A Beloved Dark Animated Hit Is Sneaking Back onto Hulu’s Top 10 and the Timing Isn’t a Coincidence
Some horror-adjacent movies only get their due once the calendar flips toward autumn, and few films benefit from that seasonal shift quite like a certain stop-motion tale about buttons for eyes. As the air starts to cool and streaming queues fill up with spookier fare, older titles built for Halloween atmosphere tend to quietly climb back up the charts.
That’s exactly what’s happening on Hulu right now. ‘Coraline’ has landed at number four on the platform’s daily Top 10 Movies list, right behind newer releases like ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ and ahead of long-running charters such as ‘Nine to Five’ and ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’. For a film released back in 2009, cracking the top five alongside brand-new sequels is no small feat.
Much of that renewed traction connects back to a stretch of unusually active anniversary programming from Laika, the stop-motion studio behind the film. The 2009 movie’s 15th anniversary theatrical re-release became the highest-grossing classic title release in Fathom’s history, generating over $12.5 million domestically within its first week of release. That momentum didn’t stop at a single run either, since Laika brought the film back for a limited Halloween engagement starting October 31st, offered in both newly remastered 3D and 2D formats.
The re-release numbers only grew from there. By the fall, the film had garnered over $50 million at the global box office, with the U.S. total reaching $32.1 million and the international tally hitting $18.3 million. That kind of theatrical afterlife for a 15-year-old stop-motion film is almost unheard of, and it’s kept ‘Coraline’ firmly in the pop culture conversation well past its original release window.
Laika has continued leaning into that nostalgia rather than letting it fade. The studio expanded its celebration into gaming last year, launching an official Roblox experience that has become one of the most visited titles based on an animated film on the platform, according to Business Wire. The studio has also been rolling out anniversary-themed books and even a Coraline-inspired tarot deck, all part of a broader push tied to Laika’s 20th anniversary celebrations.
Naturally, all that renewed attention has fueled persistent chatter about a possible sequel, chatter that social media has amplified with viral claims and fabricated release dates. But as of mid-2026, no such project actually exists in any form. Laika maintains a well-documented policy against sequels, and neither the studio nor original author Neil Gaiman has confirmed any follow-up story is in the works, despite the flood of AI-generated posters and hoax trailers suggesting otherwise.
What’s real, though, is the film’s staying power. Between the record-breaking re-releases, the Roblox tie-in, and a steady drumbeat of anniversary merchandise, ‘Coraline’ has spent the better part of two years re-establishing itself as a genuine cultural touchstone rather than a one-and-done cult favorite. Its Hulu placement fits neatly into that pattern, arriving just as autumn programming starts favoring atmospheric, slightly unsettling stories over straightforward blockbusters.
It also helps that ‘Coraline’ occupies a rare middle ground, spooky enough for Halloween marathons but accessible enough for family movie nights, which keeps pulling in new viewers alongside longtime fans revisiting the Other Mother’s world. Sequel or not, the Other World isn’t fading from the cultural radar anytime soon.
