Plus Licens: Coraline

FROM CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED author Neil Gaiman, who has achieved a cult following in the worlds of comics, fantasy, and children’s literature, Coraline was inspired by his own daughter’s sense of adventure. The stop-motion animated fantasy film Coraline based on Neil Gaiman's novella is scheduled to be released in theaters on February 2009. The first animated feature to be originally filmed in 3-D, Coraline will be animated and co-directed by Henry Selick and Mike Cachuela. Accomplished musicians John Flansburgh and John Linnell of They Might be Giants are contributing to the original music behind Coraline.

The film stars Dakota Fanning as the voice of Coraline, a young girl who walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an alternate version of her life. On the surface, this parallel reality is eerily similar to her real life - only much better. But when this wondrously off-kilter, fantastical adventure turns dangerous and her counterfeit parents try to keep her forever, Coraline must count on her resourcefulness, determination and bravery to get back home.

Teri Hatcher will voice the role of Coraline's Mother, as well as the role of Other Mother. Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French voice the eccentric neighbors living in adjoining apartments.

Neil Gaiman's original story Coraline was first published in 2002 and has been translated into 30 languages and won numerous awards, including the prestigious Hugo Award, the American Library Association’s Best Book for Young Adults and the Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers. Said best-selling children’s author Diana Wynne Jones: "I think this book will nudge Alice In Wonderland out of its niche at last. It is the most splendidly original, weird, and frightening book I have read, and yet full of things children will love".

Plus Licens represents Universal for merchandising, promotional and publishing rights to the film Coraline in the Nordic countries and Eastern Europe.