LAIKA Announces Crumble for Live Action Arena

No One Will Save You Filmmaker Brian Duffield to Write and Direct; Oscar® Winners Phil Lord and Chris Miller Producing

Award-winning studio LAIKA is bolstering its Live Action slate by acquiring Crumble, an original script by Brian Duffield (Spontaneous, No One Will Save You), who will direct. Oscar® winners Phil Lord and Chris Miller as well as Aditya Sood will produce through their Lord Miller banner. Duffield will also produce. Lucy Kitada and Nikki Baida from Lord Miller will serve as executive producers.

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Brian Duffield will write and direct "Crumble." Photo Credit: Jesse Grant/Getty.

Crumble tells the tale of a married couple who go on a world-traversing adventure in the hope of finding a cure to an ancient curse.

LAIKA’s President, Live Action Film & Series Matt Levin made the announcement today.

"We're so excited to partner with Brian and the entire team at Lord Miller on this special film,” said Levin. “Brian has such a singular voice and Crumble perfectly embodies the bold, emotional, and inventive storytelling that we champion at LAIKA. Lord Miller is in a class of its own and we could not ask for a better creative team to bring this story to life.”

Brian Duffield is one of today's most sought-after writer/producer/directors, mashing up genres and pushing the creative envelope. His critically acclaimed film No One Will Save You starring Kaitlyn Dever was released on Hulu in September 2023, earning him a Critics Choice nomination for Best Movie Made for Television, as well as a WGA Award nomination in the TV & New Media Motion Picture category. Prior to that, he wrote, produced and directed Spontaneous, produced Cocaine Bear, directed by Elizabeth Banks for Universal, as well as the upcoming Borderline, directed by Jimmy Warden and starring Samara Weaving. He will also co-write, direct, and produce Whalefall for 20^th Century Studios and Imagine Entertainment, based on the recently published novel by Daniel Kraus.

"I'll never forget seeing Coraline on opening night at the AMC Burbank 16 and wondering who these wonderful new geniuses were,” said Duffield. “I can't wait to make a movie with them and hopefully live up to their banner, and I couldn't be more excited to get to go on a new adventure with my friends at Lord Miller."

“We’re so excited to keep collaborating with our friend Brian Duffield who has written a script that is endlessly imaginative, funny and romantic,” said Chris Miller and Phil Lord. “We have long been fans of LAIKA and Travis Knight’s groundbreaking work in animation and could not be more excited to join forces with them in live action.”

Brian Duffield is represented by UTA, Circle of Confusion, and Behr Abramson Levy Johnson. Lord and Miller are represented by UTA and Ziffren Brittenham.

About LORD MILLER

Headed by Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the film and television production house Lord Miller has cemented itself as a Hollywood staple for pushing boundaries of what is possible in original comedy, live-action, and animation. Feature franchises originated by Lord Miller include the Spider-Verse movies, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 21 and 22 Jump Street, and The Lego Movies. Collectively, their film projects have grossed more than $3.9 billion at the global box office, proving the pair’s extraordinary range and ability to deliver on compelling ideas. Other films produced by Lord Miller include the Academy Award®-nominated feature The Mitchells vs. the Machines and Cocaine Bear. Lord Miller’s next feature is Project Hail Mary. Lord and Miller direct and produce along with Aditya Sood. The feature is set for theatrical release on March 20, 2026. The company has several projects in various stages of development including the live-action feature tent-pole The Last Human for Sony, Fox’s Artemis, based on the novel by Andy Weir, a feature adaptation of Michael Lewis’ best-selling novel The Premonition: A Pandemic Story, Everyday Parenting Tips starring Ryan Reynolds, which is based on Simon Rich’s New Yorker short story, and 48 Hours in Vegas about Dennis Rodman’s legendary trip to Las Vegas during the Chicago Bulls’ 1998 NBA finals appearance.

On the television side, Lord Miller is behind The Afterparty. The series was created, written and directed by Miller with Lord as executive producer. Lord Miller also produced the modern refresh of their critically acclaimed animated comedy series Clone High for Max. The company is in development on a slate of live-action and animated series in both comedy and drama, including a suite of television series based on Sony’s Marvel Characters. The company is headed by Chris Miller and Phil Lord, Aditya Sood serves as President, Dan Sheer as Head of Television.

About LAIKA

LAIKA was founded in 2005 in Oregon by President & CEO Travis Knight. The studio’s five films Coraline (2009), ParaNorman (2012), The Boxtrolls (2014), Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) and Missing Link (2019) have all been nominated for the Academy Award® for Outstanding Animated Feature. Kubo and the Two Strings won the BAFTA® Award for Best Animated Film and received an additional Oscar® nomination for Visual Effects. Missing Link was awarded the Golden Globe® for Best Animated Film. LAIKA was awarded a Scientific and Technology Oscar® in 2016 for its innovation in 3D printing. LAIKA is currently in production on its next animated film Wildwood. The studio is developing the animated feature films The Night Gardener, from an original idea by Bill Dubuque, creator of the hit series Ozark, and Piranesi, based on the NYT bestselling novel by Susanna Clarke. LAIKA has launched a Live Action subsidiary with a range of projects in development including a feature film based on the action thriller novel Seventeen by screenwriter John Brownlow. www.laika.com

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