LAIKA's long-awaited stop-motion epic Wildwood has finished its first weekend in theaters, and the numbers are a bit of a mixed bag for one of the most ambitious animated films of the year.
According to final weekend figures from Box Office Mojo, Wildwood opened in third place domestically with $12.27 million. That puts it behind Clayface, which took the top spot with $24 million, and A24's You Can See Everything in second. Early estimates over the weekend had the film closer to $11 million, so it did end up a little ahead of where it was tracking.
How Wildwood Compares To LAIKA's Other Films
Stop-motion has never been a box office juggernaut, and LAIKA's openings have always been modest compared to big studio CG films. Here is how its features started in North America:
- Coraline (2009): about $16.8 million
- ParaNorman (2012): about $14.1 million
- The Boxtrolls (2014): about $17.3 million
- Kubo and the Two Strings (2016): about $12.6 million
- Missing Link (2019): under $6 million
- Wildwood (2026): about $12.3 million
That makes Wildwood the second-lowest opening in the studio's history, only ahead of Missing Link, and just behind Kubo and the Two Strings, which was also directed by Travis Knight. It is worth remembering that Wildwood is being released through Fathom Entertainment instead of a major studio, and it is a rare PG-13 animated film running more than two hours.
Critics And Audiences Are On Board
The good news is that people who are seeing it seem to love it. Wildwood currently sits at 99% on Rotten Tomatoes with a 97% audience score, and it earned an "A" CinemaScore from opening-day audiences. Those are the kinds of numbers that can help a film hold up well in the weeks ahead, especially with Halloween and the holidays bringing families back to theaters.
Based on the book series by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis, the film follows Prue McKeel, who chases after her baby brother Mac when he is stolen by a murder of crows and carried into a forbidden forest outside Portland. The voice cast includes Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Awkwafina, Angela Bassett and Charlie Day, with a screenplay by Chris Butler.
Travis Knight On Why It Had To Be PG-13
Knight, who is also LAIKA's CEO, has been open about the film's darker edges. Speaking to The New York Times, he explained that the PG-13 rating was necessary because of the tragic acts of violence in the story, and he pushed back on the idea that animation needs to soften things for kids.
"Modern cinema generally tends to talk down to young audiences," Knight said. "But young people experience loss. They know what it's like to feel afraid."
He has also called the film's climactic battle the toughest thing LAIKA has ever made. "It required us to use every single technique," Knight said, describing it as "a combination of hand drawn animation, stop-motion animation, CG animation."
That ambition has been years in the making. LAIKA picked up the rights to the books back in 2010, but the studio spent years developing new tools and puppets before it felt ready to bring the story to the screen.
Animated films have had an up-and-down fall at the box office, as seen in DreamWorks' Forgotten Island losing more than 1,400 theaters as its run winds down. With strong reviews on its side, Wildwood has a real chance to keep building through word of mouth.
Have you seen Wildwood yet, and do you think LAIKA made the right call going for a darker, PG-13 adventure?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.