Wildwood Film Discussion - Laika

[MasterXtreme]

I think it will hit $15 million by the end of the weekend, but I don't know if it can hit the $100 million budget.

But then there is also this . . .

"Wildwood box office reports say Travis Knight’s stop-motion film may carry a budget of at least $400 million and possibly as much as $700 million, far above the earlier $100 million figure. If that range is right, the film sits in a financial tier that would dwarf most animated projects and put Laika on the hook for an unusually large amount of cost.

The $700 million figure would make Wildwood the most expensive animated movie ever made, while the older $100 million estimate came from a throwaway line in a Variety box-office piece. TheInSneider said that figure was flat-out wrong, and one source put the potential overrun at four times the original estimate."

I don't think it's possible to break even if it is indeed a $700 million dollar film to make. Phil Knight has a ton of money and seems to be willing to take this big finical loses to carry out his passion and the passion of his studio works. There's something to be said about that. He is a billionaire and tied to Nike after all.

When considering box office totals, keep in mind Wildwood is an independent release. It is pushed to the back of the theatrical line with the major studios pushing their movies on multiple screens. Fathom distributes in the US and they are not not a major studio. This film very much relies on word of mouth and people searching out the movie to watch.

Laika’s stop motion animated pic Wildwood minted $11.3M stateside with another $3M in its foreign launch from 11 territories via FilmNation for a $14.3M WW start.

UK looks to be landing an opening around $1.4M after a Friday-Saturday take of $931K that’s 15% ahead of Kubo and the Two Strings, and 22% ahead of The Boy and the Heron.

Kismet has Australia which is shaping up for a $567K opening, ahead of Laika’s Missing Link, Kubo and the Two String and The Boxtrolls.

NZ is filing $58K.

Notorious in Italy is looking at a $393K opening, with a Saturday $142,5K take ahead of Missing Link, Kubo and Boxtrolls. Wildwood via Beta Film in Spain is seeing a $292K opening from 232 cinemas, with an 8.4 rating on FilmAffinity, making it the highest rated release YTD on the platform.

Netherlands via The Searchers is looking at $168K with a Saturday gross ahead of ParaNorman, Kubo, Missing Link and Coraline.

Croatia is $25K, Serbia $6K, South Africa $33K, Singapore, $29K and Italian speaking Switzerland is $2K.

Wildwood‘s foreign rollout continues next weekend across Latin America, the Middle East, the Nordics and additional Eastern European markets. Mexico alone was Laika’s second-largest grossing market for the 2024 re-release of Coraline.

[Rainberry]

I am going to go see the film this upcoming next weekend with some friends. Can't wait!

[Wolfwood]

Good info.  No update as of Monday. But it will be impossible I think for this movie to even reach $100 million.

""Wildwood" is receiving the sort of reception that most filmmakers can only dream of. As of this writing, it holds a 99% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 123 reviews counted. The stop-motion animated flick also boasts a 97% audience score along with a stellar A CinemaScore.

The good news is that those high marks will help with word of mouth, meaning that the movie can have legs in the coming weeks. Still, with a $12 million opening, it would need record-breaking legs and a lot of help from overseas audiences to approach becoming an outright theatrical hit. History, unfortunately, tells us that the deck is now heavily stacked against it, even if it's now assuredly the front-runner to win Best Animated Feature at the Oscars.

So, why couldn't Laika turn all of this praise into more meaningful ticket sales on opening weekend? For one, "Wildwood" is unlike most American animated movies in two key ways, in that it's rated PG13 and has a 131-minute runtime. Most animated movies made by Hollywood studios are produced with kids in mind and come in under two hours. So, the rating and the length may have turned off certain viewers on what proved to be a competitive weekend at the box office.

Beyond that, we've, sadly, seen time and time again that praise doesn't always put butts in seats. It can help, but it doesn't always. Just look at "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple," "Tony," or any number of other movies that critics loved this year yet failed to do big numbers in theaters. It happens all the time." - Source

[Rainberry]

I'm glad word of mouth is working, but yeah, it seems impossible for it to break even. I guess it's a win if it beat's the sales numbers of their past films. It's truly passion projects, not in it for the money.

Since they don't have to behold to a big company that only wants money, I guess they are lucky it's just Phil Knight and him only. He seems to be willing to lose the money on these.

[Soda]

^ Well that's unfortunate. Positively, they have received nothing but praise for the movie.

[MasterXtreme]

$17 million as of Tuesday.  Hopefully this weekend it gets a big bump from all the positive press.  It would be nice to see it get a later revival.  These happen occasionally, but not usually.

[Soda]

It's doing pretty good! As of November 2, 2026, Wildwood has grossed $27 million in the United States and Canada, and $26 million in other territories, for a total of $53 million worldwide.