Movie geeks keeping an eye on the weekly box office figures may have been surprised to see a movie from 2009 suddenly appear in third place in the standings this week, behind only the likes of Barbie and Oppenheimer. That film was Coraline, LAIKA’s classic stop-motion animated adaptation of the beloved Neil Gaiman young adult novella. Shattering the expectations of exhibitor Fathom Events, which re-releases classic films on a regular basis, Coraline made almost $5 million in its two-day limited engagement this week, setting a new record for Fathom as a distributor. It was such a success, in fact, that more encore dates have immediately been added at participating theaters, on Aug. 28 and 29.
“We’re thrilled to see throngs of LAIKA fans come out in record numbers for the third straight year to revel in this Coraline theatrical experience, this year in stunning 4K,” said LAIKA Chief Marketing & Operations Officer David Burke in a statement. “Our partnership with Fathom has solidified LAIKA’s modern cinematic classic as a must-see annual summer tradition.”
With a per-screen average of more than $3,000, there’s no doubt that this represents a huge success for the cultural cache of the studio’s stop-motion animated classics, which also include the likes of ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls and Kubo and the Two Strings. We’d particularly love to see Kubo join Coraline in this kind of theatrical, 4K re-release, and maybe now we’ll have that chance.
Coraline is of course the story of the titular young girl, who moves into a remote new home with her overworked mother and father, neither of whom truly have time to nurture her development. Feeling dejected, she stumbles across a fantastical parallel dimension that seems to contain more engaged and loving versions of her real-life parents, but she comes to understand that this fantasy world may be concealing a frightening true nature. Directed by The Nightmare Before Christmas and Wendell & Wild helmer Henry Selick, it seems to be only that much more beloved now than it was when first released in 2009. You can check out whether there are any showtimes near you by clicking here, and in the meantime you can check out the re-release trailer below.