Laika‘s live-action film division is taking shape, and it has an exciting new project it’s adapting based on a new work by one of the most in-demand authors today.
Laika has tapped filmmakers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck to direct for the big screen “Atmosphere,” which is an adaptation of the next novel from “Daisy Jones and the Six” author Taylor Jenkins Reid. The book publishes next month on June 3 from Ballantine Books.
“Atmosphere” is a sweeping romance between two pioneering female astronauts breaking into NASA in the early days of the shuttle program in the late ’70s and early ’80s. While the principal characters are fictionalized, the historical context and authenticity of the world-building is grounded in the spirit of films like “Apollo 13,” “The Right Stuff,” and “Gravity.” The epic story is set against the backdrop of the 1980s space shuttle program and shows the extraordinary lengths we go to in living and loving beyond our limits.
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This is Boden and Fleck’s first film since “Freaky Tales,” which first premiered at Sundance back in 2024. The two also worked on the Apple TV+ series “Masters of the Air” and directed “Captain Marvel” back in 2019. Boden and Fleck also wrote the screenplay.
“Atmosphere” is a Laika production in association with Circle M+P. The film is produced by Travis Knight, Matt Levin, Boden and Fleck, Taylor Jenkins Reid, and Brad Mendelsohn. Jeremy Kipp Walker is executive producer.
“We couldn’t be more excited to team up with three boundary-pushing creative voices on this very special film,” Laika’s President, Live Action Film & Series Matt Levin, said in a statement. “From books like ‘The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo’ to ‘Carrie Soto is Back,’ Taylor Jenkins Reid always captivates us with rich, emotionally complex characters, and she is in peak form with ‘Atmosphere.’ There are no better filmmakers to adapt Taylor’s story for the screen than Ryan and Anna, who throughout their amazing careers have crafted deeply human stories set against canvases of stunning cinematic spectacle. We can’t wait to see them bring Taylor’s world of ‘Atmosphere’ to life.”
Jenkins Reid’s “Daisy Jones and The Six” was adapted as the Amazon Prime limited series, and her book “One True Loves” also became a film. Netflix is looking to adapt “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” as a film as well.
For Laika, the stop-motion animation studio known for “Coraline” and “Kubo and the Two Strings,” it is currently at work on its next animated epic “Wildwood,” which is being directed by Laika founder Travis Knight, and it has another animated film in development based on “The Night Gardener.” As for the live-action division, it has several projects in development, including the action thriller “Seventeen,” “Crumble” from director Brian Duffield and produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, and the directorial debut of “Dune” writer Jon Spaiths.
