Wildwood movie: why it's PG-13 and where to watch
Wildwood movie guide for families: why Laika's stop-motion film is PG-13 and 12A, how long it runs, where it's showing and whether it is streaming yet.
Why it matters
Parents deciding whether to take younger children get the official reasons behind both ratings, plus the running time and where the film can actually be seen.
Laika’s Wildwood is the first film in the stop-motion studio’s two-decade history to carry a PG-13 rating. The Wildwood movie opened in US and UK cinemas on 23 October 2026, is rated 12A in Britain, runs a little over two hours and has no streaming date yet.
Quick answer: Wildwood is rated PG-13 in the US for “strong fantasy violence/bloody images, thematic material, suicide related material, brief partial nudity and language.” The UK’s BBFC rated it 12A. It is showing only in cinemas, and no streaming or digital release has been announced.
The film, directed by Laika chief executive Travis Knight, adapts Colin Meloy’s 2011 children’s novel about Prue, a girl who goes into a forbidden forest outside Portland, Oregon, to rescue her baby brother. The book was written for middle-grade readers. The film is aimed higher, and the ratings boards in both countries say so plainly.
Why is Wildwood rated PG-13?
The Motion Picture Association (MPA), which rates films for US cinemas, gave Wildwood a PG-13 for five reasons. The full wording, reported by Dark Horizons and Slashfilm in late August, lists strong fantasy violence and bloody images, thematic material, suicide-related material, brief partial nudity, and language.
PG-13 is the MPA’s “parents strongly cautioned” grade. It warns that some material may not suit children under 13, but it does not stop younger children from buying a ticket.
Every earlier Laika feature, from Coraline in 2009 to Missing Link in 2019, was rated PG. Slashfilm reported that the film’s official website itself flagged Wildwood as the studio’s first PG-13.
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) gives parents more detail than the MPA does. Its published advice for Wildwood describes long, intense battle scenes in which characters are shot, stabbed and set on fire, including a beheading. It also notes that an infant is kidnapped and threatened with a knife, that there are frequent chases and jump scares, and that a childlike fantasy character jumps from a height and is shown lying on the ground afterward, without bloody detail. The strongest language is “son of a bitch.”
TheWrap, reviewing the opening weekend, put the rating down to several death scenes and a violent final battle.
What does the UK 12A rating mean for families?
The BBFC classified Wildwood 12A on 15 October 2026, with the short warning “moderate violence, injury detail, threat, language, upsetting scenes.” A 12A means children under 12 can watch it in a cinema only with an adult. There is no lower age limit if an adult goes along, so the decision rests with the parent.
| Country | Rating | Who it is for | Main concerns listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | PG-13 (MPA) | Parents strongly cautioned for under-13s | Fantasy violence, bloody images, suicide-related material, partial nudity, language |
| United Kingdom | 12A (BBFC) | Under-12s only with an adult | Moderate violence, injury detail, threat, language, upsetting scenes |
Source: BBFC, 15 Oct 2026; Slashfilm and Dark Horizons, 30 and 31 Aug 2026.
For a parent weighing it up, the BBFC notes are the most useful single guide. The violence is sustained rather than a single shock, and the opening act deals with a child in danger.
How long is Wildwood?
The answer depends on whose clock you trust. The BBFC, which times the exact cut it classifies, lists the cinema version at 130 minutes and 31 seconds, or about 2 hours 11 minutes.
US cinema listings run longer. Slashfilm reported that AMC listed the film at 2 hours 20 minutes, and Dark Horizons reported a Regal listing of 139 minutes. Dark Horizons suggested the gap could come from bonus material attached to Fathom releases. Laika has not published an official running time.
Plan for about two and a quarter hours in the seat, and longer once US trailers are added. Even the shorter BBFC figure makes Wildwood one of the longest stop-motion features ever released.
Where can you watch Wildwood in cinemas?
In the US, Wildwood is distributed by Fathom Entertainment, a Denver company better known for one-night event screenings than for wide studio releases. Box Office Mojo and The Numbers both count it in 2,942 US theaters on its opening weekend. Showtimes are on Fathom’s site and the usual chains.
In the UK, Black Bear Pictures is distributing the film, according to the BBFC record and the UK trade listing, with release on the same day.
Elsewhere the rollout is uneven. FilmNation Entertainment sells the international rights country by country, which is why dates differ. A French listing on Sortiraparis gives 9 December 2026. We could not confirm a Philippine release date or local distributor, even though the film is trending there; check SM Cinema, Ayala Malls Cinemas and other local listings before planning a trip.
Is Wildwood streaming yet?
No. As of 25 October 2026, neither Laika nor Fathom has announced a digital, rental or streaming date, and no deal with a streaming service has been reported. Sites giving December or spring dates are guessing.
Fathom is a theatrical distributor without its own streaming service, so the home release will depend on a separate deal. Our guide to how movie release windows work explains the usual gaps.
How did Wildwood do at the box office?
Wildwood opened at No. 3 in North America. Box Office Mojo and TheWrap put its first weekend at $11.6 million, while The Numbers estimated $11.0 million. The DC horror film Clayface led with about $24 million, and A24’s Elizabeth Holmes documentary You Can See Everything took second with $19.5 million.
Audiences liked it. TheWrap and JoBlo both reported an A CinemaScore, and Rotten Tomatoes showed a 100% critics’ score at release.
The problem is cost. JoBlo and other trade coverage put the production budget at about $100 million, and TheWrap said it was reported to rival Disney and Pixar budgets. Laika has not confirmed the figure.
| Laika film | Year | US opening | Worldwide gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coraline | 2009 | $16.8M | $188.8M |
| ParaNorman | 2012 | $14.1M | $107.4M |
| The Boxtrolls | 2014 | $17.3M | $108.3M |
| Kubo and the Two Strings | 2016 | $12.6M | $76.2M |
| Missing Link | 2019 | $5.9M | $26.6M |
| Wildwood | 2026 | $11.6M (est.) | Not yet reported |
Source: Box Office Mojo, 25 Oct 2026. Coraline includes re-releases.
Wildwood’s start lands just below Kubo and well above Missing Link, Laika’s weakest opening. TheWrap noted that Coraline is the only Laika film to have turned a profit in cinemas. Kubo, at $60 million according to Box Office Mojo, cost far less than Wildwood and still did not recover its budget in theaters.
Why does a Laika film take so long to make?
Stop-motion is shot one frame at a time. Animators move a puppet a fraction of an inch, take a photograph, and repeat, 24 times for every second of film. A week’s work for one animator may produce only a few seconds of finished footage.
Wildwood pushed that further than any earlier Laika film. The Catalan newspaper Ara, which visited the studio in Hillsboro, Oregon, reported 140,000 printed faces for the puppets, more than 130 sets, and a single animator who spent four years on the sequence where Prue rides a golden eagle. That eagle puppet, called the General, carries 3,794 hand-placed feathers, according to both Ara and Animation World Network (AWN).
AWN also reported that a miniature of Portland’s Pittock Mansion took 45 to 50 artists more than 11 weeks to build.
- 2009: Coraline is released; Knight later told AWN he began talking to Meloy about Wildwood around this time.
- 2011: Meloy’s novel Wildwood, illustrated by Carson Ellis, is published.
- 2019: Missing Link, Laika’s fifth feature, is released; Ara dates Wildwood’s pre-production to roughly this period.
- 20 Jan 2026: Laika announces Fathom as US distributor and FilmNation for international sales, with a 23 October date.
- 15 Oct 2026: The BBFC rates the film 12A.
- 23 Oct 2026: Wildwood opens in US and UK cinemas.
Knight told AWN that he waited until the studio’s workshop had developed the tools for a film of this size. “After five films I finally felt we were ready,” he said.
What the PG-13 says about animation
In Hollywood, animation is usually sold as family entertainment. Laika has spent two decades pushing against that idea with darker stories, from Coraline’s button-eyed Other Mother to the ghosts of ParaNorman, while still keeping every film at PG.
Wildwood makes the case more openly. The longer running time, the battle scenes and the suicide-related material all signal a film made for teenagers and adults as much as for younger children. Knight described the film to AWN as one with “intensity and heaviness” that is “ultimately joyful, uplifting and hopeful.”
The risk is commercial. A PG-13 can shut out the youngest family audience that animated films rely on, and Wildwood’s opening suggests it has not yet reached the crowds a $100 million budget needs. Its strong reviews and A CinemaScore give it a chance to hold on in the weeks ahead. Our guide to the film awards season lists the key dates.
Watch for: the second-weekend drop on 1 November, which will show whether word of mouth is building; international openings such as France on 9 December; and any announcement of a digital or streaming partner from Laika or Fathom.
