Driftwood

Release poster

***Driftwood*** is a 2025 American animated musical space opera film produced by Cartoon Network Studios and released by Warner Bros. Pictures. The 25th Cartoon Network animated feature film, it is directed by Victor Courtright (in his feature-length directorial debut) from a screenplay by Marly Halpern-Graser, Nunzio Randazzo, and Stephen P. Neary. The film depicts a tiny mouse-like creature who races to find a city that has discovered a safe and sustainable fuel source, all while trying to avoid an evil overlord.

The film features the voices of Nicholas Braun, Elizabeth Perkins, Joaquin Phoenix, Meryl Streep, Taylor Lautner, and KiKi Layne. Christophe Beck was hired to compose the film's orchestral score, while Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez wrote the songs. Originally, the film was slated for a made-for-television release, until then–Warner Bros. CEOs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy heard the Lopez's songs, and decided to release the film in theaters worldwide. *Driftwood* had its exclusive theatrical release on July 18, 2025. It was also made available on HBO Max 45 days after its theatrical release. It was praised for its visuals, screenplay, themes, music, and voice acting; some film critics consider *Driftwood* to be Cartoon Network's best animated film since *Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi*.

During its theatrical run, the film was a significant commercial success, earning $328 million in worldwide box office revenue, overtaking *Knight School* to become the highest-grossing animated film of all time. It also became the fifth highest-grossing film of all time and the highest-grossing film of 2025.

## Plot

In a decaying forest civilization dependent upon a toxic fuel source and ruled by an evil organization, Clover — a tiny mouse-like creature — races across the stars to find Driftwood, society’s last free city which may hold the key to a safe and sustainable fuel source and future for the galaxy. The evil overlord Thorn will stop at nothing to eliminate Clover and destroy Driftwood in order to maintain their power. Clover, and his new friends Marigold and Caspia, must make a stand to stop them once and for all and save their forest on the edge of infinity.

## Voice cast

* Nicholas Braun as Clover
	+ Benjamin Mackey as young Clover
* Elizabeth Perkins as Clover's mom
* Joaquin Phoenix as Thorn
* Meryl Streep as Leader of Driftwood
* Taylor Lautner as Marigold
* KiKi Layne as Caspia

## Production

### Development

On May 6, 2022, it was announced that two new projects from Cartoon Network Studios were in production for HBO Max and Cartoon Network. Shortly afterwards, the former films' plot synopsis was revealed on Cartoon Network's official Twitter account. The voices in the film were set as Nicholas Braun, Elizabeth Perkins, Joaquin Phoenix, Meryl Streep, Taylor Lautner, and KiKi Layne. On August 23, 2022, after a huge restructuring at Warner Bros. Discovery, it was later announced that HBO Max would no longer be involved with the production of the film.

### Animation

Animation services were provided by Company 3 Animation, Cartoon Network Studios, Nørlum, Lightstar Studios, FuseFX, Tonic DNA, Synergy Animation Studios, Snipple Animation Studios, Cloud 10 Studios, Tomavision, Velorean Productions, Exit 73 Studios, Blink Industries, and Yearim Productions. The production team wanted the film to be done through hand-drawn animation because they wanted the visuals to remain similar to other films. The larger budget, time, and animators available to the filmmakers allowed the animation to be more detailed, such as adding more light, texture, and shadows into several shots. This team oversaw the flow of technical resources; animation software programs such as Toon Boom's Harmony, 3D modeling software programs such as Autodesk's Maya, and composition and background paint software programs like Adobe's After Effects and Photoshop were used on the production.

### Music

*Main article: Driftwood (soundtrack)*
The songs for *Driftwood* were written and composed by the husband-and-wife songwriting team of Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, both of whom are best known for worked with Disney Animation on *Winnie the Pooh* (2011), which was also a hand-drawn animated film. Originally slated for television or streaming release, the score was so well received (in demonstration form) by then Warner Bros. CEOs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, that the project's priority level moved up to feature theatrical release. This was due in great part to the perceived caliber of the song score throughout the studio. Cartoon Network was so eager to get both of them on board that the production team traveled to New York City to also pitch the film in person to Anderson-Lopez. Lopez believes Cartoon Network was particularly interested in his wife's strong story talent.

About 23 minutes of the film are dedicated to their musical numbers. Because they live in New York City, collaborating closely with the production team in Burbank required two-hour-long transcontinental videoconferences nearly every weekday for about 14 months. For each song they composed, they recorded a demo in their home studio (with both of them singing the lyrics and Lopez accompanying on piano), then emailed it to Burbank for discussion at the next videoconference. In the end, they wrote 10 songs for the film, of which made it into the final version. One song ("The Galaxy Is Full of Life") had a reprise, while the other ("My Only Hope") was covered by Post Malone and Ava Max and another ("Shine Like the Light") was covered by Jordan Fisher over the final credits, for a total of twelve songs.

In November 2024, Christophe Beck was hired to score the film, following his work with Disney Animation on *Frozen II* (2019), the sequel to *Frozen* (2013).

Under the supervision of sound engineer David Boucher, the lead cast members began recording the film's vocal tracks in October 2012 at the Sunset Sound recording studio in Hollywood *before* the songs had been orchestrated, meaning they heard only Lopez's demo piano track in their headphones as they sang.

Lopez and Anderson-Lopez's piano-vocal scores for the songs along with the vocal tracks were sent to Salem, Oregon-based Dave Metzger for arrangement and orchestration; Metzger also orchestrated a significant portion of Beck's score.

Beck worked with Lopez and Anderson-Lopez on incorporating their songs into arrangements in the score. The trio's goal "was to create a cohesive musical journey from beginning to end." Similarly, Beck's scoring mixer, Casey Stone (who also supervised the recording of the score), worked with Boucher to align their microphone setups to ensure the transitions between the songs and score were seamless, even though they were separately recorded on different dates. The final orchestrations of both the songs and score were all recorded at the Eastwood Scoring Stage on the Warner Bros. Pictures studio lot in Burbank by an 80-piece orchestra, featuring 32 vocalists. Boucher supervised the recording of Anderson-Lopez and Lopez's songs from March 17 to 19, 2025, then Stone supervised the recording of Beck's score from May 6 to 9 and 12 to 13. Boucher mixed the songs at the Eastwood stage, while Stone mixed the score at Beck's personal studio in Santa Monica, California.

## Release

### Theatrical and streaming

The film's premiere was at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California, on July 13, 2025, and had a five-day limited release there, starting from July 18, before going into wide release. The film was also available to stream on HBO Max in the United States 45 days after it released in theaters.

### Marketing

The marketing campaign from Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network for *Driftwood* began on November 15, 2024, when a T-shirt with the film's logo became available on the studio's shop websites. In December, it was announced that Mattel had expanded their deal with Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network to make merchandise for the film. On May 8, McDonald's launched its limited time campaign in the participating restaurants by including twelve toys free with the purchase of a Happy Meal.

A tie-in video game was released on June 24, 2025 by Activision.

### Home media

The film was released on digital on September 30, 2025 and on DVD and Blu-ray on October 21, by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. One of the special features includes an individual character interview with the film's characters Clover (voiced by Nicholas Braun), Marigold (voiced by Taylor Lautner), and Caspia (voiced by KiKi Layne).

## Reception

### Box office

*Driftwood* has grossed a worldwide total of $328.1 million, with $195 million in the United States and $70.2 million in other territories.

### Critical response

*Driftwood* opened to positive reviews, with several critics praising it for its visuals, themes, musical numbers, screenplay, and vocal performances, especially those of Braun, Lautner, and Streep. The "My Only Hope" musical sequence was also particularly praised by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a "Certified Fresh" rating of 91% based on 84 reviews and an average rating of 7.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "With its big-name cast and well as its original storyline, this shows *Driftwood* can stand on its own." Metacritic gave the film a score of 68 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gives the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 79% of filmgoers gave it a positive score, with 59% saying they would definitely recommend it.

## Transcripts

### Trailer transcripts

*Main article: Driftwood/Trailer transcripts*