‘Forgotten Island’ Directors Confirm They Have Sequel Plans

Summary

Forgotten Island is DreamWorks’ original, friendship-inspired animated love letter to Filipino culture and female bonds from directors Joel Crawford and Januel P. Mercado.
The duo discusses pushing animation by blending bold 2D expressions and stickers onto 3D models for stronger emotion.
The directors already eye sequels — a bigger Forgotten Island world awaits when audiences embrace it!

Finding original stories in the animation space feels rare this decade. Big studios like Pixar and Illumination continue to lean on reliable franchises like Toy Story and Minions to make a dent at the box office. It’s a risk to pitch an original idea and have the backing of a big studio to bring it to the screen, something directors Joel Crawford and Januel P. Mercado are up for the challenge. Having proven themselves with the critical and commercial success of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, the duo are bringing an original story to theaters with Forgotten Island. Inspired by their friendship, the animated movie centers on Filipino teens, Jo (H.E.R.) and Raissa (Liza Soberano), as they discover the fabled island of Nakali.

Ahead of the movie’s release, Collider’s Meredith Loftus sat down with Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado to discuss their latest movie. The duo unpack the movie’s origins and the memories they’ve made together throughout their friendship. Crawford and Mercado reveal that they have already started thinking about their next movie together, including sequel plans for Forgotten Island. Plus, the two break down the unique challenges they faced in pushing the medium of animation forward in the movie. You can watch the full interview in the video above, or you can read the transcript below.

The Idea for ‘Forgotten Island’ Traces Back to 2020

“We stepped away to create ‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ and then went back to it.”

Raissa and Jo dancing on a beach with fireworks going off in 'Forgotten Island' — Raissa and Jo dancing on a beach with fireworks going off in ‘Forgotten Island’

COLLIDER: Congratulations on Forgotten Island. I saw it last night and had so much fun with it. For the two of you, when did the idea first begin to percolate? How long had this been in the works?

JOEL CRAWFORD: Back in 2020, we had just finished The Croods: A New Age, working on that together. We started to kick around an idea of what story we would want to tell; and [we were] inspired by our friendship and then my wife’s from the Philippines and Daniel being Filipino-American and your sister. We had all these ingredients that we were actually like, “Oh, we want to tell something personal and original.” So it’s been six years. We stepped away to create Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and then went back to it. It has been just such a joy to experience this movie and now have it finished.

Speaking of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, I love that movie so much! I love that so many flavors of Puss in Boots made it over into Forgotten Island, but it has its own unique flair. For the two of you, coming off of that, what were the unique challenges that you saw in making sure that Forgotten Island had its own identity?

JANUEL P. MERCADO: I think with pushing the medium, you always want to do something different. We love incorporating 2D elements and that hand-drawn feeling in Puss in Boots, and we wanted to take a step further. You have already started seeing the anime inspiration and influence in Puss in Boots, and we wanted to continue pushing that, especially with expressions. That challenge was how do you get these broad 2D expressions with the 3D models. We have the best animation team in the world that started problem-solving and essentially using 2D drawn elements and stickers on 3D heads and shapes. That was one avenue where we knew it would be tough, but we felt that this could work. We know that this could work. People understood and were excited by that prospect, and it was easy to jump to solving that problem.

I mean, if it ain’t broke, break it.

MERCADO: Exactly! [Laughs]

CRAWFORD: That’s our mode.

It’s not trademarked. [Laughs]

CRAWFORD: Alright, I’m going to use it all over the place.

‘Forgotten Island’ Director Is Proud He Made This P-Pop Group Cry

“Every single one of them was putting their makeup back on because the movie destroyed them in the best way possible.”

Jo (H.E.R.) and Raissa (Liza Soberano) in 'Forgotten Island' — Jo (H.E.R.) and Raissa (Liza Soberano) in ‘Forgotten Island’

I also love that this movie is such a powerful celebration of female friendship at a unique period of transition. For you, why was it important to show this particular milestone and challenge in friendships onscreen for audiences?

CRAWFORD: We’ve said that our friendship inspired this movie, but there are so many themes in this movie that it really is about celebrating unsung heroes. People who do so much and maybe have never heard how much they mean to you, or a whole culture that really hasn’t had the center stage. Telling a movie called Forgotten Island, we really wanted to, especially with a female friendship, it celebrated the powerful women in our lives. My wife grew up in the Philippines until she was nine, and then your sister [looks at Mercado], right? It was really just like a love letter that felt right to write about them.

It is such a beautiful love letter, and it’s also a love letter to memories and the power of memories. I really love the line “We’ll always be together as long as we remember each other.” For you, what’s a memory from working on Forgotten Island that you hope you carry with you as time goes on?

MERCADO: It’s kind of a silly one. We have this amazing P-pop group BINI, the homegrown group of the Philippines that made one of our flagship songs. We showed them an early cut of the movie. They were all just up to the nines, like super powerful pop stars they are, and by the end of the movie they were all crying. My favorite memory was just seeing them all outside in the line, every single one of them was putting their makeup back on because the movie destroyed them in the best way possible.

What a mark of success, honestly. I also love the soundtrack of this movie and “Don’t Stop Believin'” is an anthem for Jo, Raissa, and Lola (Dolly de Leon). If you could pick a ’80s or ’90s power ballad to be your personal anthem, what would it be, or even for your own friendship?

MERCADO: Wow, that’s a great question.

CRAWFORD: “Danger Zone.”

MERCADO: I want to pick another Journey song, “Any Way You Want It.” Every time that slams on, I just want to party and dance with my friend. Jump on the table!

That is a great karaoke song, one that’s underutilized.

MERCADO: “Don’t Stop Believin'” gets all the love.

The ‘Forgotten Island’ Duo Have Ideas for a Sequel

“There are a lot of questions unanswered in the movie.”

Bungi, Jo, Raissa, and Mermahn in 'Forgotten Island' — Bungi, Jo, Raissa, and Mermahn in ‘Forgotten Island’

You two make such a dynamic duo. Clearly, your friendship has helped guide the two of you creatively. I got to know, are you already starting to think about the next project?

MERCADO: I’ve been focused on this. It’s funny, because we always talk about where we’re aching to get back in room and talk about the next thing—

CRAWFORD: Have such fun with that creative process.

MERCADO: Yeah, and then we’re kind of ADD, so we’re thinking about a lot of things at once. I remember the movie wasn’t finished yet, and we wanted to talk about other stuff, and I was like, “OK, I think we need to finish a movie first and focus.” Even now, we want to make sure this movie gets out there, so we’re focused on this. But there’s definitely stuff brewing that we haven’t really had the chance to touch base on.

CRAWFORD: Really, this movie Forgotten Island, it’s so special to us, but it’s become so special. Our whole cast and crew have brought so much of themselves to it, and I think collectively everybody really wants this movie to connect in a big way, to show studios that these kinds of stories are so specific, but they are universal. What would make us so happy is if we got to tell more stories in the Forgotten Island world, because you know this one is so successful.

Do you have sequel ideas? Because we do see at the end, they have the ability to go back.

MERCADO: I will say that there are a lot of questions unanswered in the movie. The world is already so much bigger than you see on-screen. That’s how we like to create stories. It’s a world that has its own history and has existed long before the viewer starts the story. There’s stuff in there. But the message of the movie is also about being in the moment. There’s this balance of wanting to think about the next thing, but we also want to be here and enjoy this time because it’s going by fast.

You want to hold on to the memory of right now while you can.

MERCADO: Hold on to that feeling. There’s no licensing issues with that.

CRAWFORD: You sang it.

MERCADO: I sang it off-tune though.

There are so many friendship bracelets. If you could make your own friendship bracelet, what project of yours would get its own charm on the friendship bracelet?

CRAWFORD: When Januel and I first started, when we really first met almost two decades ago working on Kung Fu Panda 2, we were sharing an office. We’re very immature. [Laughs] We got matching power wheel quads to drive around the office. We were like Dumb and Dumber.

MERCADO: It was funny for like 10 minutes. [Laughs]

CRAWFORD: But it was this thing of we have such similar sensibilities and just having so much fun creating and working together. I would get a little ATV charm.

MERCADO: I’ll look for one now.

Forgotten Island releases exclusively in theaters September 25, 2026.