Nike Billionaire's Billions Keep Laika's $100 Million 'Wildwood' Alive

Laika spent a reported $100 million making 'Wildwood,' a stop-motion film that has grossed roughly $36 million worldwide since its Oct. 23 release. By the industry's rough break-even rule — a film needs about 2.5 times its production budget in ticket sales — the movie sits far from profitability, and theaters keep roughly half of every ticket besides. The studio, privately held, does not report its finances, which makes any claim of commercial health impossible to verify.

The Oregon studio behind 'Coraline' and 'ParaNorman' opened 'Wildwood' in third place with about $12.3 million domestically, per The Numbers. It slipped just 39% over Halloween weekend to an estimated $7.5 million, lifting its domestic total to $25.9 million, according to the Associated Press. It finished third both weekends, behind A24's Elizabeth Holmes documentary 'You Can See Everything' and DC Studios' 'Clayface.'

Why $26 million counts as a rebound

In a market dominated by billion-dollar sequels like 'Toy Story 5' and 'The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,' these are modest numbers. For Laika, they mark a real recovery. Its previous film, 2019's 'Missing Link,' opened to $5.9 million and finished with $16.6 million domestically. 'Wildwood' has already passed that film's entire global run, per Deadline.

The longer trend is less flattering. Domestic grosses have shrunk with nearly every release since 'Coraline' took in $75 million in 2009: 'ParaNorman' earned $56 million in 2012, 'The Boxtrolls' $50.8 million in 2014, and 'Kubo and the Two Strings' $48 million in 2016, according to Cartoon Brew, before 'Missing Link' bottomed out. It is quite possible that only 'Coraline' — buoyed by a blockbuster 2024 rerelease — has ever broken even in theaters. Even the $100 million budget figure is unofficial; Laika has not disclosed it.

For scale: that reported budget exceeds what Illumination spent on 'Minions & Monsters' ($85 million) and what DreamWorks spent on 'Forgotten Island' ($80 million), an acclaimed original that opened to a similar $13 million last month and flopped.

How Nike money built the studio

The fuel keeping Laika's puppets moving is Nike co-founder Phil Knight, Travis Knight's father. Knight took a stake in Laika's predecessor, Will Vinton Studios, in 1998, became majority owner in 2002, and ousted founder Will Vinton the following year — a bitter episode revisited in the documentary 'Claydream.' The studio was renamed Laika in 2005. Forbes pegs the Knight family's wealth at roughly $26 billion.

The studio does not subsidize features with side work. It spun off its commercial division in 2014 to focus exclusively on features, unlike peers such as Aardman Animations. Travis Knight, Laika's president and CEO, directed 'Wildwood' himself and has directed outside the studio — 2018's 'Bumblebee' and this year's 'Masters of the Universe,' which struggled at the box office. He has also sat on Nike's board since 2015.

What does the small distributor buy Laika?

Fathom Entertainment, best known for event cinema and rereleases, is handling 'Wildwood' domestically — it also ran Laika's 2024 'Coraline' anniversary run, Fathom's highest-grossing U.S. release. That arrangement may serve the film creatively. Rated PG-13, a first for Laika, 'Wildwood' carries MPA citations for strong fantasy violence, bloody images and suicide-related material. By contrast, Netflix and Skydance Animation's 'Ray Gunn' and DreamWorks' 'Forgotten Island' both had to make trims this year to secure PG ratings.

The Knight family's wealth is what permits such risks — and likely why Laika remains in Hillsboro, Oregon, near Nike's Beaverton headquarters and more than 800 miles from Hollywood.

Is this the anti-Skydance?

Hollywood nepotism currently has a bigger example: Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison personally guaranteed $40.4 billion to back his son David Ellison's pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery, a deal that closed Oct. 6 and folded Paramount and Warner Bros. into a single company, Skydance. That arrangement draws skepticism; Laika tends to get a pass, perhaps because the Nike money funds something that might not otherwise exist.

Travis Knight began developing 'Wildwood,' an adaptation of Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis' novel, shortly after 'Coraline' and has described its path to the screen as a 16-year journey, with everything onscreen built and moved by hand. As studios race to adopt generative AI, 'Wildwood's' handmade tactility plays like a statement in defense of human artistry.

What's next for Laika?

The company is expanding beyond features. It hired former Netflix executive Matt Levin in 2023 to run a live-action division and is developing its first series, an adaptation of Emily St. John Mandel's 'Exit Party,' with Emma Stone and Dave McCary's Fruit Tree. Its animation slate includes Susanna Clarke's 'Piranesi,' which Travis Knight is set to direct, and 'The Night Gardener,' based on an original idea from 'Ozark' creator Bill Dubuque.

All five of Laika's previous features earned Oscar nominations for Best Animated Feature. With some of the year's best reviews, 'Wildwood' could finally deliver the studio its first win — a prize no box-office math can capture.