The Ten Biggest Animated Flops of All Time

By Dustin Rowles | Lists | October 26, 2009 |

Animated films are a huge risk proposition — the production budgets on most animated films run in the $50 to $100 million range, and the good ones take several years to produce. It very often pays off — of the top grossing 100 films of all time, 17 of those are animated (and many of those old-school Disney animated films would break the top 100, if adjusted for inflation). But because of those budgets, animated films — more than most blockbusters — need really strong marketing pushes. These aren’t movies that a studio can risk dumping into theaters on slow weekends. They need big openings and a lot of legs. Fortunately, most animated films are situated in the release schedule to give themselves two or three weeks with little or no family-film competition, which gives them a small advantage over other releases, with less defined audiences. But then again, animated films have to make back their budgets based largely on children’s admission prices, which is why — to do really well at the box-office — most animated films need, on some level, to appeal to adults, as well.

Look no further than Astro Boy, this weekend’s animated disaster, a movie with a budget of $65 million that only managed a $7 million opening weekend. When all is said and done, Sony is staring at a $40 million loss, or so, which would only put it in the bottom of the ten worst animated flops of all time. Even last year’s Delgo, considered to be the biggest animated flop ever (it made less than $1 million at the box office, on a $40 million budget), wouldn’t break the top ten in terms of financial losses.

Here are the Ten Biggest Animated Flops of All Time. Be mindful, however, that this includes only domestic grosses, and does not take into consideration DVD sales. But then again, the production budgets don’t take marketing into account, either, which often adds $10 to $30 million to the budget.



10. The Road to El Dorado

Production Budget: $95 million

Box Office Gross: $50 million

Financial Loss: $45 million

9. The Wild

Production Budget: $80 million

Box Office Gross: $37 million

Financial Loss: $47 million

8. The Iron Giant

Production Budget: $70 million

Box Office Gross: $23 million

Financial Loss: $47 million

7. Titan A.E.

Production Budget: $75 million

Box Office Gross: $22 million

Financial Loss: $53 million

6. Home on the Range

Production Budget: $110 million

Box Office Gross: $50 million

Financial Loss: $60 million

5. Looney Tunes: Back in Action

Production Budget: $80 million

Box Office Gross: $20 million

Financial Loss: $60 million

4. Osmosis Jones

Production Budget: $75 million

Box Office Gross: $13 million

Financial Loss: $62 million

3. Arthur and the Invisibles

Production Budget: $86 million

Box Office Gross: $15 million

Financial Loss: $71 million

2. Flushed Away

Production Budget: $149 million

Box Office Gross: $64 million

Financial Loss: $85 million

1. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Production Budget: $137 million

Box Office Gross: $32 million

Financial Loss: $105 million

Dustin is the founder and co-owner of Pajiba. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba.

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