DreamWorks Animation’s “Forgotten Island” opened to $12.8 million in the United States and Canada over the weekend of Sept. 25-27, placing fifth. Audiences gave the film an A CinemaScore. The film played in 3,548 theaters and added $5.64 million overseas for a $20.65 million worldwide start, Cartoon Brew reported.
Universal distributes the film, a Filipino-folkloreinspired original. Cartoon Brew put the Rotten Tomatoes scores at 95% from critics and 96% from audiences, and said 82% of moviegoers in the PostTrak exit poll would definitely recommend it.
Forgotten Island Opening Weekend By the Numbers
The $12.8 million works out to about $3,600 per theater. The domestic total is about 62% of the $20.65 million worldwide figure. The top five films on the weekend chart, according to Graphic Policy, were “Avengers: Endgame Encore” with $26 million, “Resident Evil” with $23.3 million, “Heart of the Beast” with $20 million, “Primetime” with $19.2 million and “Forgotten Island” with $12.8 million.
Four of the five films were new releases, and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” placed seventh with $4.1 million, bringing its domestic total to $950.7 million. “Forgotten Island” finished $6.4 million behind “Primetime” and $13.2 million behind the leader. Sources put the weekend’s total gross at different figures. Graphic Policy counted 36 films and about $121.9 million.
Film analyst Scott Mendelson wrote in his newsletter that the weekend total was $125 million. “Forgotten Island” accounted for about 10% of the weekend under either count: $12.8 million is 10.5% of $121.9 million and 10.2% of $125 million. Reports also differ on another animated film on the chart. Graphic Policy put “Coyote vs. Acme” at $1.3 million, while Cartoon Brew put it at $1.9 million in its fifth weekend, for a $58.4 million total.
Reports differ on the overseas opening. Cartoon Brew reported $5.64 million overseas and $20.65 million worldwide. SlashFilm reported $7.8 million overseas and $20.6 million
worldwide.
How the Opening Compares With “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”
Cartoon Brew compared the debut with a DreamWorks film from the same directors. “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” directed by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado, opened to $12.4 million in December 2022 and grossed about $480 million worldwide, Cartoon Brew said.
That film reached $186.1 million in the United States and Canada. SlashFilm made a second comparison. It said “Migration” opened to $12.4 million in December and topped $300 million worldwide. The comparisons are arithmetic, not a forecast. “The Last Wish” finished at about 15 times its opening weekend domestically. A run with that same multiplier would put “Forgotten Island” near $192 million. Both comparison films opened in December, and “Forgotten Island” opened in late September.
Cartoon Brew argued that the studio’s problem is attendance, not audience opinion, writing that DreamWorks faces “a getting-people-into-the-theater problem.” SlashFilm reported an $80 million budget for the film, the only budget figure in the coverage. Against that number, the $20.65 million worldwide opening equals about 26% of the budget.
What “Forgotten Island” Is About and Who’s in It
The story is set in the Philippines in the 1990s. Best friends Jo and Raissa reach an island called Nakali, where memories fade, and must escape before they forget each other, according to Wikipedia. Crawford and Mercado directed. The creatures come from Filipino folklore and include the tiyanak, batibat, manananggal, kapre and duwende. H.E.R. voices Jo, and Liza Soberano voices Raissa. The cast also includes Dave Franco, Manny Jacinto, Jenny Slate, Lea Salonga, Dolly de Leon, Jo Koy and Ronny Chieng.
H.E.R. and the Film’s Filipino Representation
The film premiered Sept. 23 at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles, TheGrio reported. H.E.R., whose legal name is Gabriella Wilson, is 29, is Black and Filipina, and is voicing an animated character for the first time. H.E.R. said the release matters to the community it depicts. “We finally get to be seen,” she said.
