Filipino audiences in the Philippines showed up for Forgotten Island. Now Filipino Americans — and Filipinos everywhere — are being encouraged to do the same.

DreamWorks Animation’s Forgotten Island, an original animated adventure built around Filipino culture, mythology and characters, has earned exceptional reviews from both critics and moviegoers. The film currently holds a 95% Tomatometer score and 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of the studio’s best-reviewed films.

But critical acclaim has not yet translated into comparable U.S. box-office attendance.

The film opened with approximately $13 million in North America, below pre-release expectations, and has earned about $15 million domestically as of October 1. Its worldwide gross stands at approximately $22.7 million against a reported production budget of $80 million.

The story has been very different in the Philippines.

Forgotten Island debuted at No. 1 at the Philippine box office with ₱97.2 million, with its distributor describing it as the biggest opening weekend for a DreamWorks Animation film in the country.

That makes this an important moment for Filipino audiences in the United States.

For decades, Filipinos have asked to see more of themselves, their stories and their culture represented in major American films. Forgotten Island places Filipino mythology not at the margins of a Hollywood production, but at the center of a major DreamWorks animated feature.

And this time, the message to Hollywood can be delivered in the simplest way possible: Buy a ticket. Go to the theater. Bring your family and friends.

This is not simply about supporting a movie because it is Filipino. The reviews suggest audiences are being offered a genuinely good film. Rotten Tomatoes describes it as an imaginative story grounded in friendship and Filipino folklore, while moviegoers have responded with similarly strong ratings.

Directed and written by Joel Crawford and Filipino American filmmaker Januel P. Mercado, the creative team behind Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Forgotten Island follows lifelong friends Jo and Raissa after they stumble through a portal into the magical island of Nakali, where creatures inspired by Filipino mythology await them. Their journey eventually forces them to confront the possibility of losing the memories of their friendship.

The film features an extraordinary roster of Filipino and Filipino American talent, including H.E.R., Liza Soberano, Lea Salonga, Manny Jacinto, Dolly de Leon and Jo Koy, alongside Dave Franco, Jenny Slate and Ronny Chieng.

But representation on screen cannot be separated from what happens at the box office.

When a major Hollywood studio invests in an original story inspired by Filipino culture, its commercial performance inevitably becomes part of the industry's understanding of the audience for stories like it.

The Philippines has already demonstrated that audience.

Now it is our turn in America.

Filipino Americans have considerable cultural visibility and purchasing power. Seeing Forgotten Island in theaters is a direct opportunity to support Filipino creative representation while enjoying a film that critics and audiences overwhelmingly say is worth seeing.

Go this weekend. Take the children. Take the barkada. Invite friends who are not Filipino.

Let them meet the creatures we grew up hearing about. Let them hear Filipino names spoken in a DreamWorks movie. Let young Filipino Americans see a fantasy world in which their heritage does not need to be explained away or pushed into the background.

For generations, Filipinos have watched Hollywood tell everyone else's stories.

Here is one of ours.

And right now, it needs an audience.

About Forgotten Island

DreamWorks Animation’s Forgotten Island is a PG-rated animated fantasy adventure directed by Joel Crawford and Januel P. Mercado. Set against Filipino culture and mythology, the film follows lifelong friends Jo and Raissa as they enter the mystical island of Nakali and race to find their way home before the memories of their friendship disappear.

Forgotten Island is now playing in theaters across the United States and the Philippines.