Would you look at that. Laika's "Wildwood" was the top film in North America on Tuesday, pulling in $2M and edging past everything else in theaters. It's also a slight bump from last Tuesday's number, which almost rarely happens for a film in its second week.
That $2M figure for “Wildwood” bests “Clayface” ($1.9M) and “You Can See Everything” ($1.8M). Will it hold up into the weekend? That would be quite something if it does. Meanwhile, is still in the million-dollar club with a $1.1M Tuesday.
Remember, studios: quality matters. Reviews matter (right, Taika?). This kind of climb to the top doesn't happen without people actually telling their friends to go see it.
The film opened to a $12M weekend against what Variety reported is an estimated $100M budget. It landed in only third place, and the "Laika can't sell tickets" takes came fast. That's the old story with this studio. Then, in its second weekend, the drop was minimal: $9M, a dip of only 25%.
This film might have legs. Travis Knight's stop-motion epic is a rare animated film with a PG-13 rating and a 130-minute runtime, an original slowly finding its audience instead of collapsing under its hefty budget.
Of course, the Best Animated Feature chatter has already started. It's the Oscar frontrunner, and I really can't see another film beating it this year. Its closest competitor seems to be "Toy Story 5," from a franchise that has already won three animated Oscars, so "Wildwood" will have the edge as the fresher choice.
Hey, this is how it's supposed to work. You want studios to keep taking big swings on original, handmade animation? Then show up. Audiences finally are. Let's see if it holds into the weekend, which I bet it will. It certainly won't make its money back, but Laika is bankrolled by Nike co-founder Phil Knight, Travis's father, so this passion project was funded with sneaker money, and nobody will be losing sleep over its losses.
Side note: What did I think of the film? I previously wrote that it’s not perfect. It starts off slow. It hits a lull here and there, and the long runtime isn't altogether necessary. The first hour takes its time getting the pieces on the board, but stick with it. The second half is where "Wildwood" really comes alive in eye-popping fashion, building to a roughly half-hour battle sequence that's astounding for animation.
"Wildwood" was the top film on Tuesday, pulling in $2M and edging past everything else in theaters. It's also a slight bump from last Tuesday's number, which almost rarely happens for a film in its second week.