The anti-Skydance: How a Nike billionaire’s backing lets Laika spend a reported $100 million on ‘Wildwood’

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........

© Fortune