17. Treasure Planet
Estimated Loss: $85,210,943
In the 1990’s, Disney’s hand-drawn animation efforts were box office gold, one hit after another. This 2002 movie not only ended that streak but, in the minds of many, basically killed that style of animation in favor of computers. A sci-fi retelling of the classic adventure story, it had a big cast with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Hyde Pierce and Emma Thompson and some fantastic music alongside sweeping space sequences. But the budget got wildly out of control, $140 million unheard of for an animated film and the crowded 2002 holiday period too much for it to break out as hoped. Despite actually very good reviews, the movie sagged with barely $100 million globally and its losses of $85 million freaking Disney out so much that they basically dropped hand-drawn animation as a regular thing. A shame as the movie doesn’t quite deserve such a mega-flop status and far better than most of the films on this list.
Discussion about this post