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H.E.R., Liza Soberano, Lea Salonga, Dave Franco, Manny Jacinto and Jenny Slate are booking a trip to DreamWorks Animation’s Forgotten Island. The action-adventure comedy directed by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado centers on lifelong best friends forgetting about themselves. Jo (H.E.R.) and Raissa (Soberano) find themselves stranded on the fantastic world of the forgotten island of Nakali. They find that their only way home might come at the expense of a lifetime of memories and emotions. Mark Swift produces. Universal Pictures will release Forgotten Island on Sept. 25, 2026. Forgotten Island marks the third collaboration between Crawford and Swift, who received Academy Award, BAFTA, and Golden Globe nominations for the critically acclaimed film Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. The film will also mark the directorial debut for Mercado, who also served as co-director on Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and head of story for Crawford on The Croods: A New Age. Nathan Matthew David (Joy Ride, The Brothers Sun) will provide the score for the film. H.E.R. is a five-time Grammy winning, Oscar and Emmy winning music artist and actress. She won the Oscar for Best Song for “Fight for You” from Judas and the Black Messiah. She ventured into acting in 2023’s The Color Purple feature musical. H.E.R. is represented by Lighthouse Management + Media, CAA and Hertz Lichtenstein Young & Polk. Soberano made her Hollywood feature film debut in Focus Features’ Lisa Frankenstein, and the romantic comedy My Ex and Whys (2017) as well as the drama series Alone/Together (2019). She’s also the voice of the title character in Netflix’s animated series Trese. The actress is repped by Verve, 3 Arts Entertainment, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman. Salonga most recently starred in Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends on Broadway, which she previously starred in on the West End. She also starred in Here Lies Love on Broadway, which she produced as well. Salonga is best known for her Tony-Award winning role in Miss Saigon. In addition to her Tony, Lea has also received the Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Theater World Awards, the Time100 Impact Award from Time Magazine, and the Gold Legend Award from Gold House. She’s the singing voice of Princess Jasmine from Aladdin and Fa Mulan from Mulan and Mulan II. Her other credits include MAX’s Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin and Sony’s Yellow Rose, and can be heard on Netflix’s Centaurworld and FX’s Little Demon. The actress is repped by Amplified Entertainment. Franco recently starred with his wife Alison Brie in the romance horror pic Together, which NEON acquired out of Sundance. He can be seen next in Now You See Me: Now You Don’t from Lionsgate and has Paramount’s Regretting You currently in theaters. He recently wrapped production on The Shitheads, joining O’Shea Jackson and Peter Dinklage. He’s directed such movies as The Rental and Somebody I Used to Know. Franco is represented by Anonymous, WME and Felker Toczek Suddleson McGinnis Ryan LLP. Jacinto was seen this past summer in Disney’s sequel Freakier Friday, and has starred in NBC’s The Good Place, Disney+’s Star Wars: The Acolyte, as well as Netflix horror-thriller series Brand New Cherry, Top Gun: Maverick, ABC’s Once Upon a Time, Bate Motel, and The Good Doctor. Jacinto is represented by CAA, Alchemy Entertainment, Principals Talent and McKuin Frankel Whitehead. Emmy nominated Slate is a former cast member of Saturday Night Live. She recently starred in the FX series Dying for Sex opposite Michelle Williams. She will next star opposite Chris Pine in the indie romance film Carousel from director Rachel Lambert. Her feature credits include the multi-Oscar winning, Everything Everywhere All at Once and the Academy Award nominated, Marcel the Shell With Shoes On. Slate is represented by CAA, Linden Entertainment, Mosaic and Yorn, Levine, Barnes.
