Wildwood, a coming-of-age fantasy stop-motion animated film from LAIKA Studios, was released in theaters on Friday, October 23, and opened fourth at the weekend box office.
As reported by Screen Daily, the film opened with an estimated $11.8 million in North America and $2.9 million across 10 early international markets, bringing its opening total to $14.7 million. The UK and Ireland are expected to account for nearly half of the international opening, with around $1.4 million. Australia follows with an estimated $391,000, ahead of Italy at $249,000 and Spain at $183,000. Wildwood finished behind Warner Bros.' Clayface, A24's You Can See Everything, and Paramount's Street Fighter at the weekend box office.
The film premiered at the BFI London Film Festival on October 11 and received a rare 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. It also holds an 8.7 on IMDb and an 87 critic score and an 8.5 user score on Metacritic. However, according to The Numbers, Wildwood's $11.8 million North American debut is the second-lowest opening among LAIKA's films. The studio's The Boxtrolls debuted with $17.2 million, followed by Coraline with $16.9 million, ParaNorman with $14.1 million, Kubo and the Two Strings with $12.6 million, and Missing Link with $5.9 million.
The movie, written by Chris Butler and based on Colin Meloy's novel of the same name, follows seventh-grader Prue McKeel, who ventures into an enchanted forest with a classmate to rescue her little brother. With a runtime of 2 hours and 12 minutes, Wildwood is the longest stop-motion animated film ever made.
