The highly anticipated stop-motion animated feature “Wildwood” is officially rated PG-13. According to World of Reel, the Motion Picture Association has given it this rating for “strong fantasy violence/bloody images, thematic material, suicide related material, brief partial nudity and language”.
“Wildwood” is directed by Travis Knight, the LAIKA CEO and BAFTA winning filmmaker behind “Kubo and the Two Strings” (and live-action flicks “Bumblebee” and this year’s “Masters of the Universe”). This is the sixth feature for LAIKA, a studio that has had all five of its previous movies nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar — “Coraline”, “ParaNorman”, “The Boxtrolls”, “Kubo” and “Missing Link”. (LAIKA also did contract work for Oscar nominated “Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride”.)
The first four LAIKA films, released from 2009 to 2016, were distributed by Focus Features, with each ranging from $48 million to $75 million at the North America box office. Annapurna distributed 2019’s “Missing Link”, which only managed $17 million domestically. For “Wildwood”, the distributor is Fathom Entertainment (formerly known as Fathom Events), which has recently expanded beyond theatrical re-releases of classics, live sporting events and opera performances to include new movies. “Wildwood” is arguably their biggest release yet, opening nationwide on October 23rd.
For animation fans, the first new LAIKA movie in more than seven years makes “Wildwood” one of the most eagerly awaited films of the rest of 2026. The reported 140-minute runtime is rare for a North America animation studio — and makes the film even more intriguing. The PG-13 rating reflects a more adult story and serious tone. Could LAIKA finally beat Disney and Pixar (the studio has lost to them all five times) and win the Best Animated Feature Academy Award with “Wildwood”? It will probably not attract as many families as previous LAIKA films, but should still perform well at the box office… and could quickly become a critical and audience darling.