Stop-motion animation is widely recognized across the entertainment industry as a notoriously time-consuming and labor-intensive method to make a motion picture. Most feature-length projects produced through this painstaking medium take several years of meticulous, highly detailed work carried out by vast, highly specialized teams of artists, model makers, animators, and technical creatives.
Yet, very few cinematic endeavors in the history of the craft have likely taken as long to bring to the silver screen as Laika’s sweeping fantasy epic “Wildwood.” The highly anticipated film finally had its long-awaited world premiere at the prestigious BFI London Film Festival on a Sunday, drawing significant attention from animation enthusiasts, industry professionals, and critics alike.
Speaking on stage at the high-profile premiere alongside prominent voice cast members Carey Mulligan, Peyton Elizabeth Lee, and Jacob Tremblay, director Travis Knight took the opportunity to explain the intricate, often grueling stop-motion process to an enraptured audience gathered at the historic Royal Festival Hall.
Knight offered a vivid, characteristic description of the day-to-day realities involved in producing a feature-length stop-motion animated film at the highest level of craftsmanship. He detailed how the production team physically constructs thousands upon thousands of tiny, intricate objects and miniature sets, places them carefully in front of specialized camera equipment, sets complex lighting setups, and then captures a single frame. From there, animators move the physical puppets and environmental elements a microscopic distance before capturing another frame, repeating this meticulous sequence endlessly.
Describing the sheer scale of the undertaking with a touch of characteristic humor, Knight noted that the team repeats that painstaking process over and over until either the finished film finally emerges or society itself collapses under the weight of the endeavor.
For “Wildwood,” which Knight had previously acknowledged in various interviews and industry panels was the most ambitious creative undertaking Laika had ever attempted in its storied history, physical production officially began in 2021 right in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic. However, the foundational development of the project had actually begun some ten full years earlier, when the acclaimed independent animation studio first optioned the captivating fantasy novel of the same name written by Colin Meloy and illustrated by Carson Ellis.
Elaborating on the extraordinary timeline of the production during the festival event, Knight revealed the staggering duration required to bring the intricate world of the story to life. He explained that the movie ultimately took sixteen years to make from its initial inception to its completed state. Putting that timeline into perspective for the audience, Knight pointed out that when the studio first began working on the project, Barack Obama was a fresh-faced president serving his very first term in office. He wryly added that he could have successfully gone to medical school and become a qualified medical doctor twice in the exact same span of time that it took his team to craft the movie, noting further that a child who was born when the journey began would have been old enough to legally drive him to the London premiere.
The world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival, which runs through October 17, marks a major milestone for the studio before the film transitions to its broader theatrical and commercial rollout. Following its festival debut, “Wildwood” is scheduled to be released on October 23, with distribution handled by Fathom Entertainment in the United States and by Black Bear in the United Kingdom. Additionally, the release carries a notable distinction for the studio, as “Wildwood” marks the very first feature film produced by Laika to receive a PG-13 rating from the Motion Picture Association, signaling a slightly more mature narrative tone and thematic depth for the studio’s celebrated library of stop-motion masterpieces.
