It is not every day that a movie such as ‘Forgotten Island’ ends with an audience applauding.
The reaction felt particularly fitting for a film that puts Filipino culture and mythology at thecenter of a major animated production.
Earlier this year, excitement grew when DreamWorks Animation announced the film, which promised to bring Filipino folklore to a global audience. For Filipino viewers, it was a rare opportunity to see familiar elements of our culture take center stage in a mainstream Hollywood production.
‘Encanto’ brought Colombian culture to audiences worldwide, while ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ drew inspiration from Southeast Asian cultures. Filipino mythology, meanwhile, rarely – if at all – received the same kind of mainstream treatment.
‘Forgotten Island’ follows best friends Jo and Raissa, voiced by Grammy and Oscar-winning artist H.E.R. and Filipina actress Liza Soberano. After being transported to the mysterious island of Nakali, a fantastical world populated by creatures from Filipino mythology, the two must find their way home while confronting the possibility of losing their memories of each other.
The premise gives the film plenty of room to explore its Filipino influences, but at its heart, ‘Forgotten Island’ remains a story about friendship. Jo and Raissa’s relationship anchors the film emotionally, while Nakali provides the larger adventure.
Aside from Soberano and H.E.R, the animation movie also boasts of Filipino talents who lent their voices to some of the interesting characters that are distinctly, well, Filipino – Lea Salonga, Manny Jacinto, Dolly de Leon, and Jo Koy. The animated original also features homegrown talent for the soundtrack, with groups like BINI and SB19 in its roster.
Visually, the film is one of its strongest elements. Nakali is colorful and imaginative, populated by creatures and environments inspired by Filipino folklore. The world feels designed to give audiences plenty to look at and discover, while grounding the fantasy in references that Filipino viewers can recognize.
The film received rave reviews from critics and audiences alike, with a Certified Fresh score of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, and an audience score of 97%.
It is no mystery then that ‘Forgotten Island’ became the number one movie in the country on its opening weekend, grossing P97.23 million, and becoming the biggest opening weekend for Universal in the country for 2026. ‘Forgotten Island’ has also snagged the biggest non-franchise animation film of all time.