The LAIKA Wildwood exhibition — officially LAIKA presents Wildwood: The Exhibition — opens at the Design Museum in Kensington, London, on Thursday 15 October 2026 and runs until 10 January 2027. It goes behind the scenes of Wildwood, the Portland stop-motion studio's sixth feature, which reaches cinemas in the UK, Ireland and the US on 23 October. Here is what is on show, ticket prices, opening hours, the events programme and how the film fits in.
What is the LAIKA Wildwood exhibition?
The Design Museum says the show traces Wildwood from early ideas and visual research through character and environment design, costume, puppet fabrication, rapid prototyping, miniature set construction, animation and cinematography. Visitors see original sketches, puppets, props and miniature sets, along with audiovisual content and interactive installations about the visual development artists, model makers and scenic painters behind the film, as Time Out reports.
There is also a free-to-visit area on the museum's mezzanine covering LAIKA's 20 years of filmmaking: Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings and Missing Link. Design Museum director and CEO Tim Marlow told Time Out the show follows the museum's earlier film-craft exhibitions on Stanley Kubrick, Tim Burton and Wes Anderson, and called Wildwood "a compelling case study in contemporary design".
Dates, venue and opening hours
Dates: 15 October 2026 – 10 January 2027
Venue: Design Museum, 224–238 Kensington High Street, London W8 6AG (next to Holland Park)
Gallery: Helene and Johannes Huth Gallery, Level 2
Museum hours: 10:00–17:00 Monday to Thursday; 10:00–18:00 Friday to Sunday
The museum only takes card and digital payments, including at the ticket desk.
LAIKA Wildwood exhibition tickets and prices
Tickets are on sale through the Design Museum. Listed prices start at £15.29 for adults, £11.47 for students and concessions and £7.65 for children. Tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable. Design Museum members get in free. A Relaxed Opening for neurodivergent visitors and people who find museums overwhelming is set for Sunday 13 December, 10:00–12:00, with limited tickets, tactile materials and sensory maps.
Talks, tours and workshops
The museum has a public programme around the show:
Curator tour, Saturday 31 October — a Halloween tour led by exhibition curator Hadeel Eltayeb (the later slot has already sold out).
Talk: Stop-Motion Animation & Performance, Tuesday 3 November, 19:00–20:20 — LAIKA animators Tom Carey and Amy Greenspan with Dr Lucia Savi, the museum's Head of Curatorial and Interpretation. The talk ticket does not include the exhibition.
Stop-motion clay workshop — sold out; there is a waitlist.
There is also an accompanying book, LAIKA: The Magic Behind a Stop-Motion Dream Factory, and a "Worlds of LAIKA" afternoon tea at the museum.
Wildwood movie: release date, cast and story
Wildwood is directed and produced by Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings) and written by Chris Butler (ParaNorman). It is based on the novel by Colin Meloy, illustrated by Carson Ellis. According to distributor Fathom Entertainment, teenager Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) goes into the Impassable Wilderness, an enchanted forest just outside Portland, Oregon, after a murder of crows takes her baby brother. Her classmate Curtis Mehlberg (Jacob Tremblay) goes with her.
The voice cast also includes Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Awkwafina, Jake Johnson, Charlie Day, Amandla Stenberg, Jemaine Clement, Maya Erskine, Tantoo Cardinal, Tom Waits and Richard E. Grant.
The film had its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on 11 October (see https://www.thesundayprofile.com/bfi-london-film-festival-2026). Its US premiere is the opening-night selection of the 40th AFI FEST on 21 October (see https://www.thesundayprofile.com/afi-fest-2026). It opens in cinemas on 23 October, with select 4DX, D-BOX and Dolby Cinema screenings in the US. Fathom handles US distribution and FilmNation handles international sales.
People also ask: is the Wildwood exhibition good for children?
Yes. Stop-motion puppets and miniature sets work for most ages, the museum has a child ticket price, and the free LAIKA mezzanine display is an easy short visit for families. For a quieter visit, book the 13 December Relaxed Opening.
Why the show matters for design fans
LAIKA was founded in Oregon in 2005 and is a Certified B Corporation. All five of its earlier features were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and in 2016 it won an Academy Scientific and Technical Award for its work in 3D printing. Putting Wildwood in a design museum treats stop-motion as industrial design: puppets, costumes, props and sets that are each designed, prototyped and built by hand for a single film.
Sources
Design Museum, LAIKA presents Wildwood: The Exhibition — dates, gallery, prices, hours, events and book. Time Out London (Phil de Semlyen), on the exhibition, the mezzanine display and Tim Marlow's comments (11 Sep 2026). Fathom Entertainment press release, Wildwood tickets and final trailer (16 Sep 2026) — director, writer, cast, synopsis, AFI FEST and 23 October release.