A 2006 animated film featuring the voices of Bruce Willis and William Shatner is about to leave Netflix’s streaming library. It is a hilarious tale of a raccoon manipulating his fellow animals into stealing food from humans to pay off his food debt.
Over the Hedge exits Netflix in May
Netflix will drop DreamWorks Animation’s Over the Hedge from its catalog on Friday, May 1, 2026 (via What’s on Netflix).
Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick helmed the film with a screenplay by Len Blum, Lorne Cameron, David Hoselton, and Karey Kirkpatrick. The story is based on Michael Fry and T. Lewis’ syndicated comic strip of the same name. Despite debuting over three decades ago, the comic strip continues to run on GoComics.
Over the Hedge centers on a group of forest animals who wake from their hibernation. Soon, they learn that their peaceful lives are disrupted by a sudden suburban development next to their habitat. Moreover, a tall and endless hedge stands between them and the humans. Meanwhile, RJ, a raccoon, owes a dangerous bear named Vincent a lot of food after destroying the bear’s food pile. To pay off his debt, RJ manipulates the other animals to steal food from the humans.
The film’s voice cast includes Bruce Willis as RJ, William Shatner as Ozzie, Avril Lavigne as Heather, Steve Carell as Hammy, Nick Nolte as Vincent, Garry Shandling as Verne, Wanda Sykes as Stella, and Allison Janney as Gladys, among others.
Paramount Pictures handled Over the Hedge’s worldwide distribution and released it on May 19, 2006. The film garnered widespread praise from both general moviegoers and critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it currently has a user score of 71% and a critic approval rating of 75%. The critical acclaim helped the film gross $339.8 million at the global box office. It had a reported budget of $80 million.
Furthermore, the film also spawned a video game from the Call of Duty publisher, Activision. The game was released on May 9, 2006, and was available across various platforms.
