# Dear Oscars: Don’t Let Laika and ‘Wildwood’ Fail. There Is No Backup Stop-Motion Studio Waiting in the Wings

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/dear-oscars-dont-let-laika-and-wildwood-fail-there-is-no-backup-stop-motion-studio-waiting-in-the-wings/
- Published: 2026-11-05T21:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-05T21:25:36+00:00
- Original publisher: Variety
- Original article: https://variety.com/2026/film/columns/wildwood-laika-oscars-stop-motion-box-office-1236938792/
- Topics: Entertainment, Film

## Key points

- “Wildwood” has earned $35 million worldwide against a reported $100 million budget.
- Laika is the only American studio investing at this scale in stop-motion.
- The article urges audiences and Oscar voters to support the art form.

## Summary

Laika’s stop-motion film “Wildwood” has performed poorly at the box office despite strong audience and critic ratings, raising concerns about the future of an expensive, labour-intensive art form. The article argues that Oscar voters could help keep stop-motion visible by recognising the film, while audiences can support it by buying tickets.

“Wildwood” opened to $12.2 million in North America and has reached $25 million domestically and $35 million worldwide, against a reported $100 million budget. Laika built 231 puppets and 136 sets for the film; it is now the only American studio investing at this scale in stop-motion, as Tippett Studio prepares to close. Laika’s previous feature, “Missing Link”, earned $17 million domestically in 2019, and “Wildwood” is the studio’s fifth film to receive an Oscar nomination for animated feature eligibility.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.