LAIKA’s PARANORMAN Props To Be Auctioned Off to Benefit Variety The Children’s Charity

Animation buffs, movie fans, and memorabilia collectors will all have the chance to own unique hand-crafted materials from one of this year’s Academy Award nominees when Variety – The Children’s Charity of Southern California next week begins hosting the online auction of two props used in LAIKA and Focus Features’ comedy thriller ParaNorman, which is Oscar-nominated for Best Animated Feature Film.

The internet auction is coordinated through Profiles in History, the world’s largest auctioneer of original Hollywood Memorabilia,www.profilesinhistory.com, and will begin on Friday, February 22^nd and will end Monday, March 4^th.  Proceeds from the auction will go to help inspire hope, enrich lives and build a better future for children with special needs in Southern California.

Including a letter of authenticity from LAIKA’s studios in Oregon, where the stop-motion-animated feature was lovingly hand-crafted on-site, the auction lot is for two props that were made in-studio and then featured on-screen; in the film’s story, the town of Blithe Hollow, where ParaNorman’s 11-year-old hero Norman Babcock lives with his family, commissioned a historical plaque commemorating the famous capture of a witch from 300 years ago, along with the accompanying mold “cast” of the witch’s head. In the frightfully funny, magically emotional, and hilariously spooky ParaNorman, the revelation comes that the centuries-old witch’s curse is real and is about to come true – and only Norman will be able to stop it from going into overdrive and harming the townspeople, by summoning up courage and compassion in a wild race against time.

In addition to its Academy Award nomination, ParaNorman has won two Annie Awards (the animation community’s Oscars equivalent) and been cited as best animated feature film by 14 critics’ groups, more than any other 2012 animated feature. ParaNorman was directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler from an original screenplay by Mr. Butler; and was produced by Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner.

Elizabeth O’Neil, Executive Director of Variety – The Children’s Charity of Southern California, said, “The movies that LAIKA and Focus have made together have thrilled and delighted millions. With its anti-bullying theme, ParaNorman has proved particularly impactful for kids. We’re so pleased that beautifully detailed and painstakingly created props from this wondrous tale will now be offered for auction to benefit children in need in our community.”