Laika’s ‘Wildwood’ Scores a Strong Opening Day at the Box Office, Keeping Pace With the Studio’s Classics Despite a Small Distributor

Stop-motion animation has always been a hard sell at the box office. The medium is slow and expensive, and the films tend to attract devoted fans rather than blockbuster crowds. For Laika, the Oregon studio behind a string of acclaimed handmade features, every release comes with the same question: will enough people show up?

This weekend’s answer is more encouraging than many expected. The studio’s first original animated feature in 7 years arrived through a small distributor, with tracking that ranged widely and a crowded field of competitors. Early numbers suggest the film’s glowing reception is doing a lot of the work.

‘Wildwood‘ earned about $4.3 million on its opening Friday, including roughly $1 million from Thursday previews, according to the latest box office reports. Deadline put the day at $4.2 million from 2,942 theaters, and the film is now pointing to an opening weekend of $11 million to $14 million. That’s a solid result for a PG-13 original fantasy from a studio whose releases have often struggled to find mainstream audiences.

The opening day compares well with the studio’s history. It dwarfs the $1.6 million that ‘Missing Link’ earned on its first day, and it runs close to the openers of ‘Kubo and the Two Strings’ at $4.1 million, ‘Coraline’ at $4.5 million, ‘ParaNorman’ at $4.6 million and ‘The Boxtrolls’ at $4.9 million. Those films were distributed by larger studios such as MGM and Focus.

That’s notable because Fathom Entertainment, the Denver-based company handling the film, has far fewer resources than those distributors. Fathom has a good history with the studio, and its 2024 re-release of ‘Coraline’ grossed more than $51 million worldwide. This time it’s the main event.

Pre-release tracking was all over the place. Boxoffice Pro projected $6 million to $10 million, and Box Office Theory forecast as low as $4.5 million to $9.5 million, while some optimistic reports eyed $15 million to $21 million. The film landed in the middle, which counts as a win given the uncertainty.

It’s also close to the weekend openers of major studio animation. Deadline noted the result isn’t far from DreamWorks and Universal’s ‘Forgotten Island,’ which debuted to $13 million. For an independent studio, that’s a meaningful comparison.

Premium large formats are delivering about 15% of the weekend, and the film’s best region is the West, which accounts for 32% of its gross compared with a norm of 26% for other movies. The top location so far is the AMC Burbank, which earned $29,000. Those details suggest the film is drawing a more specialized crowd.

That fits what analysts expected. The challenge was always going to be how much of the casual animation audience would turn out for a PG-13 original film beyond Laika’s devoted fans. Strong word of mouth has been critical.

The film has earned an A CinemaScore, tying the studio’s best audience grade, along with a 100% critics’ score and a 98% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. That level of acclaim can drive ticket sales through recommendations, which is especially important for a film without a big marketing push. The reception also suggests the film could hold well in the coming weeks.

An opening around $11 million to $12 million would be consistent with the $12.6 million debut of ‘Kubo and the Two Strings’ in 2016. It would fall short of the studio’s record opening, ‘The Boxtrolls’ at $17.3 million, but it would still be a respectable start.

New clip from LAIKA’s ‘WILDWOOD’. The film follows a girl who enters a magical forbidden forest to rescue her kidnapped baby brother. https://t.co/15Fgf8UEjj

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 23, 2026

The numbers don’t tell the whole story. TheWrap reports the film’s budget is said to be well above $100 million, which means it won’t turn a profit for the privately owned studio. Laika is funded in a patron-style arrangement by the fortune of Nike founder Phil Knight, the father of Laika founder and ‘Wildwood’ director Travis Knight.

That context changes how the box office should be read. For Laika, the goal may be less about profit and more about keeping the studio’s handcrafted tradition alive and finding an audience for ambitious original stories. A strong opening helps make that case.

Final weekend numbers will arrive on Sunday, with Monday actuals correcting any estimates. Next week will show whether audience enthusiasm translates into a good hold. With Halloween approaching and few family-friendly alternatives, the film could benefit.

For now, the early results suggest a real comeback for Laika and a win for a distributor that took a big swing. The film is also helping prove that original animation still has a place in theaters.

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