In celebration of the creative power and artistry behind the spectacular new movie Coraline, the Portland Art Museum transformed into the movie’s Other World. Miniature sets and costumes were crafted by hand from some surprising materials to create a world unlike any other. Attendees saw up close characters’ actual costumes and the movie’s elaborate sets. Animators were on hand to demonstrate the art of stop-motion and the master knitter who created Coraline’s tiny sweaters and gloves replicate the miniatures on site.  It was truly an extraordinary night!  

Combining the visionary imaginations of two premier fantasists, director Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas) and Newbery Award Winning Author Neil Gaiman (The Graveyard), Coraline is a wondrous and thrilling, fun and suspenseful adventure that honors and redefines two moviemaking traditions. It is a stop-motion animated feature – and, as the first one to be conceived and photographed in stereoscopic 3-D, unlike anything moviegoers have ever experienced before. From Oregon-based animation studio LAIKA, Coraline, MPAA-rated “PG,” is released in theaters nationwide (in both 3-D and [regular] 2-D) by Focus Features on Friday, February 6, 2009.

Focus Features sent Screenhead pictures from the premiere last night in Portland, Oregon.  Here we have posted this lovely picture of Dakota Fanning (Coraline) and Teri Hatcher (Coraline’s mother).