In Adventures in Zambezia, Kai's mother was killed by Budzo, which is the main reason that his father, Tendai, doesn't want him to go to Zambezia.
Arlo the Alligator Boy: Though the film is about Arlo in search of his father, we never get to see what his mother looked like, or whatever happened to her. According to Edmée, it's implied Arlo's mother passed away before the film. Her whereabouts have yet to be answered in the series.
In Barbie as Rapunzel, the mother of Prince Stefan and his little sisters and brother is never seen nor mentioned, while their father plays a significant role in the plot. Averted with Rapunzel, her mother is very much around and is seen at the wedding of Rapunzel and Stefan at the end of the movie.
In Barbie of Swan Lake, Odette and Marie's mother is never seen nor mentioned, only their father.
In Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses, the mother of the titular princesses died sometime before the start of the movie (at most four years ago, considering the youngest in the family celebrate a 5th birthday in one scene), which prompts their father to recruit his cousin Rowena to supervise the girls so they will start to behave more like "proper princesses". A large portrait of her hangs in the castle, and her loss is felt very acutely by the king and the princesses.
Played with in regards to Manolo's mother Carmen. She dies before the events of the film, and it is never explained why, but she still becomes a supporting character due to the nature of the setting. Manolo meets her in the Land of the Remembered, and she accompanies him on his journey.
Joaquin's mother is never mentioned or seen in the film. However, it has been confirmed that she left San Angel when Captain Mondragon was killed.
Word of God confirmed that Maria's mother divorced her father and moved to Spain.
In The Boxtrolls, Eggs' is never seen. Averted with Winnie, but Lady Portley-Rind isn't involved with the main plot.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: Flint's mother dies when he was young. Although this was an important plot point; she encouraged him to pursue his scientific dreams and his dad never understood him. His mom was essentially their translator.
Snow White is taken care of by her step-mother. It is unclear what happened to her parents. However a Disney storybook based on the movie hints that her parents died; her mother suffered Death by Childbirth like in the original fairy tale, and the father was poisoned by the queen.
Bambi: The eponymous character's mother is killed by hunters.
Cinderella: The main character's mother is deceased. The Prince's mother is also absent. One of the sequels confirms that she's dead, and that the King loved her very much. (However, in many non-Disney adaptations, the Queen is still alive.)
In The Great Mouse Detective, Olivia is trying to get Basil to help her find her father. He says "Surely your mother knows where he is" and she says "I don't have a mother." The implication is that Mom is dead.
The Little Mermaid: No mention is made of Ariel's mother, or what became of her. Ariel's Beginning reveals she was named Athena. Ariel's love of music comes from her mother, who died in a hit-and-run with a pirate ship. Since that event, King Triton banned music from Atlantica in grief, so Ariel's Beginning is about how the music was brought back.
Beauty and the Beast: There is no mention of what happened to Maurice's wife. Not so in the stage musical and live-action remake, which reveals her to be dead and still honoured in the family.
Aladdin: Aladdin's mother, who appears in the original story, was going to be in the movie as well, but was dropped early on. In the third movie he mentions that his mother died when he was a kid. The Sultan's wife is mentioned as being deceased. In one of the direct-to-TV princess movies, it is shown that the Sultan spends a great deal of time with his wife's stallion, Sahara, indicating that she died quite recently.
The title character of Pocahontas also has a dead mother and receives a necklace in memory of her. According to Wikipedia, though it's not outright stated in the film, the mother's spirit is the source of the Dramatic Wind that follows the heroine throughout.
Quasimodo's Roma mother in The Hunchback of Notre Dameis kicked down a flight of stone stairs and cracks her head open while trying to save her baby son from Frollo. His father was arrested, so one can assume she's dead. (Considering Quasimodo has fair skin, he may not be their biological son; on the other hand, he may be Roma and have the fair skin as part of his deformity. In any case, it still counts.)
Li Shang from Mulan has a father but no mother ever mentioned, though she could theoretically be alive offscreen.
Aladar is separated from his mother when his egg is unexpectedly taken away from her nest by a hungry Oviraptor while his mother was trying to protect said nest from the Carnotaurus. The Oviraptor then takes the egg into a nearby forest where it proceeds to crack it open and eat the fetus inside, but loses the egg to another Oviraptor. While the two Oviraptors begin to fight over the egg, Aladar's egg rolls off a ledge and into a nearby river where it is then picked up by a passing Pterodactyl. The Pterodactyl then flies the egg all the way to Lemur Island (home to Aladar's eventual foster family of lemurs) and leaves it there, where he will eventually hatch and be adopted. It's implied that his biological mother was either killed by the Carnotaurus (who also smashed her other eggs) or was among the many dinosaurs that was killed by the meteorite.
Inverted with Baylene however. She, despite being one of the oldest dinosaurs in the film, actually lost her spouse, as well of all of her siblings and her descendants to the meteorite, therefore making her the last surviving Brachiosaurus on Earth. Also, Plio, the lemur girl that adopts Aladar, despite her father being the chief of the lemur clan, actually doesn't have a mother as well. Inverted with Plio herself, where even though she already has a daughter named Suri, she actually doesn't have a husband.
Atlantis: The Lost Empire: Kida's mother, the former queen of Atlantis, is sacrificed by the Mother Crystal as an attempt to save the eponymous lost city from a tidal wave at the very beginning of the film. Unfortunately, she cannot save her kingdom, and as a result she is pronounced dead once Atlantis ends up underwater. Kida actually loses her father later on to internal bleeding, therefore making her The High Queen.
Brother Bear: The bear Kenai killed as revenge for killing his older brother is actually Koda's mother.
The titular Chicken Little suffers from this. As evidenced by Buck looking at the family picture in despair, it's implied that she died long before the film.
Meet the Robinsons: Lewis' mother left him in an orphanage. His desire to discover her drives most of the story.
Jasmine: Do you have daddy issues? Vanellope: I don’t even have a mom! Jasmine, Ariel, Pocahontas, Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, Elsa & Anna:(Excitedly while posing) Neither do we!
Subverted in Strange World when Searcher catches up with his father Jaeger. Searcher mentions that his mother is "gone", and Jaeger quickly assumes that she's dead. However, Searcher clarifies that his mother left Jaeger for Sheldon because she believed that the former died in the expedition, and she still lives with the latter in town.
In Over the Hedge, the absence of Ozzie's mate and Heather's mother is never addressed.
In the first Kung Fu Panda we see the eponymous panda and his father, and no mother. And we don't even get to know what happened to her. According to The Art of Kung Fu Panda, the directors originally intended to put Po's mother into the story, but decided in the end that it distracted from the main story and wasn't very interesting. The fact they didn't want to make Po seem special for having a goose father, and that they wanted to play silly buggers with the audience about the Oblivious Adoption may also have had something to do with it. It's finally revealed in Kung Fu Panda 2 that both of Po's biological parents were seemingly killed by Lord Shen during his attempted genocide of the panda species. The Sequel Hook at the end shows that Po's dad survived, but it's implied that his mother pulled a Heroic Sacrifice to save Po and is most likely dead.
It is discussed in How to Train Your Dragon that Hiccup's mother passed away before the events of the movie. In the sequel, however, she turns out to be alive. Everyone had just assumed she was dead because she was last seen being carried off by a dragon (which she ultimately tamed long before her son ever did).
In Epic (2013) MK moves in with her father because her mother passed away. It becomes the source of where most of MK's and her dad's dramatic moments come from.
Finding Nemo: Nemo's mother was killed by a barracuda, along with all of Nemo's unhatched siblings.
Mars Needs Moms: Milo's mom gets kidnapped by Martians and he has to rescue her.
Mia of Meth Head is an interesting case in which we see the missing mom without the daughter. She lost her daughter because of her drug use but she tried to keep an eye on her by watching her daughter's web site.
In Miracle in Toyland, Jesse's mother is never seen nor mentioned, though his relationship to his distant father a major plot point.
Polly's mother is never mentioned in the two early animated Polly Pocket movies, but her absence is a plot point in "Pollyworld". Polly's father would remarry. Lorelei, Polly's stepmother-to-be, planned to send her Off to Boarding School out of jealousy and tricked Polly's father into thinking it'd be good for Polly. Fortunately, he saw Lorelei's true colors on time to call off the engagement.
There is no mention of Remy's mother in Ratatouille. Early production art shows that she was intended to be a character (named Desiree), but was dropped to allow greater focus upon the father-son relationship between Django and Remy.
Song of the Sea has Bronagh, who disappeared on the night of her daughter Saoirse's birth. As a result, Saoirse's father Conor has become wistful and distant and her brother Ben blames her for their mother's "death". In the end, she becomes this permanently since as a selkie, she must go across the sea with the other fairies to their homeland, though she's still able to bid her family goodbye.
Odette's mother in The Swan Princess is never seen, and it's heavily implied in the opening scene that she experienced Death by Childbirth. Inverted with Derek, whose mother is alive and father appears to have died when he was very young.
Hannah's mother is deceased, though whether this is before or after the eponymous period of devastation is unclear. Jim's parents commit suicide together some time before he wakes from his coma, realising somewhat what's happening, and though Jim is an adult this is presumably part of why he bonds so well with the much older Frank.
According to Word of God Selena had to kill her entire family in one afternoon. No wonder she's so cold.
Aaron Loves Angela: Aaron's mom is a dancer who got bored of her family and moved to Paris. She didn't take Aaron along because he was too much like his dad.
Absolute Power (1997): Luther's wife, Kate's mother, died in the past. It becomes a plot point when Luther swears he's telling the truth about President Richmond by saying he's swearing to this on her grave. Kate knows he would never do that and lie, so it convinces her.
Afterlife of the Party: Cassie's mom left when she was little. She was raised by her dad mostly, and they had little contact. Cassie finds it hard to forgive her when it's a task she's given in the afterlife, nearly risking her eternal destination over it. She does manage to once her mom expresses great regret for abandoning her though.
Amélie loses her mother to an accident early in her life which (depicted in the A Minor Kidroduction). Her death leaves Amelie behind with an absent-minded father.
Arcade: The film starts with Alex finding her mother's body after the latter has been Driven to Suicide.
The Archer: Michael's mother is long gone, since his father got full custody of him.
One of the main plot threads of Korean film Punch! is the teenaged protagonist Wan-deuk reuniting with his mother, who abandoned him when he was a baby. Although she's clearly ashamed about it, the film never really explains why she left. Apparently she just couldn't get along with Wan-deuk's father.
In As It Is in Heaven Daniel and Lena both have lost their parents at a young age.
Attachment: Maja's mom recently died, leaving her the house which since then she's lived in. She's still coming to terms with her death.
In Batman Begins, while both Bruce's parents die, he spends the rest of the movie obsessed only with whether or not his father would be proud of him. Mother is not mentioned after her death, and while she does appear on film, she's not cast as a speaking part.
The Beastmaster: In Beastmaster 2, Jackie tells Dar that her mom died a few years ago. She still misses her.
Gender inverted AND played straight in Beyond the Lights. Noni's father didn't bother sticking around after getting her then-teenage mother pregnant (per Macy, he "didn't give a shit" about her). Meanwhile, Kaz's mother is not mentioned once in the entire film (Word of God says that she left him and his father when he was seven).
In The Big Night, George is being raised by his father Andy. He believes his mother is dead, but, at the end of the film, Andy reveals that his mother had actually run off with another man. Andy had hidden the truth because he didn't want George growing up hating his mother.
Neither Bill & Ted films mention the titular dudes' biological mothers. Seeing as Missy was married to Bill's dad in the first and then Ted's dad in the second, it's pretty obvious that they're either dead or simply not around.
Billy Madison: Billy's mom isn't seen nor mention throughout the movie.
Implied in The Black Balloon (2007). Jackie thinks that if she could get the visual snow when she closes her eyes to go away, she'd be able to see her mom.
Black Panther: Killmonger's mother isn't even so much as mentioned outside of being an American woman his father, N'Jobu, fell in love with.Word of God on the commentary is that she was in prison, died there not long after N'Jobu was killed, and in fact, the plan N'Jobu and Zuri were going over at the start of the film was to break her out.
Black Widow reveals that Natasha Romanoff spent most of her life believing that her birth mother abandoned her in the street which led to her being picked up by the Red Room. Her surrogate mother Melina eventually reveals that Natasha's biological mother didn't give her up willingly and spent years searching for her. Her efforts nearly exposed the operations of the Red Room so its leader, General Dreykov, had her killed to protect the organisation.
The Bloody Man: Sam's mother died in a car accident before the events of the movie. Sam's older brother, Michael, says it's because she left work early to get to an event of Sam's. Sam retorts that it was because she left because she had to deal with a case of tardiness from Michael.
The Boogeyman (2023): The girls' mother and Will's wife was recently killed in a car accident. All of them are still mourning her, with the girls having therapy together for it. Will, though a therapist himself, hasn't opened up about it with his daughters and dealt with the loss well. Sadie wears a dress of her mom's early on, and is quite unhappy with her dad not talking to her about it. His trying to get rid of her mom's old things also angers Sadie. The three's sadness over her death turns out to be a plot point, as it's their sorrow which causes the Boogeyman's targeting them, as it preys on people like them. Lester's apparent suicide is implied to be the work of the Boogeyman, though nothing is ever stated.
The Boy (2015) has an example in the form of Ted's mother. She left with one of the guests at the hotel.
Boy Eats Girl: Jessica's mother is dead, judging by the fact she's only mentioned in the past tense.
The Boy Who Cried Werewolf: Jordan and Hunter's mother died before the events of the film. It overshadows them, along with their dad, as they're all still mourning her (along with being the motive for Hunter's pranks, since they did these together). Her family relations also spur the plot, since they inherit a castle in Romania from her Romanian great-uncle.
Breaking the Girls: Alex's mother drowned in their pool years ago-Alex says this was a suicide. Later though it's indicated that Alex's father killed her.
The Bronze: Hope's mom died when she was just an infant, which is mentioned repeatedly. However, it serves as an excuse for her poor behavior and to gain sympathy from others.
The Burning Sea: Sofia's boyfriend Stian has a young son, Odin. Odin's mother is never seen or spoken about.
Casper: Kat's mother Amelia died before the start of the film; her father Dr. Harvey's longing to find his wife's ghost is what motivates his career as a ghost therapist and sets the whole plot in motion. Casper's mom might also have been this when he was alive, as he only mentions her once in passing, and says that he became a ghost when he died "so my dad wouldn't be lonely."
Reuben from A Child Is Waiting is a mentally disabled boy whose mother hasn't visited him once since he was dropped off at the mental institution two years ago. Every Wednesday, he gets dressed up and waits for his parents, but to no avail.
In Clueless, Cher mentions at the start of the film that her mother died when she was a baby from a plastic surgery procedure gone wrong.
In Contact, Ellie's mom died during childbirth, adding to her loneliness in the universe but mostly ignored for the rest of the movie.
Corky Romano: The Romano brothers' mother died sometime past, with his father later saying Corky has a lot of her in him, and that their family started to fell apart with her death.
The Craft: Legacy: The mother of Adam's sons seems to have died in the past since he raised them alone.
Custody (2007), Amanda's mother died prior to the start of the film, leaving her stepfather to raise her.
In the DC Extended Universe, per the lore of The DCU, several characters have had to grow up without their mothers, be they dead (most of the time) or missing.
Lara Lor-Van (Ayelet Zurer), mother of Kal-El/Superman, perished in the destruction of Krypton shortly after Kal was sent to Earth.
Barry Allen's mother Nora (Maribel Verdú) was murdered (as mentioned in Justice League and seen in The Flash), and her husband Henry has been falsely accused of doing it.
Aquaman (2018): Queen Atlanna to Arthur and Orm. She is among the few things that bound them together, and her execution impacted them deeply. Until the third act, where it is revealed that she is still alive.
In SHAZAM!, Billy Batson spends every possible moment looking for his mother, whom he got separated from at a street fair at a very young age. He abandons several presumably good foster homes to look for her, despite a social worker telling him it's not worth the effort. She was right, as Billy's mother was a scared teenage mom whose boyfriend abandoned her. She deliberately abandoned Billy once she saw that he had been successfully turned over to the police. When Billy finally tracks down his birth mother and learns the truth, it serves as the moment when he not only embraces his secret identity seriously but also fully accepts the foster family he's been placed with as his own.
Dear White People: Troy's father plays a large role in the film, but his mother is unmentioned and never seen.
In Den Brother, Alex's mother died prior to the events of the film.
In Geek Charming, Dylan's mother passed away when she was 8.
In Teen Beach Movie, Mack's mother died sometime prior to the start of the film. Mack decides to attend a private school far away thinking it is what her mother would want.
Doctor in Love: Wildewinde's mother passed away prior to the film. When he gets drunk, the thought of her makes him emotional.
Dragonslayer: We never find out what became of Valerian's mother in the film-she's not even mentioned. In the novelization, she was sacrificed to the dragon in the past (changing the "only virgins" idea).
The Dry: Ellie lived with her father and her cousin Grant: her mother having run off to escape her abusive husband. A flashback showing the Falks leaving town after Ellie's death shows that the household consists of just Aaron and his father, but it is not clear if his mother is dead or if his parents are divorced.
Enchanted: Morgan's mother left. We had the explanation, and it was significant. Prince Edward has a missing mom too, hence his stepmother.
Ever After is another Cinderella retelling, so naturally Danielle's mother Nicole is dead. She presumably died in childbirth, since Danielle never knew her; being raised from birth by her father alone partly explains Danielle's tomboyish personality. She uses Nicole's name as a pseudonym when she disguises herself as an aristocrat, though, and later wears her wedding dress and slippers to the royal ball.
Fallen: There's no explanation of where Sam's mom is. He just lives with his dad, who's implied to be mildly mentally challenged (perhaps Sam's mom left him before the film's events?), and Uncle John.
Fighting Mad (1976): Tom is separated from his wife, who has lived for the last year with a man who doesn't get along with their young son Dylan. As a result, she and Dylan haven't seen much of each other.
Firehouse Dog: The strained relationship between Shane and his father Connor is a major arc in the film, but Shane's mother's whereabouts are unknown and Connor appears to be raising him as a single parent.
Fly Away Home begins with the heroine's mother dying in a car crash.
In Forward Gardemarines, one of the heroes is a bastard, whose mother, a poor woman, died in childbirth — and thus his father, a rich count, hates him.
Free Willy: Jesse was abandoned by his mother when he was only six, which informs much of his character and why he bonds with a six-ton whale. The first sequel reveals that she had another son as well before having the courtesy of dying and leaving his older half-brother as his only family.
Friends with Benefits: Dylan's mother left his father 10 years before the movie. It appears he and his sister Annie haven't been in contact with her since then. He understandably comes off as bitter over this, particularly also since they've had to care for their father, who has Alzheimer's, without help.
The Giant (2016): Rikard's mother had a psychotic break when he was very young, and he was taken from her. Now she's well enough to live in her own apartment, but he still hasn't seen her in years. With no family available, Rikard lives in an institution.
Girlfight: Diana's mom died in the past. It's later revealed she killed herself, with Diana accusing her father of driving her into it due to abusing her.
Godzilla (1954): Emiko's mother is not mentioned. We are assumed that Kyohei Yamane is widowed in this film, since Emiko lives with her father.
Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla: Not really missing. When Sara's mom was pregnant with Sara's younger sibling, she became sick. Both her mom and sibling ended up dying, and Sara became very sensitive about life and death as a result.
MonsterVerse: Sandra Brody, Ford's mother in Godzilla (2014), is killed by the Janjira reactor breach in the Distant Prologue. Meanwhile, practically nothing is known about Ishirō Serizawa's mother even after the release of Godzilla Awakening, but the prequel seems to hint she either died in the Hiroshima bombing or otherwise left/died before the event (the baby Ishirō was in a different part of town from his father when the bomb fell, and Eiji chose to leave Ishirō in the care of his grandparents after the bombing).
This is the plot of Grace Is Gone. The mother died in Iraq, and the father tries to explain this to kids.
The Guest House: Rachel's mom died of cancer quite suddenly, and she's still devastated by her loss. It turned her into a much more unhappy person, taking up goth styles in reflecting that.
In Hancock, Aaron's mother died shortly after his birth, but he has a stepmom who may as well be his mother since she's known him from his infancy.
In Holiday, Linda and Julia's mother died some time after giving birth to their brother, Ned.
Horns: Merrin's mother died of cancer in her childhood, which she doesn't like to talk about. This becomes relevant later-it turns out to be hereditary, so she gets the same kind.
In a World…...: Lake Bell's father is either a widower or divorced; we don't hear much about her mom.
Independence Day: Russell Case is raising his kids alone. By a comment he makes, she probably died of a chronic illness, possibly the same one his child suffers from.
In the Name of the King: Farmer's mother was killed in a massacre, and he became lost. Peasants took him in afterward.
In Into the Woods, by the end of the play everyone's mother is dead.
The Invisible Man (2020): James appears to be a single father for Sydney, as her mother is never seen or mentioned.
Juno: The eponymous character's biological mother walked out of her life following the parents' divorce, and barely has contact with her. Luckily, Juno also has a stepmother she's pretty close with.
In Killer Diller (2004), Vernon's mother is dead. Wesley tells people that his is, too, but the truth is that she walked out on him.
In The Kissing Booth, Elle's mom died when she was fourteen of cancer.
In Knockout, Belle's mom died when she was nine. Some of her motherly advice is what inspires Belle to become a pro boxer years later.
Kramer vs. Kramer features a rarely portrayed instance of the mother leaving the family, wherein the mother Joanna leaves her son Billy with his father and her husband, Ted. This movie is more even-keeled than most films featuring Parental Abandonment as it shows Ted initially being a workaholic executive who didn't have much involvement with the home-life or the raising of their son while Joanna, a struggling house-wife, experiences the need to find herself and asks for a divorce. The film focuses on the re-adjustment of Ted's life, where he learns to raise Billy on his own and they develop a close father-son rapport. A year and a half later, Joanna returns to take Billy back but Ted refuses and a custody battle ensues. Joanna is awarded custody on the assumption that a child is best raised by the mother but, despite wanting Billy, she realizes that her son's true home is with Ted and decides not to take custody away from him.
Kuntilanak: At the start of the movie, Anjan and his dad are still dealing with the loss of Anjan's mother. Anjan is convinced it's his fault because he asked her to go out and get him his remote-controlled car.
Leave No Trace: In one scene Tom asks Will about her mother/his wife, who is implied to have died before Tom could get to know her.
Legends of the Hidden Temple: Olmec's wife/Thak and Zuma's mother is not seen or mentioned in the flashback or the present day, leaving the reason for her absence unstated.
In Life-Size, Casey Stuart attempts to bring her mom back to life with a magic spell, but instead accidentally brings her doll Eve, a parody of Barbie, to life instead.
Listen to Your Heart: Danny's mother died from cancer. He was there when she died too, and it clearly had traumatized him as he kills himself so his friend Roger won't witness Danny dying too.
Mary's mother died from cancer just a couple years before the film began, and she's clearly still in mourning. When relating what happened to Tori and Paulie, all three grow tearful. They give her the nickname "Mary Brave" as a result. She also reminisces about her mother to Joe, the gardener, helping him because her mother and Mary gardened together.
Paulie's birth mother, meanwhile, gave her up for adoption and she really wants to reunite (not liking her foster parents at all). Unfortunately, her birth mother doesn't want this, which clearly devastates Paulie (although she pretends otherwise) and likely does no favors to her mental state as Tori had just broken up with her then too.
Love Is Not Perfect: Elena left her daughter Claudia with Marco, Claudia's father, as she had no desire for motherhood. She breaks down in tears while confessing it to Ettore (who's an absent father to his own children) and later does meet her daughter, who's eight by then. It's indicated they forge a relationship. This seems to inspire her having a baby by Ettore too.
In Mädchen in Uniform, Manuela's missing mother plays a pivotal part in her attraction to her female teacher, in whom she sees a surrogate mother as well as a lover.
Mad Love (1995): Matt's mom left when he was nine. He found out after she failed to pick him up from school and he walked home in the rain. Since then, Matt has been Promoted to Parent of his younger twin siblings.
In Billboard Dad, the twins play two sisters who work to get a girlfriend for their widowed father.
In their final film, New York Minute, the twins' mother is dead prior to the movie's start. This makes Roxy turn into a rebellious teen and Jane a micromanager to fill the void left by her mom.
In Mary Poppins Returns, a grown-up Michael Banks struggles in being a single parent to three young children after the death of his wife.
Mean Girls 2: Jo says her mom died when she was little, and she's been raised by her dad ever since. This perhaps explains why she's a tomboy.
The child protagonists of Millions lost their mother before the events of the film.
Angus' mother walked out on his family after a flaming row with his father. Happily, she comes back after his time at Chartham Place is over:
Angus: When's Mummy coming back?
Angus' Father: Soon... I'd better go.
Vanilla lies to Catherine that her mother jumped out of a window after her father died in jail.
Angus wants to feed a frog who claims told him that his mummy went away.
Not Another Teen Movie: Janey's mom died of cancer when she was young. After this she had to step up and do things her mom formerly did, including breastfeed her little brother.
John's mother has been living separately from him for years. After they reconnect in his teens, he starts reforging a relationship with her. He eventually learns this is because his aunt Mimi took him away due to some questionable behavior on Julia's part. To top it all off, she's then killed in a car accident, devastating him.
It's also discussed that Paul's mother died from cancer the year before he met John.
Wesley's mother is never mentioned, and Charlie's infatuation with Betty and description of his retirement plans suggest that they're single.
Nutcracker Massacre: After Clara gets to her Aunt Marie's house, the two discuss Clara's mother, who apparently isn't around anymore. Marie says she misses her (they were sisters by blood), but that having Clara around makes it feel as if there's still a part of her around.
Dave's mother left the family two years ago in Off the Black, which has apparently crushed the spirit of David's father, and leaves David and his sister adrift.
Ophelia: Ophelia's mother died when she was very young. This is part of the reason Gertrude takes her on as one of her ladies, as Polonius admits he's clueless as to how to raise a girl.
Paranormal Prison: Sara tells Jacob outside of death row that her mom died when she was 10 years old. The night after, when Sara was crying into her pillow over it, her mother appeared to her. She only stared at Sara in a way to try and convey that things would be all right, before disappearing.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop has this in a somewhat new direction: said missing mom was an illegal immigrant who only married the titular character long enough to gain citizenship and have a daughter before she took off.
This is Susan's fate in The Parent Trap (1961), while her twin Sharon has a Disappeared Dad, due to their parents' Solomon Divorce. Once they find each other, their goal is to reunite their parents and make their family complete again.
This is Hallie's fate in The Parent Trap (1998), while her twin Annie has a Disappeared Dad, due to their parents' Solomon Divorce. Once they find each other, their goal is to reunite their parents and make their family complete again.
Almost everyone in Pirates of the Caribbean. Elizabeth Swann was raised by a doting father; her mother is mentioned once in a throwaway line which establishes that she is dead. Will Turner's Disappeared Dad is a major plot point; his mother is mentioned once in a throwaway line which establishes that she is dead. Jack Sparrow's father is a powerful and respected pirate; his mother is shown once, as a Shrunken Head, establishing that she is dead. Angelica Teach's father is the main villain of the fourth film; her mother is mentioned once in a throwaway line which establishes that she is Latina and dead. Carina Smyth's father is Captain Hector Barbossa; her mother's name was Margaret, and she is dead. Elizabeth is the only named female character who has a child and is still alive.
Plan B: Lupe's mom died in the past. Since then, her dad became very strict and overprotective.
In Pretty in Pink, Andie's mom abandoned Andie and her dad sometime before the movie started. The two of them coming to terms with it is addressed.
The Pretty One: Audrey and Laurel's mother is dead when the film begins. Laurel has kind of taken over her role in the house, cooking for her dad and wearing her clothes. Audrey chides her gently for this and says she needs to move on, which Laurel does at her urging.
Princess Cyd: Cyd's mom was killed in the past. It turns out that her brother was the killer.
Marian has been dead for years at the start of Princess of Thieves. Her absence is one of the reasons Gwyn grows up such a tomboy.
Nobody in Rags seems to have a mother. In the case of Charlie and Kadee, their mothers are dead; what happened to Andrew and Lloyd's biological mother is never explained.
Repo! The Genetic Opera has Marni, Shilo's mother, who died before the movie began, and the missing mother(s) of the three Largo children.
Rhymes for Young Ghouls: Anna, Aila's mother, kills herself very early in the film after accidentally killing her own son.
Scanner Cop: Sam was adopted after his dad died. There's no mention of his mom though (or any other family).
Sidney Prescott's mother, Maureen, died in a horrific homicide a year before. Sid is still coping with the stress of it all, which obviously doesn't help when she gets stalked and hunted by a serial killer.
Sidney's boyfriend, Billy Loomis, grew up with a single father because his mother walked out on the family. It's later revealed that she did that because Mr. Loomis cheated on her with Maureen, which led Billy to kill Maureen. Mrs. Loomis would later feature in Scream 2 as the true identity of Debbie Salt and Ghostface, wanting to kill Sidney for killing her son.
The Ghostface of Scream 3 is Sidney's half-brother, Roman Bridger, who is the product of Maureen's rape by Hollywood executives. She gave him up for adoption, then slammed the door in his face when he tried to reconnect with her years afterward.
The Secret (2007): Hannah dies of her injuries from a car accident early on, but then lingers while in her daughter Sam's body. However, when Sam's soul becomes dominant briefly, she's desperate to find out where Hannah is, not remembering what happened. After she's returned fully and Hannah is gone, Sam remembers, accepting her mom's death. They were already estranged, though Hannah tells her in a video tape she leaves behind that she's come to understand her better. Because of this, the pair have a posthumous reconciliation.
Shelter (2007): Zach and Jeanne's mother. Everyone speaks of her in the past tense, implying that she is dead. It is also more or less stated that she burned out taking care of her addicted husband and her children.
Sheroes: Diamond tells Jasper her mom left when she was little, without even saying anything beforehand, which devastated her dad. In particular:
Silent Tongue: Silent Tongue ran away from Eamon; leaving her two daughters in the care of of their drunken father.
Sinister Stepsister, Carlee's mother died and she goes to Jeff, who is her biological father, to find out the truth about her past, and he takes her in, as he had no idea about her.
In The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Bridget's mother is dead, presumably having committed suicide because of mental instability. Her funeral is shown briefly when the characters are introduced. Later, after Bridget gets it on with her soccer coach, she cries and wishes her mom was still alive to talk things over with.
This is explored a bit more in the sequel, when she visits her grandmother and has a nightmare about her mother abandoning her. Apparently there had been one last chance for them to get her to get help for her mental problems, but the only way to convince her to do so was if her mother lied that she was alright. Bridget's grandmother confessed that she was unable to lie to her daughter about it.
Sleepless in Seattle: Jonah's mother died more or less recently, which prompts him to find his dad a new wife and himself a new mother.
In The Sound of Music there is no mother in the von Trapp family. Captain von Trapp is explicitly referred to as a widower, setting the stage for Maria to become the children's new mother figure and eventually the Captain's second wife. Truth in Television: Agathe von Trapp died of scarlet fever four years before Maria entered the household.
In Spaceballs, Princess Vespa has (naturally) no mother.
In The Film of the Book for The Spiderwick Chronicles, the children's mother is a rare case of a Missing Mom who is physically present but absent in the motherly duties thing. She was so fixated on doing everything the way they "agreed" they would in therapy, and refused to discuss anything else. She did get better, though.
Stardust: Tristan Thorn's mother is missing. She's a Damsel in Distress on the other side of the wall. She is a rare example of the type of Missing Mom who is rescued and returns for the Happy Ending.
Star Trek: Insurrection: Artim lives with only his father Sojef. His mother is not mentioned or seen. The novelization says she died shortly after he was born.
Luke Skywalker in Star Wars is far more curious about his long dead (supposedly) father than his mother. Hell, he doesn't even ask about her - on screen - until the third film, and then it's only because he's getting ready to break the news to Leia that they're siblings.
Savannah's mother in Sunday School Musical died a few months before the events of the film. It's left the relationship between her and her pastor father more than a bit strained.
In Super 8, Joe's mother died in an accident at the factory where she worked, something that haunts Joe and his father deeply.
Mayor Perkins: I wanted you to meet my daughter, Sheriff. She's a good cook, a mighty fine-looking girl. Takes after her dear, departed mother. Jason McCullough: Mother died, huh? Mayor Perkins: Nope, she just departed.
Tamara: Tamara's mom left due to her dad's crippling alcoholism. She resents him for this.
Tomb Raider (2018): Lara's mother died long before the events of the film and was a motivator for her father's work into finding the supernatural.
Tragedy Girls: Neither Sadie nor Jordan have a mother around. Sadie's mother is never even mentioned, but Jordan's is stated to have died when he was young. Courtesy of Sadie and her friend McKayla, in fact. It's never confirmed whether or not Sadie's mother is even dead, or how she died if she is, but since it's established that the girls have been killing since they were children, you kind of have to wonder...
Under the Shadow: Shideh's mom is stated to have died six months prior to the events of the movie. Before he leaves for his appointed station in the Iran-Iraq War, Iraj asks if Shideh wants to return to her medical studies (she was banned from for her involvement in leftist groups) because it was what her mother wanted of her.
Voyage of the Unicorn: Alan is a widower, struggling after the loss of his wife with two daughters.
In Unforgiven, Clint Eastwood must raise his son and daughter alone, trying to atone for his past solely on the memory of his late wife.
Under the Bed: Neal and Paulie's mother died before the start of a movie in a fire that Neal started to try to kill the monster under his bed.
In Vampires vs. Zombies, there is absolutely no indication of what happened to Jenna's. Given her daughter's condition, you'd think this would be something she'd be involved in if she was around.
A Wakefield Project: In a home movie Reese finds in a box in the inn basement, we see Nathan reminded by his father that Nathan's mom basically left them and foisted Nathan upon his father.
Warm Bodies: Julie's mother was infected and zombified at some point prior to the events of the film. Her father still doesn't appear to have gotten over it. This drives his hatred of zombies and belief things never get better.
Waves: Tyler and Emily's birth mother died in her childhood from a drug overdose.
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Unlike all of the other children, Violet Beauregarde's mother is not shown, only her father. She does speak a brief line, but she is off-screen and difficult to see. In the remake she instead has a Disappeared Dad and it's Willy Wonka himself who has the missing mom (he was raised by his candy-hating, dentist father).
Winterskin: Billy tells Agnes his mother is dead. She tells him hers is as well. After her true self becomes apparent to Billy, she states she and/or her dad were the one(s) who killed her.
In Written on the Wind, Kyle and Marylee's mother died prior to the events of the story. Their father mentions something about an operation.
Youngblood (1986): Dean and Kelly's mom left four years ago. Dean thinks it was because she was sick of farm life, just like he is. He and Kelly got over it, but their dad never did.
Your Highness: Fabious and Thadeous's mother died sometime in the past. Isabel mentions having lost her father and brothers, but what happened with her mother is not revealed (she was probably also killed though).
, Iraj asks if Shideh wants to return to her medical studies (she was banned from for her involvement in leftist groups) because it was what her mother wanted of her.