Laika Studios spent sixteen years bringing the animated feature film Wildwood to the screen.
The stop-motion fantasy premiered on October 11 at the BFI London Film Festival, where it secured a rare 100 percent critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Adapted from the 2011 novel by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis, the story follows thirteen-year-old Prue and her classmate Curtis as they enter the wilds of Portland to rescue her kidnapped baby brother from a flock of crows.
Prue discovers her sibling is a vital piece in an imminent forest war, leading the characters through themes of loss, vengeance, and adult-accessible humor.
“It took us 16 years to make Wildwood,” Travis Knight told Variety at the world premiere on October 11.
Knight and his brother Phil Knight founded the United States-based animation studio, utilizing family resources from their father William Knight, co-founder of Nike, to fund the labor-intensive stop-motion process. Stop-motion animation captures individual frames and combines them to create the illusion of movement, making it one of the most expensive and time-consuming filmmaking techniques.
Reviewers have praised the scale and emotional depth of the production. Flickering Myth called the film the peak of Laika’s twenty-year career, while The Hollywood Reporter labeled it a masterpiece. Screen Rant described the project as both magnificent and terrifying, touching and heartbreaking.
A contender for the 2027 Oscars
Industry prognosticators position Wildwood as a frontrunner for the best animated feature award at the 2027 Oscars, surpassing competing studio titles.
The two-hour runtime condenses an epic narrative scope that reviewers compare to The Lord of the Rings, featuring Oregon landscapes reminiscent of Life is Strange and fantastical elements akin to Spirited Away. Amid ongoing industry debates regarding artificial intelligence in creative fields, the production stands as an example of human-driven imagination.
Production timelines spanned significant real-world changes, according to the director.
“When we started the project, Barack Obama had just been elected young president for his first term,” Knight told Variety. “During the filming of this film, I even managed to finish my medical studies twice. A child born the day we started the project is now old enough to drive me to the premiere.”