Dear Oscars: Don’t Let Laika and ‘Wildwood’ Fail. There Is No Backup Stop-Motion Studio Waiting in the Wings — SkimNews
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- Wildwood opened to $12.2 million at 2,942 theaters, roughly one-tenth of its reported $100 million budget, then added $7.5 million over its second weekend to reach $25 million domestically and $35 million globally.
- Wildwood earned an A CinemaScore and a 99% Rotten Tomatoes rating, showing that audience and critical reception diverged from its No. 3 theatrical finish.
- Travis Knight built 231 puppets and 136 sets for Wildwood and said Laika has tried to keep stop-motion alive for over 20 years, arguing that the art form needs advocates and champions.
- Tippett Studio announced its closure, leaving Laika as the only American studio still investing nine figures in stop-motion animation.
- Phil Knight has used his Nike fortune to absorb Laika losses that would have shuttered almost any other operation, making his family’s backing central to the studio’s continued stop-motion production.
- Missing Link, Laika’s previous film, grossed $17 million domestically in 2019, and Laika spent seven years making the follow-up, Wildwood.
- Laika has earned five animated-feature Oscar nominations in five tries, but only three animated films have received Best Picture nominations, most recently Toy Story 3 15 years ago; Variety’s Nov. 5 predictions place Wildwood in Animated Feature and Visual Effects, not Best Picture.
Why it matters: Wildwood’s A CinemaScore and 99% Rotten Tomatoes rating show that audiences and critics did not reject the film; the gap between its reported $100 million cost and $35 million global gross exposes the financing problem. With Tippett closing and Phil Knight absorbing Laika’s losses, Laika’s nine-figure stop-motion investment now rests on one wealthy backer.
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