The Mouse Flop House
The Disney movie studio has had more than its fair share of hit movies over the years. But, unlike Rumpelstiltskin, not every movie they've touched has been spun into box office gold. In fact, they've had plenty of huge box office disappointments—and we shall look at those right now...
The Black Cauldron (1985)
The Black Cauldron cost $44 million to make—which, in 1985, made it the most expensive animated movie ever made. So, with that as the backdrop, one can understand why its box office of $21.3 million was so disappointing. In fact, it put the whole animation department at Disney in peril—and has been called "the film that almost killed Disney".
Walt Disney Pictures, The Black Cauldron (1985)
Strange Magic (2015)
Yes, this animated jukebox musical fantasy was a Lucasfilm production. However, it was distributed by Walt Disney Studios and it came three years after Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm—so we say it counts. We also say it lost about $40-$50 million.
Walt Disney Pictures, Strange Magic (2015)
Around The World In 80 Days (2004)
Around the World in 80 Days didn't even gross $80 million. It only grossed $72 million with a measly $24 million of that coming from the North American box office. Disney was looking at about a $75 million loss with this one.
Walt Disney Pictures, Around the World in 80 Days (2004)
Mulan (2020)
Another film that can blame Covid for many of its woes is Mulan. The release of Disney's live-action take on the Mulan story was delayed for months due to the pandemic and then in September of 2020, it was put on Disney+ for a premium fee in countries with the service and in theaters in countries where theaters had reopened. This helps explain the paltry $69.9 million box office numbers. If we take into account the estimated $62–93 million the movie made through premium streaming—that would look to put losses around $80 million.
Walt Disney Pictures, Mulan (2020)
The Good Dinosaur (2015)
2015 was the first year Disney released two Pixar movies in the same year. In June, they released Inside Out—which went on to gross over $800 million. Then in November, they dropped The Good Dinosaur—which ended up grossing over $330 million dollars and losing the studio about 85 million bucks.
Walt Disney Pictures, The Good Dinosaur (2015)
Home On The Range (2004)
This rather mediocre offering from Walt Disney Animation Studios is one many people forget. But we're pretty sure Disney doesn't forget that the movie cost them about $50-$100 million in losses.
Walt Disney Pictures, Home On The Range (2004)
A Christmas Carol (2009)
How could a movie that made $325 million at the box office be a flop you ask? When the film's budget is close to $200 million, and that's before marketing costs are factored into the mix. Disney lost about $50-$100 million on this one and Mark Zoradi—the president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group and the head of worldwide marketing—lost his job (he resigned).
Walt Disney Pictures, A Christmas Carol (2009)
The BFG (2016)
It isn't often that we use the words "Steven Spielberg" and "flop" in the same sentence, but that was the case with The BFG in 2016. Spielberg's take on the classic Roald Dahl novel saw box office numbers around $195 million. However, with a $145 million budget and marketing costs, losses for the studio were estimated in the $80-$100 million range.
Walt Disney Pictures, The BFG (2016)
Lightyear (2022)
With its box office take of $226 million, Lightyear is the lowest-earning film in the Toy Story-verse. But the amount of money they spent on the film sure wasn't low—with a budget of $200 million, plus all the other costs. Now, it was 2022, so maybe the Covid pandemic can still be at least partly to blame for the numbers—but those numbers put losses at an estimated $106 million.
Walt Disney Pictures, Lightyear (2022)
Treasure Planet (2002)
The fact that Treasure Planet has gained a cult following in the decades since its release in 2002 is nice—but doesn't change the fact that the film was, according to a 2014 Los Angeles Times piece—one of the most expensive box office failures of all time. The film brought in just under $110 million at the box office—and with the $140 million budget and other expenses, losses came in around $109 million.
Walt Disney Productions, Treasure Planet (2002)
Haunted Mansion (2023)
The scariest thing about this 2023 film was how much money Disney lost on it. The film made about $117 million at the box office and that is also about how much it lost on the film as well.
Walt Disney Productions, Haunted Mansion (2023)
Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
Ant-Man might be able to make himself super small—but that isn't something Disney was able to do to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania losses. While a $476.1 million box office haul would be good for lots of movies, it wasn't even break-even for this one. In fact, the break-even point for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was reported to be around $600 million. Which, doing the math, would put losses around $125 million.
Walt Disney Pictures, Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
The 13th Warrior (1999)
Based on a book by Michael Crichton (the guy who wrote Jurassic Park) and directed by John McTiernan (the guy who directed Die Hard), The 13th Warrior looked to have big box office potential. But that potential was never met and the $61.7 million box office take equated to a $70-$130 million loss for Touchstone Pictures (a film production label of the Walt Disney company).
Touchstone Pictures, The 13th Warrior (1999)
Mars Needs Moms (2011)
Mars might've needed moms, but Disney would've needed another $100–144 million to break-even on this one.
Walt Disney Pictures, Mars Needs Moms (2011)
Onward (2020)
If any movie on this list has the right to blame the Covid-19 pandemic for its flop status, it's Onward. Released in March of 2020 (just days before the pandemic closed movie theaters), it's almost impressive that the film was able to gross $142 million. However, that still meant a $130 million loss for Disney.
Walt Disney Pictures, Onward (2020)
A Wrinkle In Time (2018)
With Ava DuVernay, Oprah Winfrey, and a classic YA novel, how could things go wrong? Well, how isn't important. What matters here is that Disney spent about $250 million on production and advertisement combined—and the film only took in $133 million at the box office. A year after the movie's release, Deadline Hollywood calculated the film losses at $130.6 million.
Walt Disney Pictures, A Wrinkle In Time (2018)
Tomorrowland (2015)
After Pirates of the Caribbean became a hugely successful film franchise based on a theme park ride, Disney tried to replicate that success with Tomorrowland. We think you can figure out how that went given that we never got a Tomorrowland 2: Dead Man's Chest (or whatever it would've been called). The film grossed $209 million at the box office and lost Disney between $120-$150 million.
Walt Disney Pictures, Tomorrowland (2015)
Wish (2023)
We bet Disney wishes they hadn't spent $200 million to make this 2023 flop. Add in the other costs and subtract the $255 million box office and you're looking at losses totaling around the $131 million mark.
Walt Disney Pictures, Wish (2023)
Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny (2023)
You'd think that grossing $384 million would at least put a movie close to breaking even. Well, not if the film almost cost that much to make! Yup, estimates put the budget for this last Indiana Jones movie at $295–387 million. Turns out the film's destiny was to lose Disney $143 million.
Walt Disney Pictures, Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny (2023)
The Alamo (2004)
Remember The Alamo? If we're talking about the 2004 film, the answer is probably...nope. This big budget war drama cost the studio over $170 million dollars when all was said and done—and things looked grim right from the jump, as it couldn't even break $10 million on its opening weekend. It ended its theatrical run just under $26 million and lost Disney more than $146 million.
Touchstone Pictures, The Alamo (2004)
Jungle Cruise (2021)
This one's another failed attempt to turn a theme park ride into a hit movie franchise. Given all the production and marketing costs Jungle Cruise needed a lot more than the $220 million it grossed, in order to break even. Depending on who you talk to, the studio lost anywhere from 150 to 190 million dollars.
Walt Disney Pictures, Jungle Cruise (2021)
The Lone Ranger (2013)
Some estimates put the budget on this 2013 debacle as high as $250 million. With box office numbers that barely eked past $260 million, it should come as no surprise that Disney had to write-down about $160-$190 million with this one.
Walt Disney Pictures, The Lone Ranger (2013)
Strange World (2022)
It's a strange world where a Disney animated film makes so little money—but the company's 2022 offering, Strange World, couldn't even break $75 million at the box office. With the movie's high production and marketing costs, estimated losses on this one were right up around $200 million.
Walt Disney, Strange World (2022)
John Carter (2012)
John Carter was supposed to be the first film in a trilogy—and it would've been had the first film not flopped so hard at the box office. While the movie grossed $284.1 million, the huge production budget and all the marketing costs led to Disney writing down $200 million on this one (and canceling plans for the sequels).
Walt Disney Pictures, John Carter (2012)
Turning Red (2022)
Ok so, we're going to put Turning Red here because it cost $175 million to make (not including marketing and such) and it only made $21.5 million at the box office. But calling it a flop isn't fair to this much loved film given that Disney switched up their plans for a full theatrical release when the Covid Omicron variant hit and instead threw the movie onto their Disney+ streaming service. They did put it in theaters in countries that didn't have access to Disney+, which explains the minimal box office they did get.
Walt Disney Pictures, Turning Red (2022)
The Marvels (2023)
In 2019, Captain Marvel grossed over $1.1 billion and became one of the highest grossing movies in the MCU. In 2023, The Marvels (a sequel to the aforementioned blockbuster) grossed $206.1 million worldwide and became the lowest-grossing MCU movie ever. It might also be Disney's biggest flop of all time when you consider estimates put the net losses for the film at $237 million.
