'Forgotten Island' Flops at the Box Office Despite Near-Universal Acclaim

Not every winner wins. Forgotten Island, the new animated feature from DreamWorks Animation, arrived in theaters this weekend to some of the best reviews of any animated film this year, only to stumble at the box office with an estimated $12.8 million domestic opening, good for fifth place.

The numbers are stark. The film earned just $7.8 million internationally, giving it a $20.6 million global start. Against a relatively modest-for-DreamWorks budget of $80 million, that is a difficult debut, and there is no clear path to profitability without a long, unlikely run. Critics and audiences who saw it loved it, but that enthusiasm did not translate into ticket sales.

The film follows best friends Jo and Raissa, voiced by H.E.R. and Liza Soberano, who are celebrating their last night together when they stumble upon a mysterious portal that transports them to the fantastical island of Nakali, a place packed with magical creatures drawn from the stories they grew up hearing from their Filipino families. Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado, the duo behind Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, occupied the directors' chairs.

A familiar paradox

Forgotten Island's fate is a familiar one in animation: original, critically adored films struggling to break through a marketplace dominated by sequels and franchises. It opened in the shadow of a rerelease, a horror hit, and two adult-skewing dramas, and family audiences simply did not turn out in the numbers it needed.

The silver lining is word of mouth. Films this well-liked have found second lives on streaming and home video before. But for DreamWorks, the opening is a reminder that critical acclaim and box office success remain two very different games.