15 Years Later, A Beloved Animated Movie Is Finally A Box Office Hit

15 years after its original theatrical release, Laika's stop-motion animated classic "Coraline" has become a wildly unexpected hit at the box office. The folks at Fathom Events partnered with Laika to bring director Henry Selick's adaptation of Neil Gaiman's story back to the big screen recently, and to say that it has gone well would be a dramatic understatement.

This past weekend, "Coraline" pulled in $5 million, which was on its second weekend of re-release. Amazingly enough, it made more than Lionsgate's "The Crow" remake ($4.6 million) in its debut. It dropped less than 50% on weekend two, and to date has pulled in $24 million domestically. It's one of Fathom's most successful re-releases ever. What's perhaps most amazing is that Fathom already had success with a re-release of the film last year, which pulled in more than $7 million. That led to this 15th anniversary celebration, which has been surprisingly fruitful.

Coupled with $6 million from overseas markets thus far, the "Coraline" re-release has pulled in $30.1 million worldwide and counting. Just for some additional context, that's significantly more than Disney's re-release of "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" ($19.4 million) for its 25th anniversary earlier this year. Since Fathom has dates booked out through the first couple of weeks in September, it's possible this could end up comfortably as one of the top 50 global releases of 2024 by year's end.

This is a pretty remarkable turn of events for a movie that was, at best, a modest success in its day. "Coraline" made $124.5 million in its original release back in 2009 against a $60 million budget. That was by no means a disaster like Laika's "Missing Link" ($26 million box office/$102 million budget), but it also wasn't an outright theatrical hit. Over time, though, this movie has truly found its audience, as evidenced by the surprising numbers for these various re-releases. To date, the film's global total has now risen to $162 million. Or, to put it another way, the original run only represents about 75% of the movie's running total. That's impressive.

Based on Gaiman's novella of the same name, "Coraline" centers on a young girl who discovers a secret door in her new home offering her an alternate version of her life. This parallel reality is similar to her real life, only better. Before long, things become dangerous and her new parents try to keep her in that alternate reality forever.

More than anything, this is a nice turn of events for both Laika and Selick. Laika has helped to keep stop-motion alive, even though the studio has suffered some major financial misfires, which has made that difficult. As for Selick, he has struggled as well, with Tim Burton often getting the lion's share of the credit for "The Nightmare Before Christmas," which Selick directed. That movie, much like "Coraline," has gone on to have a long life well beyond its original release. He's certainly earned some respect on his name, at the very least.

This serves as something of a victory lap for all involved. Who knows? It also might suggest a healthy interest in Laika's upcoming movie "Wildwood," which is being directed by Travis Knight. It's a good sign for unique animation. It's good for Selick. It's good for a good movie to get its due all these years later.

I spoke more about this past weekend's box office numbers on today's episode of the /Film Daily podcast, which you can listen to below:

The "Coraline" 15th anniversary re-release runs now through mid-September.