20 Biggest Box-Office Bombs in Disney History

The Walt Disney Corporation is one of the biggest media conglomerates in the world. With various production labels including Touchstone Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Walt Disney Pictures, they have released hundreds of movies in both live-action, animation, and hybrids. Many of these films have cemented themselves in history for their quality and pushing the boundaries of what came before.

However, pushing boundaries doesn’t always result in success. Disney has released several films considered box office flops, and some of them are even among the biggest flops ever made. Whether they were films that were simply released at the wrong time, had steep competition, or were outright so poorly made that audiences didn’t want to see them, there are many reasons why these Disney films failed at the box office. While it’s easy to see Disney as a flawless magical kingdom where they make no mistakes, some films paint the exact opposite picture.

20 ‘The Black Cauldron’ (1985)

Budget: $44 Million, Worldwide Gross: $21.3 Million

The Black Cauldron for a long time was the black sheep of the Disney name, with its massive failure being the overwhelming and only discussion surrounding the film. The film follows the story of Taran, a young boy who takes care of a pig who can see the future, but dreams of being a knight. He loses the pig to the minions of the evil Horned King, who is searching for the black cauldron, so he can summon an army of undead. Along with a furry creature obsessed with apples, a runaway princess, and an old harper, Taran races to find the cauldron first.

Disney was hoping this film would get them out of their dark age, so the company was willing to put more money and technique into it compared to their older films. However, The Black Cauldron had behind-the-scenes drama due to how dark it was, resulting in twelve minutes being cut from the final product. This did little to endear audiences, and the film’s run was so bad that the Care Bears Movie outperformed it at the box office.

19 ‘The 13th Warrior’ (1999)

Budget: $160 Million, Worldwide Box Office: $61.7 Million

While many high-budget action blockbusters have found great success under the Disney banner, The 13th Warrior is one such case where there was very little enthusiasm from audiences to back up its staggeringly high budget. The film follows the story of an Arab diplomat (played by Antonio Banderas) who meets up with a band of Norsemen. He is selected to be part of thirteen warriors sent north to aid a struggling kingdom against an unknown threat. Though the Norse mock him at first, he is able to learn their language and gradually earn their respect.

The 13th Warrior suffers from a myriad of behind-the-scenes issues caused by conflicts between director John McTiernan and Michael Crichton, who wrote the original novel. Numerous scenes from The 13th Warrior were re-shot and edited, resulting in a disjointed narrative and poor character development. It also didn’t help the film that it was competing against the critically acclaimed masterpiece The Sixth Sense, still bringing in waves of audiences and dominating the screens. In recent years, the film has been re-assessed as a fun, if imperfect action film.

18 ‘Treasure Planet’ (2002)

Budget: $140 Million, Worldwide Box Office: $109.6 Million

One of the most infamous bombs to come from Walt Disney Animation Studios, the still-underrated Treasure Planet had massive hopes of being a sprawling and technologically advanced sci-fi animation epic. Jim Hawkin’s life is thrown on its head when a dying alien arrives at his family inn, pursued by pirates who destroy the place. Jim and his mother escape, and he discovers that the map leads to Treasure Planet, said to contain the loot of a thousand worlds. With a ship and crew behind him, Jim sets off to find the treasure and hopefully prove that he can do something right for once.

At a budget of 140 million dollars, this is the most expensive traditionally animated film ever made. This is due to experimental technology that blended CGI and hand-drawn elements, such as turning the ship’s cook, Long John Silver, into a cyborg. Unfortunately, releasing alongside Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets resulted in the movie’s financial failure, though it has since developed a strong cult following.

17 ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ (2004)

Budget: $110 Million, Worldwide Box Office: $72.2 Million

Adapted from one of the most iconic and beloved adventure novels of all time, Around the World in 80 Days follows the story of Phileas Fogg, an eccentric scientist who picks up a Chinese thief calling himself Passepartout as his assistant. When the Minister of Science belittles Fogg, he makes a bet for the position if he can circumnavigate the globe in eighty days. Unfortunately, the Minister is willing to cheat to make sure Fogg fails, and villains from Passepartout’s past are also on their trail.

This film bears little resemblance to Jules Verne‘s novel. Passepartout’s plot about stealing a Jade Buddha and fighting off rivals seems like it was created because they got Jackie Chan, and the film tries to shove as many cameos in as it can as historical figures or ethnic stereotypes. Around the World in 80 Days is overall a disservice not only to the original novel, but the classic 1959 version of the film that was so beloved that it won the Academy Award for Best Picture. All this resulted in a gross of 72 million dollars against a budget of 110 million.

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16 ‘The Alamo’ (2004)

Budget: $107 Million, Worldwide Box Office: $25.8 Million

A remake of an all-time classic John Wayne Western film, The Alamo is a sad and sorry reinterpretation that fails to do the original anything close to justice. The film takes place during Texas’ war for independence against Mexico and sees troops sent to man the Alamo, a mission repurposed into a fort. They soon come under siege by the Mexican army, led by Santa Anne, who wants to crush the rebellion. With no way out, the defenders brace themselves for the inevitable battle.

While the film does an admirable job showing the emotional state of all involved, its runtime and reliance on slow character moments make it a chore to watch. Much of the film is waiting for something to happen, which does reflect the turmoil of the defenders, but doesn’t make for an entertaining film. The battle scenes are well shot, and Billy Bob Thornton gives a lot of pathos to David Crocket who struggles to live up to his larger-than-life persona.

15 ‘A Christmas Carol’ (2009)

Budget: $200 Million, Worldwide Box Office: $325 Million

One of many adaptations of the Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol sees Jim Carrey as an animated Ebeneezer Scrooge, the miserly moneylender who hates Christmas. On Christmas Eve, he is visited by the ghosts of his partner, Jacob Marley, who warns him that if he doesn’t change his ways, he will share in Marley’s fate as a wandering spirit. Scrooge is then visited by three other spirits who take him to the past, present, and future to show him the virtue of being kind to his fellow man.

Despite a strong cast, including Gary Oldman, Collin Firth, and Bob Hoskins, the film cost Disney 50 to 100 million dollars in marketing and production. Critically, 2009’s A Christmas Carol received flack for its tone, which shifted between cartoony and excessively dark. Then there is the motion capture, which resulted in some of the worst moments of uncanny valley among Robert Zemeckis‘ motion capture films.

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14 ‘Mars Needs Moms’ (2011)

Budget: $150 Million, Worldwide Box Office: $39.2 Million

As if A Christmas Carol wasn’t enough of a massive blow to motion capture animation, Mars Needs Moms was the final nail in the coffin for this style of animated film. One night, Milo wakes up to discover his mother being kidnapped by aliens. Jumping aboard, Milo arrives at Mars and discovers a race of aliens ruled by females. Now Milo must find and rescue his mother before the aliens kill her to extract her mom-ness to put into nanny-robots to raise their own kids.

This film combines a weak story, some of Disney’s most annoying characters, and atrocious CGI in the perfect disaster. While the film is filled with a myriad of issues, the biggest immediate flaw that drew audiences away was just how ugly and unappealing Mars Needs Moms‘ visuals and character designs look. It’s also tonally inconsistent, switching between lighthearted and silly comedy to images of totalitarianism and children watching their mothers die because of good behavior. While Robert Zemeckis was able to bounce back, his run of motion capture films would end.

13 ‘John Carter’ (2012)

Budget: $250 Million, Worldwide Box Office: $284.1 Million

Despite being adapted from an epic sci-fi novel whose inspiration and originality can still be seen in sci-fi properties to this day, John Carter is about as soulless and basic as a sci-fi blockbuster can get. The film’s plot takes place after the sudden death of John Carter and sees his nephew, Edgar Rice Burroughs, read through his journal. It details how Carter was teleported to the planet Mars, where he gained superhuman abilities thanks to the planet’s gravity. This gets him caught up in the politics of the numerous warring species that inhabit the planet.

Due to the failure of Mars Needs Moms and Cowboys & Aliens, Disney dropped any reference to Mars from the film’s title, which left audiences confused since the main character’s name tells them nothing. They also toned down Burroughs’ original story to make it more family-friendly, which robbed the story of its originality. The result is a by-the-numbers sci-fi epic that opened second place to The Lorax.

12 ‘The Lone Ranger’ (2013)

Budget: $215 Million, Worldwide Box Office: $260.5 Million

Based on the classic fictional American icon, The Lone Ranger attempted to revitalize the beauty of Western filmmaking to a modern audience, yet botched its execution. The film takes place in the late 1800s and sees lawyer John Reid join his brother Dan in tracking down an escaped convict named Cavendish. However, they are betrayed and gunned down, with Cavendish eating Dan’s heart. As the men are buried by a Native American named Tonto, John rises from the dead as a spirit walker, and Tonto agrees to help him track down Cavendish and bring him to justice.

After the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Disney hoped that the same creative team could strike gold with Westerns. Unfortunately, the film was hated for being too similar to the Pirates films, down to getting Johnny Depp to play Tonto almost identically to Jack Sparrow. This resulted in a loss of over 200 million dollars, and Disney would stick to simply making more Pirates movies, abandoning The Lone Ranger property altogether.

11 ‘Tomorrowland’ (2015)

Budget: $190 Million, Worldwide Box Office: $209 Million

Based on one of Disney’s theme park attractions, Tomorrowland follows Casey Newton, a young girl who discovers a pin that allows her to see a futuristic city called Tomorrowland. While trying to get there, she meets an animatronic girl, and a cynical scientist who created a machine that can predict the end of the world. Casey’s optimism changes the machine’s outcome, so they try to get to Tomorrowland to avert the coming apocalypse.

Despite being directed by Brad Bird, the director behind The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, the film lost up to 150 million dollars. This is due to a boring marketing campaign, poor character development, and a dull story that drags its feet getting to Tomorrowland. However, the film has found fans thanks to its optimistic message, yet simply wasn’t able to find this audience during its pivotal time in theaters.

10 ‘Onward’ (2020)

Budget: $200 Million, Worldwide Box Office: $141.9 Million

COVID-19 was a terrible blow to the film industry. Not only were audiences not going to theaters, but films that were still in production had to be delayed while studios found ways to work around quarantine procedures so their film crews could finish their work. This resulted in several films bombing at the box office, as was the case with Pixar’s Onward.

Faced with audiences avoiding theaters, the film had no chance of making back its $200 million budget, but it saw better success through streaming. This is because of its charming and emotional story, which focuses on two elf brothers going on a road trip to try and revive their deceased father for one day so they can receive emotional closure. It doesn’t reach the same heights as Pixar’s best films, but the relationship between the brothers is genuine, and it’s neat to see magical creatures re-discovering their heritage after the world has become mundane.

9 ‘Mulan’ (2020)

Budget: $200 Million, Worldwide Box Office: 69.9 Million

The deck was stacked against the live-action remake of Mulan from the beginning. As if adapting a beloved Disney classic from their Renaissance era wasn’t bad enough, the film suffered numerous delays before being pulled from theaters altogether due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They tried to recoup their losses by charging people to see the movie early through their Disney+ subscription, but a variety of controversies further soured public opinion, which was reflected at the box office.

Audiences were vocal in their displeasure regarding cut content from the beloved 1998 version, especially regarding the absence of fan favorite characters Mushu and Li Shan. It was also lambasted by Chinese viewers for how poorly it handled Chinese culture, especially regarding qi, which the film chose to depict as a superpower. Combine all of this with bland acting, confusing morals, and terribly edited fight scenes, it’s no wonder the movie failed to make back even half of its $200 million budget.

8 ‘Jungle Cruise’ (2021)

Budget: $200 Million, Worldwide Box Office: $220.8 Million

Following the success of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Disney announced plans to adapt their Jungle Cruise ride into a film in 2004. However, the film wouldn’t get off the ground until 2015, with Dwayne Johnson set to play the lead. It was set for release in 2020, but had to be delayed due to COVID, and was pretty much ignored by Disney’s marketing in favor of pushing Black Widow.

The film faired better on streaming than it did in theaters, but still fell short of the predicted $500 million worldwide gross needed to break even. The film itself is a mixed bag: some of the performances are entertaining and there’s a good mix of action and adventure reminiscent of a pulp-fiction adventure series, but the CGI is atrocious and the plot recycles too much from similar franchises like the Pirates films and The Mummy. Still, a sequel is currently in development.

7 ‘Turning Red’ (2022)

Budget: $175 Million, Worldwide Box Office: $21.8 Million

While not commonly in the conversation for Disney’s largest box-office bombs because of its initial lack of a theatrical release in the domestic marketplace, Turning Red still had a theatrical release in markets worldwide. The film follows the struggles of a young, pre-teen girl who on top of facing her overbearing parents and middle school drama, learns that her family has a generational curse of transforming into giant red pandas. As she attempts to control and get a sense of her new form, she realizes the unexpected benefits of being a giant red panda.

Despite being under the previously massively successful Pixar banner and having near unanimous audience critical and audience praise, Turning Red was never going to make back its massive $175 million budget. The film simply didn’t have a standard theatrical release, instead choosing to release straight to Disney+ without any paywall or chance at returning profits. While the film eventually had a small rerelease in 2024, it didn’t even make a dent in helping this film’s financial struggles, leaving us only to wonder how much the film could have made if it were a standard theatrical release.

6 ‘Lightyear’ (2022)

Budget: $200 Million, Worldwide Box Office: $226.4 Million

Toy Story has always been Pixar’s most beloved franchise, and they experimented with an origin story for the character of Buzz Lightyear with the cartoon series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command in the early 2000s. Thus, the idea of a theatrical release made with Pixar-levels of quality animation isn’t a bad idea in theory. However, audiences had a hard time accepting Lightyear, causing the movie to lose an estimated $106 million at the box office.

The big reason that Lightyear failed to win people over is that, besides featuring Buzz as the protagonist, it has virtually no similarities to the Toy Story franchise. Its tone is dark and melancholic, which doesn’t entirely fit with the idea that this is the movie that would inspire Andy to get a Buzz Lightyear toy. It also doesn’t help that Tim Allen doesn’t return to voice Buzz, and the film has a very confusing twist regarding Buzz’ nemesis, Emperor Zurg, that left most fans asking “why?”

5 ‘Strange World’ (2022)

Budget: $180 Million, Worldwide Box Office: $73.6 Million

One of the biggest animated misfires from Disney in recent memory, Strange World follows the story of a family of explorers who live on a wild and dangerous alien planet. In their most dangerous and perilous mission yet, the family is forced to overcome a number of their generational differences and divides if they want to escape this new uncharted territory safe and sound. Things only get more complicated when they discover a family member who had long since been considered dead, having been living in the wilderness for all of these years.

In an era where more and more animated movies are being released both in theaters and especially on streaming, Strange World had very little agency and stand-out features to grab audiences’ attention. Despite its seemingly action-oriented premise, the film’s more laid-back and comedic approach which fell more in line with the standard of recent animated Disney films, simply wasn’t what families wanted. The film also faced steep competition in theaters against the still-popular Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

4 ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ (2023)

Budget: $387.2 Million, Worldwide Box Office: $383.9 Million

What was supposed to be a glorious and massive success story return for one of the most legendary heroes in film history, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny crumbled under the weight of its gargantuan budget. The film sees Indy embarking on another globe-trotting adventure to stop a nefarious Nazi villain from his past from enacting his dastardly scheme that involves a long-since lost artifact. Accompanied by his goddaughter Helena, Indy embarks on his most dangerous quest yet where he will have to embrace history face-to-face.

Even with its middling reviews and underwhelming audience reception, Dial of Destiny would have had a shot at being successful in the theatrical window if it wasn’t for its gargantuan and unachievable budget. With a massive $387.2 million budget, the film stands tall as one of the most expensive movies of all time, and while Disney received a small bit of this budget back as a grant from the UK government, it still isn’t enough to save what became one of their biggest failures in recent memory.

3 ‘Haunted Mansion’ (2023)

Budget: $150 Million, Worldwide Box Office: $117.5 Million

A horror comedy film as well as a remake of the 2003 film based on the famous Disneyland attraction, Haunted Mansion follows a group of people as they attempt to stop the hauntings affecting their daily lives. With all of these supernatural occurrences stemming from a singular terrifying mansion, those haunted end up tricking more and more people into entering the house to join in on the collective haunting, hopefully with a way to put a stop to it all.

Even aside from the mixed critical reception surrounding the film, the massive killing blow that resulted in this film’s box office failures was its bewilderingly confusing and terrible release date. Haunted Mansion was released in the middle of the summer in late July, well before anyone would be interested in seeking a spooky, clearly Halloween-themed film. On top of this, the film was also released the week after the release of the massive box office phenomenon of Barbie and Oppenheimer, so audiences were preoccupied with a much bigger cinematic event.

2 ‘The Marvels’ (2023)

Budget: $274.8 Million, Worldwide Box Office: $206.1 Million

While the MCU was previously seeming unstoppable in the theatrical marketplace, The Marvels is a sharp contrast to the previous films in the extended universe for what is easily the biggest bomb of the series so far. The film sees the return of Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel, as she teams up with old ally Monica Rambeau and young and energetic Kamala Khan to take down a new villain who has interfered with their light-based powers. The trio travels across the universe to stop this new villain, becoming an unexpected team and partnership in the process.

The original Captain Marvel was able to bounce off of the success and intrigue of the Infinity Saga, releasing directly between Avengers Infinity War and Endgame to earn over $1 billion at the box office. However, nearly 4 years later, the MCU has been going through its own rough and difficult era of failing to maintain interest, with The Marvels being the biggest victim of this dropping enthusiasm. The film simply wasn’t doing enough to entice audiences to see it, and it didn’t help that critical reception was incredibly mixed.

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1 ‘Wish’ (2023)

Budget: $200 Million, Worldwide Box Office: $254.9 Million

In 2023, Disney celebrated its 100th anniversary. To commemorate this momentous occasion, they released Wish, a film that was meant to be a love letter to the company by reveling in fairytale tropes and paying homage to numerous Disney classics through its characters, animation, and story beats. Unfortunately, the finished product fell short in every conceivable way, and it finished its run with a worldwide gross of $254.9 million.

Wish‘s greatest sin is that it is boring: in trying to cram as many references to old Disney films as possible, it forgets to tell an interesting story, or at the very least make its characters fun and engaging. It didn’t help either that the songs were awful, with generic music and lyrics that were so poor people wondered if they had been generated by AI. Some fans have shown enthusiasm for the film’s villain, King Magnifico, if only because he is the closest the company has come to recapturing the glory days of villains past since The Princess and the Frog.

NEXT: Beloved Animated Disney Movies That Bombed At The Box Office