At a certain point, LAIKA’s animation became its own genre marker: handcrafted, haunted, meticulous, and built with the kind of tactile ambition that can make even a fairy tale feel lived-in. After “Coraline,” “ParaNorman,” “The Boxtrolls,” “Kubo and the Two Strings,” and “Missing Link,” the studio is finally ready to unveil “Wildwood,” its long-in-the-works stop-motion fantasy epic.
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The teaser trailer has arrived for LAIKA’s new feature, directed and produced by Travis Knight (“Kubo and the Two Strings,” “Bumblebee”) and written by Chris Butler (“ParaNorman,” “Missing Link”). The film is adapted from the “Wildwood” books by Colin Meloy, frontman of The Decemberists, and illustrator Carson Ellis, and will open in theaters nationwide on October 23, 2026. LAIKA has partnered with Fathom Entertainment for the film’s U.S. theatrical release and FilmNation Entertainment for international sales.
The story follows Prue McKeel, a headstrong teenager whose baby brother is abducted by a murder of crows, sending her into the Impassable Wilderness, an enchanted forest hidden just beyond Portland, Oregon. Joined by Curtis Mehlberg, her loyal classmate, Prue enters a world of talking animals, bandits, and powerful figures whose grief and ambition have helped push the forest toward crisis.
The voice cast is led by Peyton Elizabeth Lee (“Doogie Kameāloha, M.D.”) and Jacob Tremblay (“Room”), with Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”), Richard E. Grant (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”), Awkwafina (“The Farewell”), Amandla Stenberg (“The Acolyte”), Tom Waits (“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”), Charlie Day (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”), Blythe Danner (“Meet the Parents”), Maya Erskine (“Mr. & Mrs. Smith”), Jake Johnson (“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”), Tantoo Cardinal (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Rob Delaney (“Deadpool 2”), Jemaine Clement (“What We Do in the Shadows”), Marc Evan Jackson (“The Good Place”), Len Cariou (“Blue Bloods”), Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (“The Tourist”), Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”), and Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”).
For Knight, “Wildwood” also marks a return to feature animation after directing “Kubo and the Two Strings” and the live-action “Bumblebee.” LAIKA has described the film as a sweeping handcrafted adventure, and earlier reporting on the production has pointed to a major scale-up for the studio, including 136 sets and 231 practical puppets.
“Wildwood” opens in theaters nationwide on October 23, 2026. Watch the teaser below.
