WEST HOLLYWOOD, California — Forgotten Island is moving closer to its theatrical debut, but DreamWorks Animation’s latest Hollywood screening made clear that the movie is being positioned as more than another colorful family adventure.
For Filipino audiences, it could become one of the most culturally specific animated films ever released by a major Hollywood studio.
Liza Soberano and Manny Jacinto joined writer-directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado at a special Forgotten Island screening at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood on August 28, bringing the film’s Filipino influences into the spotlight weeks before its theatrical rollout. ABS-CBN News offered viewers a look inside the screening and celebration, while other coverage documented a post-screening discussion involving the stars and filmmakers.
The gathering was hardly a conventional Hollywood movie event.
Coverage from The Nerds of Color described a celebration built around distinctly Filipino touches, including Filipino food and karaoke, extending the cultural identity of the movie beyond the screen and into the atmosphere surrounding the screening. Soberano, Jacinto, Mercado and Crawford also discussed how friendship, family and Filipino experiences became central to the production.
A friendship story wrapped in Filipino mythology
Forgotten Island follows lifelong best friends Jo and Raissa, voiced by Grammy and Academy Award winner H.E.R. and Soberano.
After finishing high school and facing the possibility of being separated, the friends stumble through a mysterious portal into Nakali, an extraordinary island populated by magical beings and creatures inspired by stories they heard from their Filipino families.
Their adventure quickly develops a painful catch: escaping the island could cost them the memories of their friendship.
The film was written and directed by Crawford and Filipino-American filmmaker Januel Mercado, longtime DreamWorks collaborators who previously worked together on Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
At the Hollywood screening, the directors explained that the project grew from their own long friendship as well as a desire to build an original fantasy around Filipino culture and mythology. Mercado said Philippine folklore — including stories surrounding the aswang — became one of the foundations for the fictional world they eventually created.
That cultural specificity extends well beyond mythical creatures.
Food, family relationships, hospitality and recognizable Filipino behavior are woven into the story, with Mercado explaining that communal eating and the insistence that guests be fed reflected the family culture the filmmakers wanted audiences to recognize.
Liza Soberano found something personal in Raissa
For Soberano, the role appears to reach deeper than simply becoming part of a major DreamWorks voice cast.
She has spoken about connecting with Raissa’s experience of leaving people behind and confronting the uncertainty that comes with moving away from family.
During the Hollywood discussion, Soberano connected those emotions with the experiences of Filipinos who leave home and with members of her own family. She said thoughts of her younger sister helped her access some of the film’s more emotional material.
She has also said Filipino viewers should expect numerous cultural details and Easter eggs throughout the movie — moments she believes will make Filipinos feel that the filmmakers genuinely understand their experiences.
Her chemistry with H.E.R. also became part of the filmmaking process.
Although the two had barely known each other when they were cast, Soberano said their shared experiences growing up around Filipino parents and grandparents helped them connect. Unlike many animated productions where actors record separately, Soberano and H.E.R. were able to record some sessions together.
Manny Jacinto becomes something audiences may not expect
Jacinto, meanwhile, plays Bungi, a giant centuries-old baby demon — a role far removed from many of the live-action characters audiences may associate with the Filipino-Canadian actor.
Jacinto said the filmmakers encouraged experimentation while developing Bungi’s unusual voice and personality, describing the process as collaborative and playful.
The character is part of a wider voice ensemble that also includes Dave Franco, Jenny Slate, Dolly de Leon, Jo Koy and Ronny Chieng. Lea Salonga voices one of the film’s major threats, the Dreaded Manananggal.
A major Filipino lineup inside a DreamWorks release
That cast has become one of the strongest selling points surrounding Forgotten Island.
Soberano, H.E.R., Jacinto, Salonga and de Leon give the movie an unusually deep lineup of performers with Filipino roots or connections, while the story itself places Philippine folklore at the center rather than treating it as background decoration.
The film’s marketing has already brought that message directly to Filipino audiences.
In August, Soberano and H.E.R. traveled to the Philippines with the filmmakers, including an advance screening for Save the Children beneficiaries. Soberano said during the Philippine promotional tour that the film contained cultural references throughout that Filipino viewers would immediately recognize.
And Hollywood will not be the final stop before release.
The Manila International Film Festival in Los Angeles has scheduled a special advance screening of Forgotten Island on September 4 at the TCL Chinese Theatre as part of its 2026 program celebrating Philippine and diaspora cinema.
When does ‘Forgotten Island’ come out?
Philippine audiences are expected to get an early start.
GMA News reported that Forgotten Island will open nationwide in Philippine cinemas on September 23, with advance tickets already being offered by participating cinema chains.
DreamWorks and Universal list the movie’s wider U.S. theatrical opening for September 25, 2026.
For Soberano, Jacinto and Mercado, however, the significance of the project could stretch beyond opening weekend.
Hollywood animation has increasingly looked around the world for stories capable of combining cultural specificity with universal themes. Forgotten Island is betting that Philippine mythology, Filipino family life and the fear of losing a lifelong friendship can do exactly that.
The Hollywood screening showed the scale of that ambition.
But the bigger test arrives when audiences enter Nakali for themselves — and decide whether one very Filipino story can become a story that millions of people everywhere recognize as their own.
WWC ONE MEDIA MJE
Leave a Reply