Is Wildwood A Box-Office Hit Or Not?

Animation fans and cinema connoisseurs alike have been positively buzzing since the release of Wildwood. Laika's new stop-motion epic has seemingly had a rapturous reception, landing with glowing reviews and a 100% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes (which has since dropped to 98% thanks to a couple of negative reviews). Metacritic has it at 87. Oscar buzz suggests it's the frontrunner for next year's Best Animated Feature Award; some people are even suggesting it should be in the conversation for Best Picture. But for all that, how has it done in terms of cold, hard cash? Laika had been experiencing diminishing returns, with each subsequent film after Coraline making less money at the box office than the last. Culminating in the nadir that was Missing Link, an indisputable bomb (with a $100 million budget). Would Wildwood be the film to turn it around and make Laika a force to be reckoned with at the box office once again?

It really depends on who you listen to. A lot of the coverage has been extremely positive, proclaiming it a hit. Yet others have called it a flop. Which of these is true? As is so often the case, the answer is probably somewhere in the middle.

Wildwood opened at number three in the US box office chart, which sounds pretty impressive. It's not number one, but a bronze medal is still a podium finish. Where it starts to sound a little less impressive is in the numbers. A $12.3 million opening weekend is not exactly massive. Overseas was even worse, taking just $3 million extra (the majority of which was from the UK). This is absolutely dwarfed by the $159.6 million taken in by Toy Story 5 and the  $131.7 million The Super Mario Galaxy Movie racked up in their first weekends. Both films went on to take well over $400 million domestically and over $1 billion worldwide. It was also beaten by both Forgotten Island ($13 million) and The Cat In The Hat ($20 million) both of which are considered flops.

But to put it in context, it's a lot better than Missing Link's $ 5.94 million. It's just behind the $12.6 million that Kubo And The Two Strings took, behind The Boxtrolls' $17 million, ParaNorman's $14.08 million, and somewhat behind Coraline's opening of $16.8 million. The story was spun that Wildwood made "nearly as much as Kubo" rather than reporting that it was Laika's second-worst opening to date.

But one weekend does not tell the whole story. For the second weekend on release in the States, it managed to hold onto its third-place spot on the chart, taking another $9 million. That's an impressive drop of just 27% week-on-week (it's not unusual to see a 60 or 70% drop, even with major tentpoles). The number of cinemas it played in actually went up, too. It took $7.2 million in week three, dropping to sixth place in the chart, but down just 20%. For one single day, it even managed to climb the chart, becoming the number one movie in America.

In total (at the time of writing), the film has earned $40 million domestically, $9.024 million internationally and a total of $49 million worldwide. It has already surpassed Forgotten Island's $39 million international haul, and the $25 million total that Missing Link took. Kubo And Two Strings' domestic total of $48 million is in sight, but it's still some way off the $77 million that Kubo took in worldwide. The Boxtrolls $111.8 million is even further away, as is ParaNorman's $109.2 million. It seems pretty unlikely that it will even equal Coraline's studio-best total of $116 million ($162.7 million worldwide). If you include re-releases, that number is even higher. It's done a lot better than your average smaller animated film. Oscar winner Flow took just $4.8 million; nominees Little Amelie and Arco took $187,561 and $1 million, respectively.

It seems to have good legs, as strong word of mouth and glowing reviews keep drawing in new audiences. Not to mention all the people coming back for a second or even third watch. It remains to be seen how much longer it sticks around the chart (it could even drop off it entirely in the next couple of weeks). It would be extremely unlikely- although not unheard of- for a film's weekly take to actually increase week-on-week. So, realistically, the trend is likely to be downward.

Wildwood reportedly cost $100 million to make. Will it make its budget back on theatrical alone? It's a long way off right now, and surpassing Coraline is a big ask. If its legs hold, though, outgrossing other previous Laika movies is doable. The film is likely to do well on home video and digital, which should help more towards profitability. Future re-releases are likely too- we could even see it back in cinemas next year if it wins the Oscar.

What exactly is stopping Wildwood from being a Toy Story-level hit? Stop-motion has often struggled at the US box office, with films like Coraline, Chicken Run and The Nightmare Before Christmas being rare exceptions. The idea that the medium is "creepy" is quite commonly held. With that said, Wildwood's animation is so advanced that arguably it's barely recognisable as stop-motion, and could even be mistaken for CGI. The PG-13/12A rating might have hurt it too. Some parents may have stayed away, and it might have put others off. Although the word-of-mouth has been largely positive, there are reports of walk-outs and some have warned that it's "not suitable for kids." This is the first Laika film to be released without backing of a major studio (Focus Features, part of Universal) and is instead released in the US by Fathom Entertainment, who are mainly known for event releases. They may not have quite the same reach. And what about the advertising campaign? It's seemingly been all over social media but the same doesn't seem to be true in the real world. Laika are beloved by animation fans and film buffs but are hardly a household name like Disney and Pixar are with the general population.

So, is it a success or not? The unsatisfying answer is... yeah, sort of (conditionally). Just short of $50 million worldwide is a decent haul- but it's only halfway to even making its budget back. If it keeps chugging along, it could be a real sleeper hit. But reaching that cool hundred mil? Seems unlikely- although I would love to be wrong.

The narrative around Laika portrays them as a scrappy underdog, fighting the good fight for traditional animation in the face of big studios and AI. But in reality, they're not exactly small, even if they're no Walt Disney Animation Studios. No small studio can afford to make a $100 million movie. Other studios would probably be in trouble if they had two $100 million movies back-to-back that underperformed. Laika is different. The studio is backed by chairman and billionaire Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike and father of Laika CEO and Wildwood director Travis Knight. It means that they're not so reliant on box office, at least in the short term. They can actually concentrate on the artistry in films rather than chase a quick buck. A billionaire who actually does something positive for the world- who'd have thunk it?

If Wildwood were to be pulled from cinemas around the world tomorrow, and that $49 million became its final total, Laika would be just fine. Lots of folk online are urging people to support the film to support hand-made art and as a FU to AI. While that's true, and it hopefully sends a message to the industry as a whole, Wildwood doesn't need to be a blockbuster. The film is sure to have a long legacy and captivate audiences for generations to come. It's a future classic, and at the end of the day, the amount of money the film made is going to be the last thing people care about.

Box Office figures via The Numbers.