Forgotten Island is bursting with fresh ideas, celebrates a culture and mythology rarely seen on the big screen, and represents one of the most visually creative animated films in recent times. And yet, barely anyone showed up for it. It made only $53.8 million worldwide against an $80 million production budget. Forgotten Island deserved far better than it got.
Let’s be honest: the modern theatrical rollout is a meat grinder for anything that doesn’t have a Roman numeral or a plastic merchandise tie-in attached to it. DreamWorks’ Forgotten Island is the latest casualty of a broken studio marketing machine rather than any sort of cultural barrier.
Predictably, the cynical suits are already whispering their favorite old excuse: “Maybe mainstream audiences just don't turn out for Filipino or AAPI stories.”
But if you look past the surface numbers, that narrative is completely wrong. This isn't a failure of Filipino culture or AAPI storytelling; it’s a massive failure of studio marketing. Thankfully, where Hollywood failed the launch, the community is stepping in to save the run.
Theater audiences loved it and the story and animation wowed critics. The film sports a flawless 95% Certified Fresh critical consensus and an "A" CinemaScore, but it was just stripped of 1,400 theaters after scraping together a meager $67 million worldwide against an $80 million production budget.
So what went wrong over here? Universal and DreamWorks basically dropped the ball on the handoff. Mainstream Western audiences didn't stay away because they weren't interested; they stayed away because they didn't even know the movie existed. The promotional campaign was virtually invisible, and the few trailers that did air completely buried the film's vibrant, unique premise.
If you watched the generic trailers, you'd think the movie was an assembly-line cartoon relying on safe, decades-old pop-culture gags. In reality, it is one of the most visually stunning, emotionally raw animated features since Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, anchored deeply in the beautiful depiction of Filipino mythology.
The mythical setting of Nakali didn't alienate domestic audiences; the studio simply failed to communicate the universal, heart-wrenching stakes of the narrative — two lifelong friends fighting a magical environment to avoid forgetting each other forever. When studios treat original IP like a risky luxury, audiences treat the theater like an expensive inconvenience and collectively decide to wait for the digital drop.
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| At the heart and soul of Forgotten Island is the inevitable evolution of friendship. |
Where to stream 'Forgotten Island'
The salvage mission begins today, October 27, when the film pivots from the theatrical meat grinder to Premium Video-on-Demand (PVOD). Home availability removes the high financial hurdle of the modern box office and allows pure, unadulterated online word-of-mouth to act as the marketing department the movie never had.
Hollywood has had some truly incredible animated releases, interspersed with the occasional dud. Part of the reason is the conserative studio heads prefer previously beloved prooperties producing safe sequels and prequels over truly original material. Some of these failures are a result of Hollywood's desperate quest to milk previously When pitted against behemoths like The Odyssey, the new Avengers: Endgame, Resident Evil and Coyote vs. ACME, it is not surprising that less-anticipated films might get lost in the shuffle.
That does not make them any less enjoyable, however, as a recent Universal Pictures release makes clear. Forgotten Island may have slipped past many viewers' notice when it was released on Sept. 25, 2026, but it is likely to stir up far more hype with today's digital release.
It is hoped that the movie will replicate the success of K-pop Demon Hunters which exploded in popularity after debuting globally on Netflix last year, following a direct-to-streaming deal with Sony Pictures Animation. The animated film became Netflix's most-watched animated movie ever, reaching number one in 26 countries and the top 10 in 93 countries within weeks, accumulating over 236 million views. It stayed in the Netflix Top 10 for over a consecutive year.
FYI: The digital release of Forgotten Island is landing across all major transactional storefronts:
- Prime Video
- Apple TV
- YouTube
- Fandango at Home
- Xfinity, Verizon, and Spectrum pay-per-view portals
To sweeten the deal and target the animation enthusiasts who skipped the theater, Universal is packaging the digital release with over 60 minutes of exclusive bonus features. This includes deep-dive featurettes into the Filipino folklore, director commentaries from Joel Crawford and Januel P. Mercado, and drawing tutorials.
View from the Edge
Animation is cinema, not a safe-play genre for corporate boards. When theater runs fail to capture the masses, the living room becomes the ultimate equalizer. Keep your eyes on the digital charts this week.
Don't count Forgotten Island out. Quality has a funny way of breaking through structural barriers, and there is still a very real, hopeful silver lining here called word-of-mouth.
Don't count Forgotten Island out. Quality has a funny way of breaking through structural barriers, and there is still a very real, hopeful silver lining here called word-of-mouth.
Original, non-franchise animated films have an uphill battle these days, but we’ve seen this exact movie play out before. Directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado also helmed Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which had a notoriously soft opening before incredible word-of-mouth turned it into a runaway global smash. Pixar's Elemental did the exact same thing—starting slow, capturing hearts, and riding a wave of community recommendations to financial victory.
The AAPI community's roaring word-of-mouth is keeping the movie alive, acting as a sturdy shield holding the line rather than a rocket ship boosting it to immediate profitability. With an "A" CinemaScore and a fierce, proud community championing it, Forgotten Island has the exact ingredients needed for a long-term "slow burn" recovery. As families continue to tell their friends about this beautiful, groundbreaking film, expect those follow-up ticket sales to build.
Hollywood might have failed the launch, but the AAPI audience, especially Filipino Americans proud to finally see and share their stories, just might prove the cynics wrong. Remember Forgotten Island.
EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge. If you find this perspective interesting, feel free to repost.
