LAIKA Animation Studios’ latest stop-motion film “Wildwood” is widely considered a love letter to the city of Portland and turns its real-life streets and woods into a magical mysterious world through a combination of cutting-edge technology and old-school stop-motion animation.
Known for classic animated films like “Coraline,” “ParaNorman,” and “Kubo and the Two Strings,” the studio, helmed by CEO Travis Knight, spent 16 years developing “Wildwood,” an adaptation of the popular young adult fantasy novel written by The Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy and illustrated by artist Carson Ellis.
The movie is LAIKA’s longest to date with a runtime of 2 hours and 12 minutes and is the longest stop-motion animated film ever released.
The story follows young teenagers Prue and Curtis, as they go on a magical journey through the mystical Impassable Wilderness to rescue Prue’s baby brother, Mac, from the clutches of the Dowager Governess Alexandra.
In a still from the movie "Wildwood" from LAIKA Studios, main character Prue shows her brother Mac Portland's iconic Benson bubblers.
Courtesy LAIKA Studios
To bring the city of Portland and its surrounding forests to the big screen, members of the production team took real life landmarks like Powell’s City of Books, the St. Johns Bridge and Voodoo Doughnuts and meticulously recreated them as large scale sets, some reaching as high as 15 feet.
Director of Rapid Prototype Brian McLean worked on “Wildwood” since 2020. He believes that what makes the sets so unique is the care that the studio’s art department took in replicating elements of the city, right down to the intricate details, like the iconic Benson Bubblers, or the marquee sign over Powell’s Books.
“These things are not exactly replicas of what lives in real life Portland, but they’re pretty dang close and they’re all sort of stylized to live within the world that we’ve created,” he said. “So, there are Portland landmarks, but they’re Portland landmarks seen through the eyes of ‘Wildwood.’”
In an age where CGI animated films have become the standard, LAIKA’s steadfast dedication to stop-motion animation, particularly their use of the replacement animation technique, continues to set them apart from other major studios.
Replacement animation is a technique where instead of manipulating one puppet, the animator will swap out a part of that puppet to change its expression or movement.
“Our idea was to take this age-old technique of replacement animation and infuse it with 21st century 3D printing technology,” McLean said.
In a still from the movie "Wildwood" from LAIKA Studios, main character Prue pedals her bike down Portland's historic Tom McCall Waterfront Park while cherry blossoms are in bloom.
Courtesy LAIKA Studios
In 2016, LAIKA received a Scientific and Engineering Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for their pioneering work in rapid 3D printing for character animation.
In 2017, OPB’s Oregon Art Beat featured LAIKA as part of its animation special, “Animation Magic.”
For every second of film, there are 24 frames that need to be animated. This means that, to bring the characters to life, animators need to have at least 24 different facial expressions for every second that they appear onscreen.
In a still from the movie "Wildwood" from LAIKA Studios, main character Prue pedals her bike down a Portland street.
Courtesy LAIKA Studios
This also means that animators create roughly 3 seconds of the footage every week, said McLean. But for him, that’s where the movie magic happens.
“We are taking these inanimate objects and these tiny little sets and these tiny little puppets and we’re breathing life into them one frame at a time,” McLean said.
“Wildwood” opened in theaters on Oct. 23, 2026 and has earned about $32 million as of Friday at the domestic box office.
