Wildwood

NZ release: 22 October 2026

Violence and suicide Rated on: 15 October 2026

Wildwood

What’s it about?

In Portland, Oregon, confident teenager Prue and her nerdy classmate Curtis enter the Impassable Wilderness—the Wildwood —in search of Prue's little brother, who was taken by crows.

The facts

  • Directed by Travis Knight
  • Stars include Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman), Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay (Unabomber), Richard E. Grant (Saltburn), and Jemaine Clement (Moana)
  • Language: English
  • Runtime: 131 minutes
  • Based on the novel by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis
  • Stop-motion animation, created by LAIKA Studios

Why did it get this rating?

This film was cross-rated by the Film and Video Labelling Body. You can find out more about cross-rating here.

This stop-motion animated adventure is suitable for mature viewers. The animation style can reduce the impact of confronting content, but the narrative is darker than other LAIKA Studios' productions. Parental guidance is strongly advised for younger viewers.

Suicide

A young character dies by suicide in the opening scene by jumping off a balcony. We see their mother grieving over their naked body. This may be shocking for younger viewers.

Violence

Characters use guns, arrows, their fists, and other weapons to fight and kill each other. There are several extended battle scenes—we see lots of blood.

A character attempts to gauge another's eyes out.

Characters that viewers are likely to develop an emotional attachment to get hurt or die.

Content that may disturb

A character attempts to sacrifice a child with a knife. The child is screaming throughout this scene.

We see dead bodies, lying in the mud and covered in blood, after a battle. A character sees a skeleton reanimated by ivy in their dreams.

Characters experiment with dark magic. Other characters fear this, condemning it as witchcraft or calling it "satanic".

Characters are cruel to other characters. For example, they kidnap and imprison them against their will, and they murder them after being wounded in battle. One character calls another a "loser” and the victim takes this to heart.

Coarse language

A character mutters "son of a b*tch" under their breath.

When content stays with you

We all have our boundaries, and it’s completely okay if something you’ve watched is weighing on your mind. If certain content lingers with you, consider having a chat with friends or whānau to debrief about what you’ve just seen. But if you’re still feeling affected, please reach out to any of the following helplines for support.

Further information

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