2026 Fantasy Movie With Near-Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score Officially Sets New Release

Published Nov 7, 2026, 1:29 PM EST Matthew Rudoy is one of ScreenRant's Movie & TV News Editors. He covers the latest in movie & TV news, with a focus on major franchises like Star Wars, The Boys, and Game of Thrones, and also writes some features and reviews. He wrote lists for ScreenRant from 2017-2022, became a news writer in 2023, a senior staff writer in 2024, and an editor in 2025. A new Wildwood release is coming. Laika's new stop-motion animated fantasy movie has received universal acclaim, as per the near-perfect and "Certified Fresh" 98% critics' score and "Verified Hot" 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Based on the 2011 Wildwood novel written by Colin Meloy and illustrated by Carson Ellis, it tells the story of Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee), a teenager from Portland, Oregon who ventures into a magical land to save her baby brother, Mac (Arthur Knight), after he is kidnapped by crows. As confirmed by the listing on Amazon, Wildwood will be released as a limited-edition Ultra HD 4K Steelbook. It is available for pre-order, with the Steelbook distributed by Shout! Studios containing both a 4K UHD and Blu-ray disc. A release date has not been revealed yet. While the movie was made on a reported budget of $100 million, and has only made $58.7 million worldwide as of this writing, Laika has a different financial model than most studios. This is largely due to being owned by Nike co-founder Phil Knight and because of how the studio's beloved movies continue to make money for years to come after the theatrical release through various licensing, merchandising, physical media, and theatrical re-releases, the last of which have been particularly lucrative for Coraline. This makes the Wildwood 4K Steelbook all the more important, as it is a significant way for the movie to generate more revenue even after it leaves theaters. No behind-the-scenes features are listed on Amazon, but given that it is a common element of these physical media releases, and given all the praise for the stunning stop-motion animation, they will likely be part of the 4K Steelbook as well. In ScreenRant's Wildwood review, Liz Declan gave the movie 10 out of 10 stars and wrote that the movie is "at once beautiful and horrifying, heartwarming and gut-wrenching, hopeful and crushing. Neither the narrative nor the animation hold back in any one of these areas to make the others work." Choose the movie with the higher Rotten Tomatoes score. Along with Prue and Mac, two of the other most important characters in the narrative are Curtis Mehlberg (Jacob Tremblay), a classmate who joins Prue on her journey, and Alexandra (Carey Mulligan), the former dowager governess who has marshaled an army of coyotes and set a sinister plan in motion after years spent in exile. In the land known as the Impassable Wilderness to outsiders and as Wildwood to those who live within, there are many factions commanded by leaders other than Alexandra, including the Bandit King Brendan (Mahershala Ali), the Crown Prince of the Avian Principality, Owl Rex (Richard E. Grant), the Governor Regent of South Wood, Lars Svik (Marc Evan Jackson), and the mystic Iphigenia (Tantoo Cardinal) of North Wood. Amid the political conflict and Alexandra's terrifying plan, all factions are under threat, and Prue and Curtis find themselves thrust into the middle of it all. Wildwood was directed by Travis Knight, who is also the president and CEO of Laika, and written by Chris Butler. With the rights acquired in 2010, a year before the novel was published, the adaptation spent 16 years in various stages of development, production, and post-production before releasing in theaters this year on October 23. Wildwood is now playing in theaters. Release Date October 23, 2026 Runtime 132 Minutes Director Travis Knight Writers Chris Butler Producers Travis Knight, Arianne Sutner, Samuel Wilson Cast Peyton Elizabeth Lee Prue McKeel (voice) Jacob Tremblay Curtis Mehlberg (voice)