LAIKA's Wildwood Earns $32 Million at Box Office
The stop-motion fantasy adaptation, which opened October 23, 2026, is the studio's longest film to date.
Updated on Nov. 7, 2026 in Animation
LAIKA Animation Studios released Wildwood in theaters on October 23, 2026, and the stop-motion film has earned about $32 million at the domestic box office as of Friday. The adaptation of Colin Meloy's young adult fantasy novel, illustrated by Carson Ellis, runs 2 hours and 12 minutes.
Why it matters
Wildwood is the longest stop-motion animated film ever released, reflecting the scale of a project LAIKA spent 16 years developing. Its box office performance offers a measure of how audiences are responding to hand-crafted animation in a theatrical market.
Wildwood has earned about $32 million at the domestic box office as of Friday, following its October 23, 2026 opening. The extraction does not include a production budget, so the film's commercial standing against its costs cannot yet be assessed.
The players
LAIKA Animation Studios
LAIKA is an Oregon-based animation studio known for its stop-motion features and its use of 3D printing in puppet production.
Colin Meloy
Colin Meloy is the author of the young adult fantasy novel that Wildwood adapts, and he is also the frontman of the band The Decemberists.
Carson Ellis
Carson Ellis is an illustrator who provided the artwork for the Wildwood novel, and she is a longtime collaborator with Meloy.
The details
Production teams recreated real Portland landmarks as large-scale sets, some reaching 15 feet high, and animators built characters using replacement animation, which swaps parts of a puppet to change expression and movement. The film combines this method with 21st century 3D printing technology.
Timeline
2016: LAIKA receives an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Scientific and Engineering Award for its 3D printing work.
2017: OPB's Oregon Art Beat features LAIKA in an animation special.
2020: Brian McLean begins working on Wildwood.
October 23, 2026: Wildwood opens in theaters.
Friday (approx. November 6, 2026): Wildwood reaches about $32 million at the domestic box office.
Industry Dynamics
Wildwood extends LAIKA's track record of stop-motion features built on replacement animation and 3D-printed puppets, and at 2 hours and 12 minutes it is the longest film the studio has released. Its theatrical run places a hand-crafted production method inside the same box office market that has favored digitally animated studio films.
Wildwood is playing in theaters following its October 23, 2026 opening, so audiences can see it on the big screen now. The extraction does not give a streaming or home-release date, so viewers should check theater listings for showtimes.
The takeaway
Wildwood shows that long-form stop-motion can still reach a mass theatrical audience. Readers interested in how the film was made can look to its replacement animation and 3D-printing methods as a model for how physical craft and digital tools combine.
Further reading
For more on how stop-motion features like this one are made and released, see Animation coverage on Wisevoter.
