Picture: DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation has really been its golden era over the past few years and is hitting its stride with standouts like Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Orion and the Dark for Netflix, and Kung Fu Panda 4. The Wild Robot takes it to a new level and is dominating the Awards season. It hit theaters in the United States last year and will join the Netflix US lineup this April.
Directed by Chris Sanders (The Croods, Lilo & Stitch), the new film follows a robot who becomes shipwrecked and has to learn about his harsh surroundings. Think Castaway meets The Iron Giant!
Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill, and Catherine O’Hara are among the impressive voice cast you’ll hear throughout the hour and 42-minute film runtime.
As we’ve already alluded to, the reviews are absolutely superb. The film has the coveted Certified Fresh and a 98% rating. One outlet wrote, “A rare cinematic experience, a very special and transfixing film that hits all the right buttons.”
When will The Wild Robot stream on Netflix in the United States?
Let’s begin with the United States, where we know that the movie will stream on Netflix. We know it’s coming to Netflix thanks to a deal in July 2021 that extended (and subsequently renewed again) an existing deal, bringing new DreamWorks and Illumination movies to the streamer in the US.
Netflix will get the movie in a pay-1 window. That window is 18 months and begins around 4 months after the movie drops in theaters. Netflix shares this window with Peacock (see below timeline), with Peacock taking the first 4 months, Netflix the next 10, and Peacock again for the final 4.
Release Schedule For Illumination Dreamworks Movies Netflix
Peacock released the movie slightly earlier than initially anticipated, with its PVOD debut in mid-October 2024 and its Peacock release being January 24th, 2025. That means the Netflix release date is much earlier than expected, too.
So, here’s a look (this is subject to change) at the revised streaming schedule for The Wild Robot in the United States:
- Pay-1 Peacock – January 24th, 2025 for 4 months
- Pay-1 Netflix – May 24th, 2025 for 10 months
- Pay-1 Peacock – March 24th, 2026
For more DreamWorks and Illumination titles coming up in 2025 and beyond, keep it locked here on What’s on Netflix.
Will other Netflix regions stream The Wild Robot?
Yes, but we don’t have a definitive deal in place like we do for the United States. Instead, we can rely on prior DreamWorks movies to see when they were available.
Regions that should see the movie drop around the same time as the US (~May 2025) will be Australia, Belgium, and South Korea, which all get DreamWorks movies in that first window period. From there, Canada, the United Kingdom, Latin American countries, and some Asian territories will receive the film around two years after release (~late 2026).
Are you going to be checking out The Wild Robot on Netflix? Let us know in the comments.
