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LAIKA’s stop-motion feature Wildwood has secured a third-place finish at the North American box office with an estimated $11.6 million opening weekend. Distributed by Fathom Entertainment across 2,718 venues, the hand-crafted production surpassed initial projections of $6 million to $8 million while drawing strong domestic and international ticket sales.
The Opening Figures At A Glance
- Domestic Opening: Estimated at $11.6 million across 2,718 North American theaters through Sunday.
- Opening Day: Brought in $4.28 million from 2,942 venues on Friday, landing in third place.
- International Footprint: Added $3 million from 11 overseas territories.
The Box Office Performance Outpaces Early Projections
The studio’s sixth feature arrived in theaters with pre-opening social media reach hitting roughly 418 million across TikTok, Facebook, X, YouTube, and Instagram combined, according to Deadline.com. That digital footprint represented 71% of 36 comparable family animated features. Following Friday’s $4.28 million start, the stop-motion production stayed on track to hit $11.2 million by Sunday before settling at the higher $11.6 million multi-day estimate. Alongside the domestic numbers, the picture collected $3 million from 11 international territories.
🎬 Solid reporting by top journalist @cdaviesmedia in the @latimes on @LAIKAStudios' Wildwood opening this weekend! A quick update: My $6 million to $10 million opening weekend estimate in the article reflects my thinking over a week ago. Unreal reviews are making this a…
Critical Reception Tops Previous Studio Releases
Directed by LAIKA CEO Travis Knight, the project carries a pristine 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes and earned an A CinemaScore from audiences. That audience grade edges out the studio’s 2019 feature Missing Link, which landed a B+, and matches Knight’s earlier directorial effort Kubo and the Two Strings, which also earned an A. The voice cast features Carey Mulligan, Jacob Tremblay, and other prominent actors rounding out the ensemble.
| Film Title | Director | Studio Release Year | CinemaScore |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wildwood | Travis Knight | A | |
| Kubo and the Two Strings | Travis Knight | A | |
| Missing Link | 2019 | B+ |
A Sixteen-Year Labor of Craftsmanship
Bringing the hand-crafted, stop-motion feature to the screen took approximately 16 years of development and production, backed by a $100 million budget. Knight has spent years advocating for traditional, artistically driven animation techniques. In recent weeks, the studio head has publicly warned the industry about the negative impacts of artificial intelligence on creative labor. Most awards season prognosticators currently point to the picture as a primary frontrunner in the Feature Animation race.
