cheese
- Production Featurettes:
- The Nature of Creation
- Trolls Right off the Tongue
- Allergic to Easy
- Let's Dance
- On the Shoulders of Giants