{"id":458517,"date":"2026-09-09T19:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T19:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/458517\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T19:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T19:20:11","slug":"wildwoods-u-s-premiere-to-open-afi-fest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/458517\/","title":{"rendered":"Wildwood’s U.S. Premiere to Open AFI Fest"},"content":{"rendered":"

The American Film Institute\u2019s 2026 AFI Fest will open with the United States premiere of Laika Studios\u2019 \u201cWildwood\u201d on Wednesday, Oct. 21. This will be the 40th edition of AFI Fest, which is held yearly in Hollywood. Tickets are on sale now. This year\u2019s festival is presented by Canva.<\/p>\n

\u201cWildwood\u201d<\/a> is the highly anticipated new film from the Portland, Oregon-based animation studio behind modern classics \u201cCoraline,\u201d \u201cParaNorman\u201d and \u201cKubo and the Two Strings.\u201d It is their first feature since 2019\u2019s \u201cMissing Link\u201d and a labor of love for the entire studio. Based on the book series by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis, \u201cWildwood\u201d follows a young girl named Prue (voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee), whose young brother is taken by a flock of ravens, forcing her to travel into a strange and magical realm.<\/p>\n

The film was written by Chris Butler, was shot by legendary cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (AFI Class of 1969) and produced and directed by Travis Knight, Laika\u2019s CEO and lead animator<\/a>. Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Awkwafina, Tom Waits, Jake Johnson and Amandla Stenberg also star.<\/p>\n

\u201cAFI is honored to celebrate \u2018Wildwood\u2019 as the Opening Night Film of the 40th Annual AFI FEST,\u201d said Bob Gazzale, AFI President & CEO, in a Wednesday statement. \u201cAt a time when the world needs artistic inspiration more than ever, \u2018Wildwood\u2019 comes to the rescue by inviting audiences to a hand-crafted, endlessly imaginative world that both dazzles and delights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSixteen years is a long time to carry a story with you. And yet, sometimes that\u2019s what stories ask of the people who tell them. \u2018Wildwood\u2019 was built slowly, painstakingly, by hundreds of extraordinary artists and craftspeople who gave something of themselves to this movie. For so long, this strange and beautiful world belonged only to those of us fortunate enough to wander through it together. To finally emerge blinking into the daylight at AFI FEST is a profound honor,\u201d Knight added. \u201cAFI has a long tradition of championing ambitious and distinctive filmmaking, and the filmmakers with the audacity, imagination and occasional poor judgment to attempt something genuinely different and sincere. We\u2019re grateful to be among them. For sixteen years, we\u2019ve been finding our way through Wildwood. What a privilege it is to finally welcome others inside.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWildwood\u201d will be released nationwide on Friday, Oct. 23, via Fathom.<\/p>\n

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