Animated box-office bombs you actually saw in theaters

I like to keep track of the boxoffice performances of animated features. So back in the early 1990's I resolved to catch as many animated features with theatrical releases as I can, to give them a fair viewing on a big screen. I don't mind much if the movie's a bomb, or if I don't expect it to be any good. So I can pretty confidently say that if a cartoon movie since around 1993 has had a wide release I've seen it in theaters, and I've seen plenty of limited release features as well. Off the top of my head, I can only think of one movie I just could not bring myself to see: "Doug's First Movie". That movie I did watch on TV: it stunk.
 
9
Treasure Planet
The Road to El Dorado
Fantasia 2000 (my first IMAX movie actually)
Flushed Away
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
The Iron Giant
Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Doug's 1st Movie
Ponyo (technically it wasn't that successful stateside...)
Hey Arnold! The Movie
Osmosis Jones

:sad: That's a lot of duds.
 
I'm not 100% positive these were all bombs, but then again they kinda disappeared into obscurity so:

Jetsons: The Movie - I was about 9, but I remember being so impressed with the "high tech" special effects :P

Hey Arnold: The Movie - The theater wasn't crowded but it wasn't empty, either.

Road to El Dorado - I don't think it was all that bad :/

Ducktales: The Movie - I loved it then, and I still love it.
 
Other than the usual anime flop, probably Brother Bear.

If there are others, I'm not recalling any. Chances are, I probably still enjoyed it. In a theatre, I'm reasonably entertained by even the worst animated movie, because the novelty of blown up artwork never ceases to amaze me.
 
If 9 counts as a bomb, I saw that. I thought it was pretty good.
Vaguely remember seeing Antz as a little kid...All I remember is that I saw it. Also saw Brother Bear which I don't remember much about either.
 
I actually remember seeing Rock a Doodle when I was kid. The only reason I even remember it is because it scared the living daylights out of me.

I think there was some dollar theater showing Rover Dangerfield way back when.
 
I went to see "Space Chimps". It wasn't that bad, actually. I especially liked this line:

“Why couldn't I have been born a rabbit or a squirrel or an art history major? No one expects anything from them!":D
 
I remember seeing Rock-A-Doodle as a kid. Though, my brother and I dragged our mom to see it with us. I honestly didn't remember anything about the movie, aside from the rooster who dressed like Elvis.
 
Mask of the Phantasm was a huge flop in theaters because WB forgot to advertise it. It did way better when available on VHS, though, and on DVD.

Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, on the other hand? It was anything but a flop, it grossed $21 million over a 2-day weekend (compared with its $12 million budget) and ended up making $63 million altogether.
 
I remember seeing Treasure Planet in theaters with my mom. I thought that it was a pretty enjoyable movie. It wasn't great, but it wasn't that bad either. I didn't find that that it did poorly until it came up on the Disney board here.
There was a pretty good amount of people in the theater when we went to see it.

If these count, I also Pokemon movies from the second one of the fifth one in theaters. I forget how much the Movie 2000 made, but it was less than the first movie and the sales from the third movie caused the fourth and fifth movie to get limited release runs. There were obviously fewer people in the limited release runs than in the nation wide release movies.
 
I think the closest I've ever gotten is seeing the first live-action Scooby Doo movie in theaters. I don't think it was a flop, seeing as how they made a sequel and a direct-to-TV prequel to it, but I do remember the theater only having one or two other people in it (it was only out for a week or so).
 
"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" sickened me to the core. The humor was unnecessary, the music was nothing like the scores from the actual movies, and since when did Jabba the Hutt had a son?

"Flushed Away" wasn't that bad, at least it was enjoyable. So was "Looney Toons: Back in Action".



It almost bombed, but IMAX saved it.
 
Another flop I remember seeing on the big screen was Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Being the huge Final Fantasy fan that I was, I really expected a lot out of this movie, but was really disappointed. The CGI for the time was impressive, but I thought the story was so boring.

Back in January, I saw Fantastic Mr. Fox. It was at a theater near my house that I hadn't been to until then, and they show movies a few months before getting released on DVD. For $4, it was worth it. It was a loose adaptation of the book, but I couldn't get enough of the dry humor.
 
Back
Top