2026's Biggest Original Fantasy Movie Officially Begins Mass Exodus From Theaters

With a handful of new releases in play this past weekend, DreamWorks Animation's newest fantasy movie found itself slipping out of the top-five list. The movie has had an underwhelming theatrical run so far, and remains nowhere near recouping its reported $80 million budget. As things stand, it needs to generate at least $100 million more at the worldwide box office in order to break even theatrically, but this doesn't seem likely. The film generated just $4.5 million domestically this past weekend, having been outperformed by The Social Reckoning, which made $5.5 million. Unlike most other animated movies that receive major theatrical runs, the new DreamWorks film registered an unimpressive opening-weekend haul and has struggled to stay afloat ever since.

Forgotten Island grossed just $13 million domestically in its opening frame, and its domestic total after around 17 days of release stands at $30 million. Globally, the movie has grossed $50 million so far. The good news is that DreamWorks has significantly reduced spending on its original animated movies in the last five years. Most of its releases, including Forgotten Island, cost less than $100 million. The same strategy has been utilized by Illumination, another animation powerhouse whose films are distributed by Universal. The latest Illumination movie, Minions & Monsters, also underperformed compared to its predecessors in the Despicable Me franchise, still grossing $525 million worldwide against a reported budget of $85 million.

DreamWorks' New Movie Pays Tribute to Filipino Culture

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Forgotten Island cost around $80 million to produce, like other recent DreamWorks films such as The Bad Guys 2, The Wild Robot, and Kung Fu Panda 4. However, each of those movies did tremendously well at the box office. As of its third weekend in release, Forgotten Island's theatrical footprint has been reduced to 2,898 from 3,548. Ironically, the movie received excellent reviews. It holds a "Certified Fresh" 95% critics' score and a "Verified Hot" 95% audience score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, "A candy-colored ode to friendship and Filipino folklore, Forgotten Island bursts at the seams with imagination while never losing sight of the compelling relationship at its core."