Last Chance: Bruce Willis and William Shatner’s $339 Million Blockbuster Exits Netflix

So, if you’ve been meaning to revisit that animated movie where Bruce Willis voices a scheming raccoon, heads up: 'Over the Hedge' is living on borrowed Netflix time. Yep, the 2006 DreamWorks comedy is about to vanish from the streaming lineup, so set your watch for a mandatory nostalgia binge before the clock runs out. It’s out of there on Friday, May 1, 2026.

The movie, directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick, is based on a long-running comic strip by Michael Fry and T. Lewis—one of those old-school newspaper strips that, believe it or not, is still going on GoComics thirty years later. Wild, right?

Why Should You Care About This Movie Again?

Here’s the rundown for those who need a refresher or just want to feel slightly older today: 'Over the Hedge' is about a bunch of cute forest animals who wake up from hibernation only to find suburbia has invaded their turf. But wait, there’s more. A massive, seemingly endless hedge suddenly walls off their home from the land of humans (and, crucially, the humans' trash—the ultimate animal buffet).

Leading the charge is RJ, a raccoon with a voice that could only be Bruce Willis, who’s got himself in hot water with a not-at-all-friendly bear named Vincent (cue Nick Nolte at his rumbliest). RJ owes Vincent a massive food debt after destroying the bear’s stash (don’t ask) and hatches a plan to trick the other animals into helping him steal groceries from the nearby suburbs. Morally questionable? Maybe. Entertaining? Absolutely.

The Voice Cast is, Frankly, Pretty Wild

• Bruce Willis as RJ (the raccoon with a problem and lots of attitude)
• Garry Shandling as Verne the neurotic turtle
• Steve Carell showing early crazy-energy as Hammy, the hyperactive squirrel
• Wanda Sykes as Stella, the sassy skunk (of course)
• William Shatner hamming it up as Ozzie, a possum with dramatic death scenes
• Avril Lavigne—I know, right?—as Heather
• Nick Nolte is the bear, Vincent
• Allison Janney as Gladys, the human villain

The writing credits are a laundry list, so here goes: Len Blum, Lorne Cameron, David Hoselton, and Karey Kirkpatrick all had a hand at the keyboard. Paramount Pictures was in charge of getting the film out to theaters, dropping it in May 2006.

Did 'Over the Hedge' Actually Do Well?

Short answer: Yup, and by more than a bit. Critics and audiences both liked it—a fairly rare combo. If you trust Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 75% approval rating from critics and a 71% from regular viewers. It raked in almost $340 million at the global box office, on a budget of around $80 million. So yeah, solid hit.

Bonus Oddities

Not enough late-2000s nostalgia yet? Activision, of all companies, turned 'Over the Hedge' into a video game (remember those movie tie-in games?) and released it on pretty much every platform they could. That one landed a full ten days before the movie hit theaters, just in case you were curious about raccoon heists in joystick form.

If you want to see Bruce Willis, William Shatner, Steve Carell, and Nick Nolte all try to outdo each other as animated animals—get your viewing in before May 1, 2026, or risk missing it for who knows how long.