LAIKA’s ‘Wildwood’ Officially Gets a Limited Edition 4K SteelBook

Published Oct 26, 2026, 4:53 PM EDT

Ryan O'Rourke is a Senior News Writer at Collider with a specific interest in all things adult animation, video game adaptations, and the work of Mike Flanagan. He is also an experienced baseball writer with over six years of articles between multiple outlets, most notably FanSided's CubbiesCrib. Whether it's taking in a baseball game, a new season of Futurama or Castlevania: Nocturne, or playing the latest From Software title, he is always finding ways to show his fandom. When it comes to gaming and anything that takes inspiration from it, he is deeply opinionated on what's going on. Outside of entertainment, he's a graduate of Eureka College with a Bachelor's in Communication where he honed his craft as a writer. Between The IV Leader at Illinois Valley Community College and The Pegasus at Eureka, he spent the majority of his college career publishing articles on everything from politics to campus happenings and, of course, entertainment for the student body. Those principles he learned covering the 2020 election, Palestine, and so much more are brought here to Collider, where he has gleefully written on everything from the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes to Nathan Lane baby-birding sewer boys.

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The major studios have enjoyed a mostly successful 2026 in terms of animation. Pixar unleashed two big winners, both critically and at the box office, in the bonkers Hoppers back in March and the blockbuster Toy Story 5, which pitted toys against tech over the summer. More recently, DreamWorks fired back with one of its highest-rated movies ever, Forgotten Island, from the directors of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which boasts a stellar Certified Fresh 95% from critics and Verified Hot 92% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. However, it's been an especially pivotal moment for the stop-motion giant LAIKA Studios, which burst back onto the screen with Wildwood a full 15 years after development began.

While not off to the hottest start at the box office, the epic fantasy adaptation of the novel of the same name by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis has earned no shortage of lofty praise. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a rare 99% positive score from 124 reviews so far, as well as a 97% from audiences, signalling near-universal acclaim. Collider's Aidan Kelley went as far as calling it LAIKA's "masterpiece" over Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings, and others in his 9/10 review, writing, "LAIKA has made many visually striking movies in their nearly two-decade career, but Wildwood soars above them all with some of the most breathtaking sequences of the year." Although it'll be a minute before the gorgeous feature heads home, fans can already secure their physical copy.

Pre-orders are officially open for both a standard and limited edition steelbook version of Wildwood through major retailers, though an exact release date has yet to be announced. For now, no details are available as to what special features will be included or what the Steelbook cover version will look like either, but the possibilities are endless for a film that has prided itself on being painstakingly hand-crafted. Most likely, they'll include behind-the-scenes looks into the process of building the characters and lush, expansive sets, as well as the story, adapted into a screenplay by Chris Butler and directed by Travis Knight. Shout! Factory is handling the release.

Cast

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  Peyton Elizabeth Lee

  Prue McKeel (voice)

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  Curtis Mehlberg (voice)

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  Carey Mulligan

  Alexandra (voice)

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  Brenden (voice)