Laikas PG-13 Wildwood opens to nearly $12 million, testing audiences appetite for mature animation

This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.

See more from the L.A.Times in Google Search.

Set us as preferred Audiences for animated movies are proving to be more diverse than the industry expected.Over the weekend, Laika, the Oscar-nominated studio behind movies like “Coraline” and “ParaNorman,” released its newest feature film, “Wildwood.” The original animated feature, which received a rare PG-13 rating, landed in third place at the domestic box office, earning an estimated $11.6 million, according to its distributor.DC Studio’s body horror, “Clayface,” topped the box office with a haul of $24 million.“You Can See Everything,” the experimental Elizabeth Holmes documentary, came in second and added $19.5 million to its $45-million total haul, according to the data analytics company Rentrak.Distributed by Fathom Entertainment — the joint venture of AMC Entertainment Holdings, Regal Cinemas and Cinemark Holdings — “Wildwood” opened in slightly more than 2,900 North American theaters.

The distributor said this box office haul is a rare achievement for independently produced and distributed PG-13 animation, as very few films of this nature have received such a wide theatrical release and opened to more than $10 million.Hollywood Inc.

The PG-13 stop-motion epic opens Oct.23.

Can it draw teens and adults when even well-reviewed originals like “Forgotten Island” have struggled?The opening comes as audiences have strongly favored familiar animated stories like “Toy Story 5” and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” which each earned more than $1 billion.Original animated stories have received mixed reactions.

This year, Disney Pixar’s “Hoppers” found success opening weekend, earning $45 million domestically, while DreamWorks Animation’s “Forgotten Island” opened to a softer $13 million last month.“While the major studios rely heavily on established animated franchis...