Apr 12, 2019

Leica's "Missing Link" attracts critics, but faces a difficult battle at the box office

Missing Link is Laika's latest ambitious feature, and their first one not to star a young protagonist. Though the film currently holds a sparkling 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, box office pundits are predicting the Portland-based studio's latest venture will only make about $8-12 million in its opening weekend.

Written and directed by Chris Butler, who previously wrote and co-directed Laika's Paranorman, Missing Link is the first of Laika's five features not to be distributed by Focus Features. This time around, the distribution is being handled by United Artists Releasing, which a joint venture between Annapurna Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Orion Pictures. Annapurna Pictures is also listed as a production company on the film. Like Focus Features, Annapurna is not particularly known for dealing with animation, but rather with sophisticated, awards-friendly dramas. But Annapurna has produced one animated hit in the past: the adult hit Sausage Party.

Despite a big push - the film will launch in 3,413 theaters - the projections don't look promising for the movie about an adorable Sasquatch going on a globetrotting adventure in search of belonging. Unless Missing Link surprises at the box office, it could continue a concerning trend for Laika, in which each of their features has grossed less money at the domestic box office than its predecessor: Coraline ($75.2 million), Paranorman ($56M),The Boxtrolls ($50.8M), Kubo and the Two Strings ($48M).

On a positive note, the fact that Missing Link has garnered great praise from critics means the work of animators and craftspeople behind it isn't going unnoticed.

Although several critics noted the story falters or didn't particularly impress them, they generally enjoyed the humor, the sincerity of its themes, and above all, the stunning visual feats the filmmakers pulled off in this hybrid stop motion/cg adventure. Regardless of what some people think about the studio's stories, one undeniable thing to praise about Laika is their commitment to creating new worlds and unique characters in original stories.

Here are some takes on the film from critics at major publications:

Variety's Peter Debruge was generally positive, but pointed out he prefers to be aware of the palpable stop-motion aspects of the film's creation:

Indiewire's David Ehrlich praise the risk Laika takes and the laborious efforts of the artists behind their features:

Matt Zoller Seitz from RogerEbert.com enjoyed the sincerity of the story and the handcrafted process through which it was made:

The Guardian's Cath Clarke was blown away by the visuals and enjoyed how these paired with the voice acting:

Missing Link opens today, April 12, in theaters across the U.S.