The box office trajectory of
LAIKA Studio’s latest film WILDWOOD is
promising in many respects. The film
opened to a better-than-expected $12.7 million followed by a strong $7.5 million hold in its second
weekend, a trend for LAIKA’s films.
However, the film carries the burden of a gigantic $100 million production
budget which makes profitability almost certainly out of reach. WILDWOOD would need to gross $250 million in
its theatrical run to break even, a figure it is unlikely to reach. However, profitability may not be the primary
objective for a studio owned by a billionaire.
LAIKA Studio is owned by
Nike Co-Founder Phil Knight, one of the richest men in the world. Phil’s son Travis Knight is LAIKA’s CEO, who
is open about the fact that LAIKA’s films rarely achieve profitability. At WILDWOOD’s premiere, Knight joked about
their lack of profitability, comparing his “addiction” to the studio’s
signature style of stop-motion animation to that of someone with a drug
problem. Said Knight, “Frankly, the
similarities are striking. The obsessive behavior, the financial ruin, the
strain on our loved ones, the repeated promises that this is the last time.”
Despite their financial
struggles, LAIKA’s films have been praised consistently by movie critics. All five of LAIKA’s feature films to-date have
received Oscar nominations in their years for Best Animated film, and WILDWOOD
is well positioned to make it six. LAIKA’s
films are almost universally praised for their unique approach to stop motion
animation, which is laborious time-consuming and therefore expensive. WIDLWOOD took 16 years to make using
an animation staff of over 400 contributors.
This results in a one-of-a-kind creation with an astronomical budget,
especially for an original film. While
a similar project would
struggle to be greenlit by any other studio, Knight’s fortune allows
LAIKA to take financial risks in the pursuit of artistic greatness.
We suggest you go see
it, with a 99% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and 97% from audiences,
one of the highest scores for any movie this year.
