Viva Kids Pulls Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass Forward Five Days

Viva Kids has accelerated the theatrical release of Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass by five days, moving the animated feature to September 4, 2026, from its previously announced September 9 date.

The shift, announced alongside updated marketing assets and a new trailer, lands the film in the early September corridor as the summer blockbuster window closes and the school year begins.

Written and directed by Gang Zhang, Forbidden Compass is rated PG and runs 94 minutes.

The film is distributed by Viva Kids, an independent all-rights distributor and production studio whose recent slate includes The Amazing Maurice, which debuted at Sundance before a wide theatrical run, Night of the Zoopocalypse, and The Pout-Pout Fish.

Viva Pictures, the parent operation, holds an equity interest in the 3D animation studio 3Doubles Producciones and Kazoo Films Distribution in the United Kingdom, and continues to develop a new production slate.

Release, Creative Team and Specs

Forbidden Compass is a Chinese co-production that first screened at the Shanghai International Film Festival before its U.S. theatrical bow.

That festival pedigree has become a recurring pattern for Viva Kids: the distributor has used international premieres as a launchpad for its wider theatrical releases, and the Shanghai debut positions the film as a globally conceived project rather than a domestic export.

The September 4 date is also strategically timed. Late summer releases typically face stiff competition from the season’s remaining tentpoles, while the post-Labor Day frame has historically been a quieter corridor aimed at family audiences returning to routine.

Pulling the film forward into the first weekend of September gives the title a clear runway before fall programming crowds the marketplace.

Plot and Franchise Evolution

The plot picks up the longtime cat-and-mouse rivals mid-chase through New York’s Metropolitan Museum, where their collision accidentally unleashes a mythical compass.

The artifact hurls Tom and Jerry across time and space, depositing them in a dangerous ancient city populated by a cunning crime lord, a power-hungry ruler, and an army of warriors.

To find their way home, the pair must do what generations of shorts have refused to entertain: cooperate.

The premise leans into the franchise’s slapstick origins while stretching the characters into a time-travel adventure built around an unlikely partnership.

Cooperation, not pursuit, is the engine of the story, a structural choice that reframes the duo for a feature-length run.

Awards Legacy and New Feature Push

Tom and Jerry have won seven Academy Awards, more than any other characters in the history of theatrical animation.

Forbidden Compass is the latest attempt to extend that legacy into a feature format that has, in recent years, leaned heavily on the cat-and-mouse brand.

“arrives in American theaters carrying a passport stamp almost nobody has noticed” — a nod to the Shanghai premiere preceding the domestic rollout

while placing the picture within a vast gap in the franchise’s recent output.

With the new date locked and marketing assets in market, Viva Kids is betting that pulling the release forward will give the film a cleaner launch window and the breathing room to find family audiences before the fall corridor fills up.

Sources

• Broadwayworld