Trivia
The "found" buttons on Eggs's Blue costume consisted of a coat check disc, poker chip, old typewriter key, rusty nut, two clock cogs, an old bead, and a button.
It took about 3 hours to print a single Eggs face on a 3D color printer, and about 3 more hours to process and prepare it for shooting on stages.
A principle character in The Boxtrolls could have as many as 8,000 3D-printed replacement faces. A range of individual brow and mouth pieces allowed a character to have approximately 1.5 million possible facial expressions.
The VFX (Visual Effects) department created a unique population of CG characters to supplement the main puppets, including 81 CG Boxtrolls and 96 CG humans. It took approximately 3 months to create each CG character, from design to shot production.
A single shot that was 56 seconds long took 4 months for a single animator to shoot. Including blocking and rehearsal time, this animator worked on the same shot for over 5 months.
Construction of the three dozen unique sets required 18 carpenters, 18 model builders, 6 riggers, 12 scenic painters, 11 greens artists, and 10 sets dressers, who worked together over a period of roughly 18 months.
In order to fill a 70-foot movie theater screen, Eggs's face had to be magnified 560 times. Great care was taken to make sure there were no inconsistencies or blemishes in the finished faces that would be only too obvious at that magnification.
Over 8,500 stage-quality replacement faces were printed for The Boxtrolls, roughly half of which were for Eggs, the main character. His largest kit of faces consisted of 311 unique mouth parts.
The hair on the puppets' wigs was made completely out of sustainable, all-natural hemp, which was then combed, cut, bleached, dyed, and glued into over 144 different heads. More than 120 pounds (or 4,800 feet) of hemp was used—enough to cross 13 football fields.
Silicone, which was used in puppet head and body fabrications, starts as a liquid and turns solid through a chemical reaction. Everyday household material used to cast and seam the silicone puppets included cellophane, Vaseline, pantyhose, felt, and face powder.
News
The Boxtrolls Filmmakers Describe Their Process
The dance sequence — less than 2 minutes of the film — took Laika 18 months to animate.
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The Boxtrolls Movie Review: LAIKA Follows Up Coraline With New Pic
In The Boxtrolls, the monsters are the good guys.
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The Boxtrolls opens up a quirky world of fun
Adults are monsters and cute underground beasts are the good guys in the animated The Boxtrolls.
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Meet The Boxtrolls: Who's who underneath Cheesebridge
They're cool, cuddly and easy to recognize because their names are right on their wearable boxes.
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The Boxtrolls’ Set Visit: LAIKA Embraces Victorian Steampunk
With The Boxtrolls, LAIKA tackles its first period piece as well as its first creature-oriented tale about an orphan boy raised underground by cave-dwelling trash collectors.
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How stop-motion and 3D printing brought Boxtrolls to life
By combining handmade artistry with new technologies like 3D printing, the studio behind Coraline and ParaNorman has revitalised the 100-year-old genre.
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Unpacking The Magic Of The Boxtrolls
Combining stop-motion, hand-drawn animations, computer graphics and stereoscopic 3D, the new film from LAIKA does things a little differently.
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Awards
Academy Award® Nomination
Best Animated Feature Film
BAFTA Nomination
Best Animated Feature Film
BROADCAST CRITICS CHOICE AWARD NOMINEE
Best Animated Feature Film
AFRICAN AMERICAN FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION
SAN DIEGO FILM CRITICS SOCIETY
Best Animated Feature
Annie Awards & Nominations
Best Voice Acting Award
Best Production Design Award
Plus 7 More Nominations
Golden Globe Nomination
Best Animated Feature Film
Reviews
“A triumph of design and animation.”
“Yet another triumph from LAIKA. A work of visual wonder.”
“Breathtaking. Painstaking attention is paid to every minute detail. Thrilling action and relatable characters. Please never change, LAIKA. You’re doing everything so, so right.”
“Another winner from LAIKA. It has heart, humor and beautiful animation. What more could you want?”
“Beautifully animated, The Boxtrolls will steal your heart.”
“Refreshingly original.”
“A delectable treat.”
“Gloriously inventive, wonderfully funny and gorgeous to look at.”
