Laika, the Oregon studio behind Coraline and ParaNorman, has something close to a hit on its hands, at least by its own standards. Wildwood, the company’s sixth feature and, like all of its films, made entirely in stop-motion animation, opened in third place on Oct. 23 with roughly $12.3 million at the domestic box office. Directed by Laika president and CEO Travis Knight, the film held up over Halloween weekend, slipping just 39% to an estimated $7.5 million and lifting its domestic total to $25.9 million, according to the Associated Press. It again finished third, behind A24’s Elizabeth Holmes documentary You Can See Everything and DC Studios’ Clayface.
In an animated landscape dominated by billion-dollar sequels like Toy Story 5 and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, those are modest numbers. For Laika, they’re a meaningful rebound. Its previous film, 2019’s Missing Link, opened to just $5.9 million and finished with $16.6 million domestically. Wildwood has already passed that film’s entire global run, reaching nearly $36 million worldwide as it rolls out across dozens of international markets, per Deadline.
Still, the film is a long way from profitable. Laika hasn’t disclosed Wildwood’s budget, but it has been widely reported at about $100 million, more than Illumination spent on Minions & Monsters ($85 million) or DreamWorks spent on Forgotten Island ($80 million), an acclaimed original that opened to a similar $13 million last month.
Laika’s track record makes the math harder. Its domestic grosses have shrunk with nearly every release since Coraline took in $75 million in 2009: ParaNorman earned $56 million in 2012, The Boxtrolls $50.8 million in 2014, and Kubo and the Two Strings $48 million in 2016, according to Cartoon Brew, before Missing Link bottomed out at $16.6 million. International ticket sales and home entertainment help, but theaters typically keep around half of every ticket sold, and production budgets don’t include marketing costs. By the common industry rule of thumb that a film needs to gross about 2.5 times its production budget to break even in theaters, it’s quite possible that only Coraline, buoyed by a blockbuster 2024 rerelease, has cleared that bar. Laika is privately held and doesn’t report its finances.
How Nike money built a stop-motion studio
So how does Laika keep going? Not through side work: The studio spun off its commercial division in 2014 to focus exclusively on features, unlike peers such as Aardman Animations that still take on advertising work. Travis Knight has also directed outside the studio, including 2018’s Bumblebee and this year’s Masters of the Universe, which struggled at the box office. The real fuel keeping Laika’s puppets moving, one frame at a time, is his father: Nike co-founder Phil Knight.
Phil Knight took a stake in Laika’s predecessor, Will Vinton Studios, in 1998, around the time Travis joined the company as an animator. Knight became majority owner in 2002, and founder Will Vinton was ousted the following year, a bitter episode revisited in the documentary Claydream. The studio was renamed Laika in 2005. It brought on The Nightmare Before Christmas director Henry Selick, who directed Coraline, based on Neil Gaiman’s novella.
Laika’s first four films were distributed by Focus Features before United Artists Releasing put out Missing Link. Fathom Entertainment, a smaller distributor best known for event cinema and rereleases, is releasing Wildwood domestically, including Laika’s 2024 Coraline anniversary run, which became Fathom’s highest-grossing release in the U.S.
A small distributor and big creative leeway
That arrangement may serve the film creatively. Rated PG-13, a first for Laika, Wildwood is no breezy family outing; the MPA cites strong fantasy violence, bloody images, and suicide-related material, among other content. By contrast, Netflix and Skydance Animation’s Ray Gunn and DreamWorks’ Forgotten Island had to make trims this year to land PG ratings.
The Knight family’s wealth, roughly $26 billion by Forbes’ real-time estimate, is what lets Laika take creative and business risks like these. It’s probably also why Laika remains in Hillsboro, Oregon, in the same Portland suburbs as Nike’s Beaverton-area headquarters and more than 800 miles from Hollywood. Travis Knight, for his part, has also served on Nike’s board since 2015.
The anti-Skydance
By definition, Phil Knight bankrolling his son’s studio could fall under the heading of nepotism, a loaded word but a common practice in Hollywood. The most prominent current example is Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people, who personally guaranteed $40.4 billion to back his son David Ellison’s pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery. That deal closed Oct. 6, folding Paramount and Warner Bros. into a single company now called Skydance.
Arrangements like that usually draw skepticism, but Laika tends to get a pass, perhaps because the Nike money is funding something that might not otherwise exist. Stop-motion is a painstaking and increasingly rare art form. Travis Knight began developing Wildwood, an adaptation of Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis’ novel, shortly after Coraline, and has described its road to the screen as a 16-year journey, with everything onscreen built and moved by hand. Economically, the medium rarely makes sense. Stable backing gives Laika the rare privilege of creating with less financial pressure.
By comparison, Skydance is now a media colossus whose future rests on franchise blockbusters and technology. Laika is telling original stories while keeping a distinctly human form of filmmaking alive. As studios race to adopt generative AI, Wildwood’s handmade tactility plays like a statement in defense of human artistry.
What’s next for Laika
The company is branching out. It hired former Netflix executive Matt Levin in 2023 to run a live-action division, and it is developing its first series, an adaptation of Emily St. John Mandel’s novel Exit Party, with Emma Stone and Dave McCary’s Fruit Tree. Its animation slate includes an adaptation of Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi, which Travis Knight is set to direct, and The Night Gardener, based on an original idea from Ozark creator Bill Dubuque.
Box office aside, all five of Laika’s previous features earned Oscar nominations for Best Animated Feature. With some of the year’s best reviews, Wildwood could finally win the studio its first.
Laika, the Oregon-based animation studio known for its distinct stop-motion films like Coraline and ParaNorman, has encountered a noteworthy success with its sixth feature, Wildwood. Directed by Laika’s president and CEO, Travis Knight, the film opened on October 23 and grossed approximately $12.3 million in its debut, securing third place at the domestic box office. Its performance over the Halloween weekend proved resilient, with a 39% drop that brought its total domestic earnings to $25.9 million. This positions Wildwood favorably against its immediate predecessors, as its global earnings have already approached $36 million, surpassing the total run of Missing Link, which grossed $16.6 million domestically in 2019.
Despite these promising figures by Laika’s standards, the financial outlook remains challenging. Although the exact budget for Wildwood has not been disclosed, estimates suggest it was around $100 million, exceeding the budgets of other recent animated films such as Illumination’s Minions & Monsters and DreamWorks’ Forgotten Island. Given the general industry guideline that films must gross about 2.5 times their production budget to break even, Wildwood has a considerable way to go to achieve profitability. Laika’s financial trajectory has been declining since the success of Coraline, which grossed $75 million in 2009, with subsequent films earning progressively less.
Laika’s ability to sustain operations amid these financial challenges largely stems from the backing of its founder’s wealth. Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike, took control of the studio in 2002. His financial support has allowed Laika to focus exclusively on feature films since spinning off its commercial division in 2014, distinguishing it from other animation studios that continue to pursue advertising work. The studio’s unique approach has also been supported by its choice of distribution; Wildwood is being released by Fathom Entertainment, a smaller distributor that specializes in event cinema.
Wildwood marks a departure for Laika in terms of content, being the studio’s first film rated PG-13. This rating reflects its darker themes, including strong fantasy violence and suicide-related material, diverging from the more family-friendly offerings typical of animated films. The creative freedom afforded to Laika by Knight’s financial support enables it to take risks that may not be viable for other studios, particularly in a landscape increasingly dominated by high-budget sequels.
Furthermore, Laika is forging ahead with new projects beyond traditional animation. In 2023, the studio appointed former Netflix executive Matt Levin to lead a newly established live-action division and is developing its first series, an adaptation of Emily St. John Mandel’s Exit Party. Upcoming animation projects include adaptations of Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi and an original idea titled The Night Gardener from Ozark creator Bill Dubuque.
Laika’s commitment to stop-motion animation, a labor-intensive and increasingly rare art form, stands in contrast to the industry’s growing reliance on technology such as generative AI. While studios pursue franchise blockbusters, Laika continues to champion original storytelling and handcrafted artistry, elevating its place in the animation landscape. All five of Laika’s previous films have received Oscar nominations for Best Animated Feature, and Wildwood has garnered some of the year’s best reviews, positioning it as a strong contender for future accolades.
In summary, while Wildwood may not reach blockbuster status compared to major animated franchises, it represents a significant rebound for Laika. The studio’s unique approach, powered by financial backing, creative freedom, and a dedication to preserving the artistry of stop-motion animation, allows it to carve out its niche in a competitive industry that often prioritizes commercial viability over artistic expression.
