Back to the Playa del Carmen

Back to the Playa del Carmen (Spanish: De regreso a Playa del Carmen) is an upcoming Mexican-American computer-animated musical comedy film written, produced and directed by Zack Isaac, who co-wrote the screenplay with Isaac and Elliott DiGuiseppi. Produced by DreamWorks Animation and the Mexican co-produced by Little Witch Pictures and owned by Amblin Partners, the film features the voices of Lin-Manuel Miranda, Anthony Ramos, and Demi Lovato. It was set to be released in limited theaters on December 19, 2025, by Universal Pictures followed by a video-on-demand release on December 25 on Netflix, HBO Max and Little Witch+ in Latin America.

Premise
A community of land crabs underneath Playa del Carmen beach boardwalk often play host to a community of sea crabs that come to the land for vacation and both species of crabs can't stand each other. Matías, a timid hermitt crab, is reluctant to go out and socialize due to how his mother and father died in a storm when he was younger and his rotting shell, inhabited by a fun-living organism named Roberto.

—DreamWorks Animation and Little Witch Pictures

Voice cast

 * Demi Lovato as Sofía
 * Anthony Ramos as Matías
 * Lin-Manuel Miranda as Roberto
 * Michael Peña as Mario
 * Eugenio Derbez as Danny
 * Zack Isaac as Agustín
 * Omar Chaparro as Félix
 * Sofía Vergara as Paulina
 * Salma Hayek as Conchita
 * Harvey Guillén as Amado
 * Benjamin Bratt as Señor Vagabundo
 * Aislinn Derbez as Daniela
 * Penélope Cruz as Julieta
 * Selena Gomez as Edna
 * Becky G as Laura
 * Polo Rojas as Cubeta
 * Damián Alcázar as Señor Marinero
 * Adriana Barraza as Señora Marinera
 * Salvador Reyes as Salsa Picante
 * Luis Valdez as Pepito
 * Axel Kuschevatzky as Papa
 * Eric Bauza as Rizado
 * Alberto Mar and Alberto Rodríguez as Los Unicornios

Production
In October 2023, a film titled Cangrejos en la Playa was announced as part of DreamWorks Animation's upcoming slate, with Zack Isaac writing, producing and directing the screenplay and Elliott DiGuiseppi, Mark Swift and Kelly Cooney Cilella producing. It was reported that Isaac was hired to direct the film, which was retitled Back to the Playa del Carmen. Amblin Partners' Mexican co-financed the film. The film was animated by DreamWorks Animation in Glendale, California, USA.

Release
Back to the Playa del Carmen is set to be released in limited theaters on December 25, 2025 by Universal Pictures. It was originally scheduled to be theatrically released on November 17-December 15. 2023, it was removed from the DreamWorks Animation release schedule with Trolls Band Together and Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget taking the date.