DreamWorks Animation’s “Forgotten Island” arrived with the kind of critical and festival warmth most original films never get. It also opened to $13 million domestic and $20.6 million worldwide from 35 territories—one of the five lowest openings in the studio’s history, and well below the $15–17 million domestic tracking range. The reported production budget was $80 million before marketing.
For Universal, that gap between enthusiasm and ticket sales is the story. The film was screened early at CinemaCon and Annecy, got a San Diego Comic-Con panel, a Jollibee brand tie-in, and a premiere at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. None of it pulled family audiences into unfamiliar IP.
The original animation problem
This is not a DreamWorks-only stumble. TheWrap’s analysis notes that no original animated film has cleared $500 million worldwide in nine years. Pixar’s “Elio” made roughly $154 million, “Wish” $255 million, “Strange World” just $73 million, and DreamWorks’ own “Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken” $43.2 million.
The structural issue is plain: franchise titles minimize risk for cost-conscious families buying four or more tickets, while originals ask them to bet on something unknown. The few recent bright spots, such as Pixar’s “Elemental,” relied on unusually long legs and strong overseas pockets. “Forgotten Island” lacks those anchors so far; its only No. 1 market was the Philippines, with $1.5 million.
Where the campaign fell short
Reviews praised the friendship between Jo and Raissa and the film’s emotional stakes, but the first trailer leaned on 1980s, 1990s and 2000s references and briefly skipped the core plot: the memory sacrifice that drives the third act. As IndieWire critic David Ehrlich put it, the film is so packed that it “makes it difficult to understand the basic principles of its plot.” A two-and-a-half-minute trailer cannot easily explain that kind of worldbuilding.
- 93% positive score among under-25 moviegoers tracked by PostTrak
- 46% of opening weekend audience 18–34; nearly a quarter under 18
- 37 countries still to open, including the UK, Germany and France
But audience composition looks close to “The Wild Robot.” The difference is not who showed up; it is how many showed up.
The recovery path
Universal insiders point to strong PVOD revenue for “The Bad Guys 2” and “The Wild Robot” as the likely template. If “Forgotten Island” follows that pattern around Thanksgiving, it may recoup costs and earn a small post-theatrical profit—even if the theatrical run never recovers.
For media planners and entertainment marketers, the lesson is not that original animation is dead. It is that pre-release buzz and positive scores do not automatically create family consideration. The emotional reason to buy must be legible in the first trailer, not buried in the film.
Source: TheWrap
