Focus Features’ PARANORMAN Goes To Comic Con

Norman Babcock, the 11-year-old hero of LAIKA and Focus Features’ new animated comedy thriller ParaNorman, will bring his “ghoul whisperer” expertise to the Yahoo! MOVIELAND Experience this week at Comic-Con in San Diego. On Friday, July 13th @10:45 AM in Comic-Con’s Hall H, ParaNorman will be presenting an exclusive panel in advance of its August 17th nationwide release; confirmed to participate are directors Sam Fell and Chris Butler; and actors Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.

The MOVIELAND space is across the street from Comic-Con (located at 520 5th Avenue) and will be completely open to the public; festival passes are not required.

Yahoo! Movies, which reaches over 26 million users a month, will be in full force at Comic-Con this year as it brings to life MOVIELAND, a visually rich, interactive game on Yahoo! that was created in partnership with several major film studios. Throughout the entire Yahoo! MOVIELAND Experience encompassing 2,000 square feet on-site at Comic-Con from Thursday July 12th through Sunday July 15th, attendees will be able take a photo with Norman and several of the zombies invading his hometown of Blithe Hollow. Each attendee will walk away with not only a physical copy of their photo but also a digital copy that has been e-mailed to them.

Yahoo!’s Comic-Con MOVIELAND space will allow attendees to experience a life-size interactive game board with movie-related content (trivia, quizzes, etc.) customized to some of the summer’s biggest movies, including ParaNorman. MOVIELAND highlights and special attractions will include actual movie props, “augmented reality” photo booths, visits from actors including Kodi Smit-McPhee (who voices Norman) and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (who voices Norman’s classmate Alvin in ParaNorman), and chances to win exclusive on-site prizes including movie tickets.

The new 3D stop-motion comedy thriller from animation company LAIKA, reteaming the company with Focus Features after the groundbreaking Academy Award-nominated “Coraline.” “ParaNorman” is, following “Coraline,” the company’s second stop-motion animated feature to be made in 3D. In “ParaNorman,” a small town comes under siege by zombies. Who can it call? Only misunderstood local boy Norman (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee), who is able to speak with the dead. In addition to the zombies, he’ll have to take on ghosts, witches and, worst, of all, grown-ups, to save his town from a centuries-old curse. But this young ghoul whisperer may find his paranormal activities pushed to their otherworldly limits.

The voice cast includes Academy Award nominee Casey Affleck (THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD), Tempestt Bledsoe (The Cosby Show), Jeff Garlin (Toy Story 3), John Goodman (MONSTERS, INC.), Bernard Hill (TITANIC), Academy Award nominee Anna Kendrick (UP IN THE AIR), Leslie Mann (RIO), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON), Tucker Albrizzi (GOOD LUCK CHARLIE), Alex Borstein (Family Guy), Jodelle Ferland (THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE) and Tony and Emmy Award winner Elaine Stritch (30 Rock).

PARANORMAN is being directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler, from Mr. Butler’s original screenplay. Mr. Fell was director of THE  TALE OF DESPEREAUX and FLUSHED AWAY. Mr. Butler was storyboard supervisor on CORALINE and storyboard artist on Tim Burton’s CORPSE BRIDE. Arianne Sutner, animation producer on THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU, and Travis Knight are producing PARANORMAN. Academy Award winner Brian Van’t Hul (KING KONG, CORALINE) is the movie’s visual effects supervisor; Emmy Award winner Nelson Lowry (FANTASTIC MR. FOX, Tim Burton’s CORPSE BRIDE) is its production designer; Grammy Award Nominee Jon Brion is composing the score (ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND); and Tristan Oliver (FANTASTIC MR. FOX, the Academy Award-winning Wallace & Gromit in THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT) is the director of photography on PARANORMAN.

The film will be in theaters August 17.

Visit the official site: http://www.paranorman.com/

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