Nike co-founder Phil Knight's Portland-based film studio, Laika, laid off 63 people in its computer animation department Friday, to focus exclusively on stop-motion features, reports The Oregonian.

The studio's first film was the stop-motion picture Coraline, which earned $120.2 million at the worldwide box office.

Laika had originally planned to develop both stop-motion and computer-animated films, but now have decided to only use computer animation on a limited basis, to augment stop-motion.

The layoff reduces Laika's work force from 243 to 180. In December, the company laid off 65 after scrapping a computer-generated feature called Jack and Ben's Animated Adventure.

Coraline's director, Henry Selick, is a stop-motion specialist who continues to develop new features for the studio as Laika's supervising director. The studio is in the final stages of choosing its next project and plans to announce its selection in the next several weeks.

Coraline was released February 6th, 2009 and stars Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Keith David, John Hodgman, Robert Bailey Jr., Ian McShane. The film is directed by Henry Selick.