Angela Bassett’s New Fantasy Epic Crushes All-Time Box Office Record

Published Nov 13, 2026, 12:44 PM EST Brennan Klein (he/him) is a senior news writer at Screen Rant, host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, and contributor at Alternate Ending and Horror Press. He has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror movies) for over a decade at platforms including Blumhouse, Fangoria, Dread Central, The Backlot, and Arrow in the Head. Wildwood is exploring uncharted territory at the box office. Laika's new stop-motion animated fantasy movie, which was directed by Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings), is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis that follows Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) trying to rescue her little brother when he is kidnapped by crows and taken to a magical world in the woods outside Portland. The star-studded voice cast of 2026's Wildwood also includes Angela Bassett, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Richard E. Grant, Charlie Day, Blythe Danner, Amandla Stenberg, Awkwafina, Tom Waits, Maya Erskine, Jake Johnson, Jemaine Clement, and Mahershala Ali. Fathom Entertainment, the company that distributed Wildwood in theaters, has officially announced that the Laika movie passed the $60 million milestone worldwide by the end of Tuesday. Its cumulative gross comprises $41.86 million from domestic theaters and an additional $19.06 million from international territories, bringing its global total to $60.92 million. The release is by far Fathom's biggest ever theatrical feature at the domestic box office, beating their previous record holder, which was the Phil Robertson biopic The Blind ($17.3 million domestic). The release has also managed to outperform one of its rival 2026 animated movies. While it can't compete with the domestic grosses of mega-hits like The Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($429.8 million) and Toy Story 5 ($480.3 million), which are respectively the fourth and third highest-grossing movies of the year so far in North America, Wildwood has managed to surpass the total domestic gross of DreamWorks' Forgotten Island, which earned $37.6 million. Fathom also reports that the movie, which has matching 97% scores from both critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, is continuing to track ahead of their 2016 title Kubo and the Two Strings at the same point in its run. Kubo ultimately made $48 million at the domestic box office and $76.2 million, indicating that Wildwood could potentially draw much nearer to the $100 million global milestone by the end of its run, potentially even becoming Laika's first movie to hit that milestone in 12 years. Laika's Box Office Performance Title Worldwide Box Office Coraline (2009) $127 million ParaNorman (2012) $107.1 million The BoxTrolls (2014) $108.2 million Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) $76.2 million Missing Link (2019) $26.6 million Wildwood (2026) TBD Ultimately, it seems like Wildwood is a return to form for the studio, which experienced significant diminishing returns with their most recent movie, the 2019 Bigfoot adventure comedy Missing Link. That movie was blown out of the water by the rival Bigfoot movie Smallfoot, a CG-animated project which debuted the year prior and grossed $214 million worldwide. However, being a return to form doesn't mean that Wildwood is set to be a hit. The stop-motion movie had an expensive 16-year production process that reportedly cost Laika $100 million. While Fathom Entertainment could very well be turning a profit on their acquisition and distribution costs, the movie may need to earn as much as $250 million in order to make up for that budget and its publicity campaign. It is ultimately highly unlikely to reach that benchmark by the end of its theatrical run, even though it is performing well by Laika's recent standards. Enjoy ScreenRant's box office coverage? Click below to sign up for my weekly box office newsletter (make sure to check "Box Office" in your preferences) and get exclusive analysis, predictions, and more: Sign Up 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)