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Animated movies are a very successful genre in Hollywood. Films like Toy Story, Cars, Finding Nemo, Frozen, Brave and Shark Tale have all been gigantic, runaway hits. The companies who make these animated movies (Dreamworks, Pixar, Disney etc) have made tons of money, and the actors who provide the voice acting for these films also make very good paychecks. However when people talk about all the successes that happen in the realm of animated movies, they never mention the ones that ended up being complete flops. In the following article, we discuss 10 animated movies that have just been humongous flops at the Box Office. Read on below …
Flushed Away:
Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how much star power is attached to a movie. If it doesn’t work, it just doesn’t work. That was exactly the deal with the 2006 animated movie Flushed Away. The movie was a collaboration between Aardman Animations and Dreamworks, and it starred the likes of Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet and Ian McKellan. The story seemed interesting enough – it’s about a posh upper crust rat that gets flushed down the drain and ends up in the grungy sewers of London. The movie cost $149 million to make and it earned a gross of just $64 million at the Box Office. Ouch!
Arthur and The Invinsibles:
Sometimes it’s just best to stick to the genre you know best. Luc Besson is an extremely skilled movie writer and the director behind some of the biggest action films like: Transporter, Nikita, Taken & Lucy. He is very gifted at creating captivating action sequences that jump off the screen. In 2006, he tried his hand in the world of animated movies with the film Arthur and the Invinsibles. It featured voice-overs by big stars like Mia Farrow and even Madonna. But that still didn’t save it. The movie cost $86 million and only made a total Box Office gross of $15 million.
The Wild:
In the world of animation, there are a couple of themes and storylines that seem to work every time: familiar fairytales, stories about toys, and epics involving wild animals as the main characters. That formula didn’t hold true for the 2006 movie, The Wild. The movie is about a lion that gets mistakenly shipped from a New York zoo to Africa, and his animal friends have to do whatever they can to rescue him. It starred Kiefer Sutherland, Eddie Izzard and Jim Belushi as voices for the main characters, but the movie still didn’t register. It cost $80 million to make and it only raked up $37 million at the Box Office.
Home On The Range:
There’s something really tricky about musicals in Hollywood. Either everything comes together and the result is a spectacular movie production or the exact opposite can occur: a film that turns into a big hot mess. The 2004 animated movie is named after the classic Western song, and the story line revolves around three female cows trying to capture an outlaw cattle rustler. There was a lot of star power in this movie; Roseanne Barr, Jennifer Tilly, Judi Dench, Cuba Gooding Jr, Steve Buscemi, to name a few. However it still didn’t make a profit. The movie cost $110 million to make, and it rustled in $50 million at the Box Office. That’s an overall loss of $60 million dollars – wow.
Titan A.E.:
Sci-fi movies can be a real gamble with regards to determining whether the movie is going to be a hit or not. The problem is that Sci-Fi scripts can get extremely convoluted and complicated to the point where no one understands what the heck is going on. Perhaps this is what happened in the post-apocalyptic animated action movie Titan A.E. The movie was set in the future (3028 AD) and it featured the voices of Matt Damon, John Leguizamo, Bill Pullman and Drew Barrymore. The film cost $75 million to produce and it only made $22 million back of that investment at the Box Office.
Osmosis Jones:
Often times, the difference between being a successful director, producer or actor comes down to having the discernment to know what projects to say no to. The 2001 movie Osmosis Jones has a pretty silly concept, and someone should have just said a big “NO” to this idea. It’s about a white blood cell policeman in a human’s body named Osmosis Jones. He is charged with taking down an evil virus that’s trying to destroy the human being he lives in. It sounds very creative, but doesn’t sound like it’s the making of a hit film. It starred Chris Rock, Laurence Fishburne and David Hyde Pierce and it cost $75 million dollars to make. Unfortunately, after it was released, it only made $22 million at the Box Office.
The Iron Giant:
Aliens are a pretty bankable plot theme for Hollywood movies. From now until the end of time, people are always going to be intrigued, excited or scared about the question if we are the only intelligent living beings in this universe. The 1999 animated movie titled The Iron Giant was about a young boy who becomes friends with an innocent and friendly alien robot. The only problem is that a paranoid government agent wants to annihilate him. It starred the voices of Jennifer Anniston, Harry Connick Jr. and Vin Diesel. It cost $70 million to make but only earned $23 million at the Box Office. This is one animated alien movie that didn’t quite make the cut.
Looney Tunes – Back In Action:
In the world of animation, there are some names that will forever be etched in stone, and one of them is Looney Tunes. For most of us, we can all remember our childhood favorites like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety bird, Sylvester The Cat and more. In 2003, an animated reboot was created for the cinema titled Looney Tunes – Back In Action. It also starred Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman and Steve Martin. But sadly for this movie, the Looney Tunes magic didn’t quite translate to Box Office gold. It cost $80 million to make and only brought back $20 million at the Box office.
The Road to El Dorado:
The action & adventure genre has always made tons of money in Hollywood. Films like Indiana Jones, Star Wars, The Mummy all contain elements of venturing into the unknown on a perilous quest, and they have all done amazingly well at the Box Office. The 2000 Animated movie The Road to El Dorado didn’t fare so well. It was set in 16th Century Spain and it was about two men on a mission to find a hidden city full of gold in the New World. It starred the voices of Kevin Kline & Kenneth Branagh and the cast also included Rosie Perez and Armand Assante. The movie cost $96 million to make, but it only brought in a disappointing $50million at The Box Office.
Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within:
Via: thinkostudio.wordpress.com
It’s a tricky premise when a movie is based on a video game. On one hand, it’s a great idea because there is already an in-built following for the film. But on the other hand, it can also be a handicap because everyone will be comparing to see how the movie stands up compared to the video game. The 2001 movie Final Fantasy – The Spirits Within attempted to navigate this tricky balance. It was the first photorealistic computer-animated feature ever made, and it’s also one of the most expensive video-game inspired movies ever created. It starred the voices of huge stars like Alec Baldwin, Donald Sutherland, Ving Rhames and James Woods, and it cost a jaw-dropping $105 million to make. Alas, it ended up being much ado about nothing. The movie only made a paltry $32 million at the Box Office.