I'm extremely confused by the article, mostly because it starts out with this line:

"But aside from a few independent films, stop motion was rarely utilized in feature films.

That is until last Thursday. When "Coraline" premiered in Portland, Oregon."

Well, that implies that because of Coraline, stop motion is now frequently utilized in feature films, which is basically not quite accurate.

Or is it referring to the lack of studios known for producing stop motion features before the existence of Laika?   Well, there might not be much, but Laika certainly can't be known as the first studio to make stop motion features...

I mean, early on, it just doesn't sound like he is aware of the existence of stop motion features before Coraline.   But, later on, it's obvious he's aware of Nightmare Before Christmas and even Aardman.

I just really need a lot of explanation on what exactly the two paragraphs was referring to.

Laika can't even be considered to be a studio dedicated to feature films yet.   They have two movies (Coraline and Corpse Bride [co-produced with Will Vinton Studios]) and the rest of their roster is filled up with short films and commercials.   Rankin-Bass, Will Vinton, and Aardman are all the same way.

So far, Skellington Productions seems to have been really the only production company that we could even count as being feature-only since they only turned out two films...

The "until last Thursday" is in reference to the line that said America did not have a feature studio dedicated to stop-motion animation.

But Laika isn't dedicated only to stop-motion.  The studio has done a bunch of other commercial work in CG and other mediums as well.  In fact, Selick himself produced a CG short at Laika before Coraline even came out.

According to Laika's website, Coraline is their first project under the name of Laika.

Correction, that should be "first stop-motion

feature made under the name Laika".

I have now seen this film twice, and I must say that Coraline is, hands-down, the best animated film I've seen in years. It is stunningly beautiful, beguiling, creepy, and does not condescend.