‘Wildwood’ New Teaser Released as Laika Touts Its Biggest Film Yet

Laika has released the first full story trailer for its upcoming stop-motion animated film Wildwood, giving fans a deeper look at what the studio is calling its most ambitious project so far.

The information comes from Laika’s official trailer release and studio announcements shared alongside the teaser. The film follows the studio’s earlier technical animation showcase released in October 2025, which first gave viewers a look at the scale and detail behind the production.

Wildwood is based on the 2011 fantasy novel by Colin Meloy, with illustrations by Carson Ellis. The story centers on a young girl named Prue McKeel, played by Peyton Elizabeth Lee, who enters a strange and dangerous magical forest in order to rescue her baby brother Mac, played by Kellan Tetlow.

The trailer shows that the forest is not safe at all. Prue quickly finds herself surrounded by strange creatures, including an army of dogs that act like humans. She also faces a mysterious witch who appears to have her own plans for Prue and her brother. The world shown in the footage is dark, detailed, and full of movement, built using Laika’s stop-motion style.

The trailer also hints that Prue will not be alone on her journey. She is shown meeting a masked rider on horseback, as well as her classmate Curtis, a boy who can cry black ink. These characters seem to help her survive the strange world she has entered.

The film is directed by Travis Knight, known for his work on Bumblebee and previous Laika projects. The studio is well known for stop-motion films such as Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings, and this new project continues that tradition with even bigger scale and detail.

Laika has also highlighted the extreme craftsmanship behind the movie. In earlier production details, the studio revealed that one of the large puppet models seen in the film required around 9,000 individually made feathers. This shows how much manual work is going into every part of the animation.

The voice cast for Wildwood is also very large. Alongside Peyton Elizabeth Lee and Kellan Tetlow, the film includes Mahershala Ali, Amandla Stenberg, Maya Erskine, Angela Bassett, Carey Mulligan, Charlie Day, and Jake Johnson.

Before the trailer release, Laika had already described the film as its “most ambitious cinematic journey yet,” according to studio marketing materials. The new footage supports that claim, showing a much larger and more complex world than anything the studio has done before.

The movie is currently set to be released in theaters on October 23. With the first full trailer now out, fans finally have a clearer idea of the scale, tone, and story Laika is aiming for with this new fantasy adventure.

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