Laika has acquired the live-action movie Crumble from writer-director Brian Duffield and producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller.
Duffield, who wrote and directed last year’s Hulu feature No One Will Save You, is set to helm the new project from his original script. Crumble focuses on a married couple who end up on a globe-trotting adventure as they pursue the cure to an ancient curse.
Lord, Miller and Aditya Sood will produce the film through their Lord Miller banner alongside fellow producer Duffield. Lord Miller’s Lucy Kitada and Nikki Baida are executive producers.
“We’re so excited to partner with Brian and the entire team at Lord Miller on this special film,” said Laika’s president of live action film and series Matt Levin in a statement. “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.”
In addition to his work on the Kaitlyn Dever-led No One Will Save You, Duffield wrote, produced and directed the 2020 movie Spontaneous and was a producer on Cocaine Bear. Duffield is also set to write, direct and produce Whalefall for 20th Century Studios and Imagine Entertainment, with the project based on the novel by author Daniel Kraus.
“I’ll never forget seeing Coraline on opening night at the AMC Burbank 16 and wondering who these wonderful new geniuses were,” Duffield said of Laika. “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.”
In their own statement, Lord and Miller praised Laika CEO Travis Knight: “We’re so excited to keep collaborating with our friend Brian Duffield, who has written a script that is endlessly imaginative, funny and romantic. 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.”
Duffield is represented by UTA, Circle of Confusion and Behr Abramson. Lord and Miller are repped by UTA and Ziffren Brittenham.
