UPDATED, 6:48 AM: Laika has now dropped the full trailer for Wildwood, the first stop-motion animated movie from the studio since 2019’s The Missing Link. Check it out above.

PREVIOUSLY: Laika on Wednesday released the first teaser trailer for Wildwood, the first stop-motion animated movie from the studio since 2019’s The Missing Link, the most recent in a string of five Oscar-nominated pics in a row dating back to 2009’s Coraline.

The new pic, directed and produced by Laika boss Travis Knight, was adapted by Masters of the Universe and Kubo and the Two Strings scribe Chris Butler from the book series by The Decemberists’ frontman Colin Meloy. It will open in theaters October 23 via Fathom Entertainment, the specialty distributor that has previously backed rereleases of Laika hits like Coraline and 2012’s ParaNorman.

The plot: After her baby brother is abducted by a murder of crows, headstrong teenager Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) launches a desperate rescue mission into the Impassable Wilderness — an enchanted forest hidden just beyond Portland, OR. (Knight grew up in Portland; there’s a nice Hawthorne Bridge cameo in today’s teaser trailer, which is backed by the M83 song “My Tears are Becoming a Sea.”)

Joined by her hapless but loyal classmate Curtis Mehlberg (Jacob Tremblay), Prue navigates a world of talking animals, bandits, and powerful figures driven by grief and ambition.  As the pair is drawn into a conflict threatening the balance of the forest itself, Prue must discover the strength and belief she never knew she possessed. If she hopes to save her brother and protect Wildwood’s fragile future, she will have to risk everything.

The voice cast also features Carey Mulligan, Richard E. Grant, Awkwafina, Amandla Stenberg, Tom Waits, Charlie Day, Blythe Danner, Arthur Knight, Maya Erskine, Jake Johnson, Tantoo Cardinal, Rob Delaney, Jemaine Clement, Marc Evan Jackson, Len Cariou, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Angela Bassett and Mahershala Ali.

In addition to Coraline, ParaNorman, Kubo and the Two Strings and Missing Link, Laika’s other Oscar-nominated pic was 2014’s The Boxtrolls.

Check out the Wildwood teaser trailer above.

When the board of the Kennedy Center met last week to decide on the future of the complex, they took up a resolution to restore Donald Trump‘s name to the front facade of the complex.

The vote by the Trump-controlled board was not just one designation for the president, but three.

According to a copy of the resolution filed in federal court late on Tuesday, Trump’s name would be returned to the front facade, just below its official name, “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” Below that lettering, a new one would be added to read, “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.”

That’s not all. The resolution also provides for another Trump designation, just below “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.” Once a $100 million threshold is met for an endowment the board set up for the center, per the resolution, a line would be added to read, “Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”

So the facade of the Kennedy Center would read:

The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts

Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump

Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund

There’s more. The board resolution also designated “the physical site and grounds upon which the center sits” as the “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.”

The board is chaired by Trump and which includes administration figures like Sergio Gor and Dan Scavino and Fox News personalities Maria Bartiromo and Laura Ingraham. In December, they voted to add Trump’s name to the center and, the next day, the facade was changed to read “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”

Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), an ex officio member of the board, sued, and in May U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that only Congress could make such a change to the center’s name.

That forced the center to remove references of the “Trump Kennedy Center” from its website and other materials, and, most prominently, from the front facade. On the night of the deadline to remove Trump’s name from the facade, a crowd gathered and watched as workers installed scaffolding and, in the middle of the night, a tarp. That concealed the actual removal of the lettering for POTUS. The tarp has remained there ever since.

In response to the latest effort to return Trump’s name multiple times to the front of the building, Beatty’s attorneys argued that the board seems intent “on defying the court’s decision.”

Her attorneys, Nathaniel Zelinsky and Norm Eisen, wrote, “Adding the words ‘Restored and Renovated by,’ or ‘Endowed by,’ before President Trump’s name, and renaming the ground on which the building sits, provides no lawful basis to ignore this Court’s decision and impose Donald Trump’s name on a memorial dedicated by the Congress exclusively to a different President.”

They cited a statute that “no additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.” The board’s resolution seemed to suggest that renaming the plaza would fall outside of the statute.

The center has committed to forego attempts to install the Trump designations until September 8. Beatty’s attorneys want the judge to rule by then.

As for the tarp, the center’s attorneys cited a declaration from executive director Matthew Floca and wrote that the covering “was and is a necessary element of the ongoing construction activities at the Center—during the removal of the name, it served as a safety barrier for ongoing construction activities and helped safeguard the marble facade of the building in light of reported panel damage.” They added that the center will use the existing scaffolding to “assess, investigate and engineer structural repairs to the overhead soffit.”

“Final removal of the scaffolding and its barrier is contingent upon the scope of any repairs required at present to the marble facade, as well as any other necessary repairs,” the center’s attorneys wrote.

Beatty’s attorneys called the explanation a “pretextual justification.” “Defendants state they intend to use the scaffolding to examine the roof overhang,” the wrote. “But the soffits are some twenty feet or more above the scaffolding. Defendants imply that they will erect more scaffolding around the rest of the Center, presumably to examine other portions of the roof. But Defendants tellingly have not done so for months, leaving only the Center’s iconic name obscured—a strong indication that this structure has nothing to do with the roof and is, instead, meant to defy a return to the status quo.”

In his May ruling, the judge also halted plans to close the center for two years for renovations, concluding that the board had been “derelict” in moving to shutter the complex because they “neglected to consider the full range of its statutory obligations and potential adverse consequences of closure on programming and memorial functions.” He noted that the board could still move to close the complex, but only after there was a fuller consideration of impacts.

Last week, the board again voted for a two-year closure plan, while keeping limited programming at The Reach, an extension that opened in 2019.

In the latest filing, the center’s legal team argued that it had conducted an independent analysis, with Delta Consulting Group presenting two options: the closure plan that was ultimately approved, and another plan for a partial closure. The analysis concluded that the partial closure would take longer — four years — and would mean that the center “would suffer a reduction in both revenue and fundraising ability” and “reputational damage that would result from the proximity of construction activities to performance venues.”

Beatty’s team, though, argued that the board “fell short by a country mile” in its analysis.

“The only materials that purport to examine the costs and benefits of the closure was a 5- slide PowerPoint presentation prepared by the Delta Consulting Group, which was subsequently displayed at the Board meeting,” they wrote. “Excluding two cover slides and one slide describing the lead consultant’s biography, the substance of the presentation deck is just two slides long.”

Beatty’s team is calling for a discovery process rather than an expedited briefing on a motion to grant summary judgment, which the center wants. The center also is appealing Cooper’s May ruling.

The New York Comedy Festival has added more than 100 shows to the lineup for its 2026 edition, taking place across NYC’s five boroughs from Nov. 6-15.

Select highlights include Tokyo Kanpai Boys at New York Comedy Club Upper West Side on the 6th, an Anxiety Club Screening and Conversation at The Venue on Music Row at Hard Rock Hotel New York on the 7th, Alfred Robles at The Venue on Music Row on the 8th, a live edition of the podcast Good One with Jesse Fox at The Venue on Music Row on the 8th, Moshe Kasher at The Bell House on the 8th, Sharief Johnson‘s JR Comedy Album Recording at New York Comedy Club Upper West Side on the 8th, Jason Choi Live at New York Comedy Club Midtown on the 9th, WRONG! A F*cked Up Game Show with Jay Light at Caveat on the 9th, Ester Steinberg: Showgirly at New York Comedy Club Midtown on the 10th, Charlene Kaye at The Venue on Music Row on the 11th, Andre DeFreitas: Public Display of Affection at The Stand West on the 11th, Valeria Vulpe at New York Comedy Club Upper West Side on the 11th, Eddie Pepitone at Union Hall on the 10th and 11th, Jake Lambert Live at Union Hall on the 13th, and a screening and Q&A for documentary Funny Money: The Dane Cook Story at The Venue on Music Row on the 15th.

The new additions join previously announced headliners including Ben Bankas, Mojo Brookzz, Comic Relief x The Moth, Dropout Improv, Adam Friedland, Gayme Show! Starring Matt Rogers and Dave Mizzoni, Ilana Glazer, Jess Hilarious, Jordan Jensen, Jordan Klepper, Marc Maron, Joanne McNally, Ms. Pat, Sarah Sherman & Patti Harrison, Daniel Sloss, Ziwe, and more.

Caroline Hirsch, founder and owner of the New York Comedy Festival, commented, “We’re thrilled to continue building out this year’s New York Comedy Festival lineup with an incredible range of shows that showcase the depth, diversity and creativity of comedy being created in New York City and beyond. From established festival favorites and exciting new voices, this expanded programming reflects the extraordinary talent that makes New York such a vital comedy capital. We’re excited to give audiences even more opportunities to discover breakout acts, celebrate their favorites and experience the unmatched energy of comedy in New York.”

See the full lineup of new shows set for New York Comedy Festival’s 22nd edition here.