A portal into an enchanted forest is opening this weekend on the first floor of Galleria Dallas, right near Lane Boots, and it will not cost visitors a dime to walk through. The installation, called The Forest is Calling, takes guests through a forest portal and hand-painted interactive sets built to preview LAIKA's upcoming stop-motion film Wildwood, which hits theaters nationwide on October 23, 2026.
According to The Dallas Morning News, Dallas is one of the few North American cities receiving an advance look at Wildwood, and the pop-up at 13350 Dallas Parkway will run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, then noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Each participant who moves through the interactive sequence gets a digital photo and a keepsake tied to their result, per the same report. The experience showcases hidden artifacts, symbols, and easter eggs from the film's world, giving fans a physical taste of the story before it reaches the big screen.
Following Prue Into the Woods
Wildwood follows Prue McKeel, who embarks on a rescue mission to save her abducted baby brother after he's taken by crows, traveling through an enchanted forest filled with talking animals, bandits, and powerful figures along the way. The film is based on the novel by Colin Meloy, frontman of the indie rock band The Decemberists, and illustrated by his wife Carson Ellis. Published in 2011 by Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins, the 541-page book became a New York Times bestseller and launched The Wildwood Chronicles trilogy, according to HarperCollins, which notes the story drew heavily on Portland, Oregon's own geography.
LAIKA is the stop-motion studio behind Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Missing Link, per the Dallas Morning News report. Wildwood marks the studio's sixth feature and its first theatrical release in seven years since Missing Link premiered in 2019, with Fathom Entertainment distributing the film, as reported by Animation Magazine.
A 16-Year Passion Project Finally Arrives
The gap between page and screen wasn't for lack of trying. LAIKA CEO and director Travis Knight spent 16 years developing Wildwood, having first discussed adapting the story with Meloy shortly after Coraline came out in 2009, according to Animation World Network. Knight was reportedly waiting for stop-motion technical capabilities and studio infrastructure to catch up to the story's scale, noting that stop-motion animation moves at a notoriously deliberate pace compared to live-action filmmaking.
That patience apparently paid off in craftsmanship. The miniature of Portland's Pittock Mansion required 45 to 50 artists more than 11 weeks to build, while the character of The General features 3,794 individually hand-animated feathers out of more than 16,500 total feathers created for the puppet, per Animation World Network's reporting. The Dallas installation itself was co-designed by Wildwood art director Matt Maldonado and Portland-based agency KAMP Grizzly, according to the Dallas Morning News, and features an entry framed by the Wildwood Sigil alongside ambient sound design, flora, and handcrafted props.
One Stop on a Cross-Country Tour
Galleria Dallas isn't the pop-up's first appearance. The Forest is Calling debuted outside the Hard Rock Hotel during San Diego Comic-Con in July before running at The Grove in Los Angeles from July 27 through August 2, as part of a multi-city North American promotional tour, per Secret Los Angeles. LAIKA has also leaned into its hometown roots, launching a citywide public art trail in Portland this month called Wildwood: Follow the Crows, placing 30 five-foot-tall painted crow sculptures around the city to raise money for OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital, as reported by Willamette Week. Those statues will stay up through autumn before being auctioned off for charity.
The ensemble voice cast bringing Wildwood's stop-motion characters to life includes Peyton Elizabeth Lee as Prue, Jacob Tremblay as her classmate Curtis Mehlberg, and a roster featuring Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Awkwafina, Jake Johnson, Charlie Day, Amandla Stenberg, Tom Waits, and Richard E. Grant, according to Animation Scoop. Knight, notably, also directed the live-action blockbuster Masters of the Universe, which released in June, while finishing post-production on Wildwood ahead of its October premiere, per TheWrap.
Galleria Dallas, the shopping center hosting this weekend's free installation, is managed by Fort Worth-based Trademark Property Company, which oversees 19 properties nationwide totaling 24 million square feet. For families weighing a weekend outing, the pop-up offers a rare, no-cost chance to step into a movie world more than two months before it opens in theaters nationwide.
