Laika's 'Wildwood' Took 16 Years to Make, Director Says

Laika's stop-motion fantasy epic "Wildwood" took 16 years to make, director Travis Knight told the audience at the film's world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on Sunday. Production alone started in 2021, in the midst of COVID, but development began roughly a decade earlier, when Laika optioned the book by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis.

Speaking on stage at the Royal Festival Hall alongside voice stars Carey Mulligan, Peyton Elizabeth Lee and Jacob Tremblay, Knight framed the length of the project in historical terms.

"This movie took us 16 years to make," Knight said. "When we started Barack Obama was a fresh-faced president in his very first term. I could have become a medical doctor twice in the time it took us to make this movie. A child who was born when we started this could have driven me to the premiere."

How was the film actually made?

Stop-motion animation is a notoriously time-consuming method. Most features take several years of painstakingly detailed work by vast teams of creatives. Knight walked the London audience through the mechanics of the technique.

"Basically we build thousands and thousands of this tiny little objects, we put them in front of a camera and set lights and we take a picture, we move them a microscopic distance, we take another picture, we move them another microscopic distance, we take another picture," he said. "And we repeat that process over and over until either the film emerges or society collapses."

Knight had previously acknowledged that "Wildwood" was the most ambitious project Laika had ever attempted.

What comes next for the film?

Following its premiere, "Wildwood" is due for release on Oct. 23, distributed by Fathom Entertainment in the U.S. and by Black Bear in the U.K. The film marks a first for the Portland-based studio: it is Laika's first feature to receive a PG-13 rating.

The BFI London Film Festival, where "Wildwood" debuted, runs until Oct. 17.

The 16-year timeline and the PG-13 rating signal where Laika is heading: toward riskier, more mature territory in a medium that studios have traditionally kept family-friendly.