Wildwood

Wildwood is LAIKA's sixth and most ambitious stop-motion animated feature, based on the bestselling 2011 novel by Colin Meloy (lead singer of Portland-based The Decemberists) and illustrated by Carson Ellis. The film follows Prue McKeel (voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee), a young Portland girl who must journey into the Impassable Wilderness -- a mysterious, magical forest on the city's outskirts -- to rescue her baby brother after he's snatched by a murder of crows. Director Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings, Bumblebee) and writer Chris Butler (ParaNorman, Missing Link) lead the production at LAIKA's facility in Hillsboro, Oregon, with legendary cinematographer Caleb Deschanel behind the camera. The film began production in September 2021 and represents a massive technical leap for the studio: more unique puppet faces than Missing Link (which had 106,000), 120 sets -- double the number built for Kubo and the Two Strings -- and innovative new techniques that push stop-motion animation into uncharted territory. Knight has described it as the project LAIKA has been building toward since the studio's founding. The voice cast is stacked: Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Awkwafina, Angela Bassett, Jake Johnson, Charlie Day, Amandla Stenberg, Jemaine Clement, Maya Erskine, Tantoo Cardinal, Tom Waits, and Richard E. Grant. Wildwood is notably the first LAIKA film set in its hometown of Portland, Oregon, and is scheduled for theatrical release on October 23, 2026, distributed by Fathom Entertainment.