8 Animated Flops That Became Cult Classics

Summary

Rise of the Guardians didn’t flop but failed to get a sequel.
A Christmas Carol was a Disney experiment that didn’t work out financially.
The Iron Giant is a genius film that was let down by the box office.

Animated movies have consistently played a significant role in box office success because they are visually appealing and often enjoyed by families. Exceptional animated films cater to both children and adults, fostering shared experiences that can elevate them to the status of timeless classics, sometimes even surpassing the iconic status of live-action movies.

Though these films might have failed initially in one of the big metrics that determine how a film is viewed by some, they all recovered to have much larger lasting legacies and fan bases than some might have expected given their initial performances. Here they are, ranked by approximately how much money they lost at the box office when first released.

8. Rise Of The Guardians

A Curious Crossover Which Became Surprisingly Fun

IMDb Score: 7.2
Approximate Budget: $145 million
Box Office Gross: $306 million

Another film that didn’t drastically fail, but still did poorly enough to have DreamWorks back away from releasing as many original films in the following years, and saw it fail to get a sequel. Rise of the Guardians featured a team of holiday-based fictional characters coming together to fight against a dark rising evil.

Although it didn’t pull off big results at the box office, Rise of the Guardians has since been proclaimed one of DreamWorks’ best films ever by many fans. The great voice cast, a memorable story and beloved characters brought this film many more fans than the ticket sales might have suggested.

7. A Christmas Carol (2009)

A Disney Experiment Which Didn’t Work Out

IMDb Score: 6.8
Approximate Budget: $200 million
Box Office Gross: $325 million

Although this was one of the higher earners in the year it was released, the astonishingly high budget makes this take on A Christmas Carol, which heavily involved Robert Zemeckis, reasonably disappointing. Featuring an incredible voice cast including Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman and Colin Firth, this motion-capture animation film was ambitious but ended up lacking at the box office compared to what it needed to achieve.

Despite being visually stunning, creatively ambitious, and boasting a fantastic adaptation of the classic tale, “A Christmas Carol” struggled to make a significant impact at the box office due to its high budget and the challenge of attracting a wider audience amidst numerous previous adaptations.

6. Flushed Away

Aardman’s Big Swing Deserved Better

IMDb Score: 6.6
Approximate Budget: $149 million
Box Office Gross: $178 million

Another DreamWorks release which deserved better, Flushed Away, was created by Aardman with their stop-motion and claymation techniques. British-focused with many of the jokes and themes, it nevertheless has captured hearts around the world.

Unfortunately, Flushed Away failed to perform at the box office. Part of this came down to it being incredibly expensive to make, and part of it was possibly down to Aardman’s style being quite different from the mainstream, prompting DreamWorks’ fans not to flock as they did for some of the more traditionally animated movies.

5. Sinbad: Legend Of The Seven Seas

Early DreamWorks Swashbuckling Mythological Adventure

IMDb Score: 6.7
Approximate Budget: $60 million
Box Office Gross: $80 million

Another DreamWorks film which was beloved by a generation despite an initially poor showing at the box office, Sinbad was representative of the era when DreamWorks used a more adult style in their animated movies. This included the scripting, the in-jokes, and the type of characters they allowed to be both heroes and villains.Sinbad’s journey to being a hero was much more complicated than that of many characters in family-friendly animation today.

Nevertheless, it was a spectacle of a film which deserves to be appreciated as much as it is by fans that grew up with it. Unfortunately, it failed to make much impact at the box office as preferences in animated film styles were changing at the time, and DreamWorks was failing to market several of its films in a short space of time.

4. Fantastic Mr. Fox

Wes Anderson’s Bizarrely Fun Foray Into Animation

IMDb Score: 7.9
Approximate Budget: $40 million
Box Office Gross: $46.2 million

While it didn’t achieve blockbuster status, Fantastic Mr. Fox didn’t exactly flourish either. This unique combination of Wes Anderson and Roald Dahl’s styles depicted a clan of foxes who were pursued due to their leader’s thefts. The stop-motion animation and Anderson’s distinctive filmmaking approach may have left some viewers feeling disconnected, but the movie has since garnered widespread acclaim as a true masterpiece from numerous critics.

Fantastic Mr. Fox features a huge voice cast, a beloved and memorable childhood story, and some of the most accessible aspects that Wes Anderson’s work has ever shown. With constant hilarity and much for both adults and younger viewers to enjoy, this is not one to be missed.

3. The Iron Giant

A Genius Film Let Down At The Time

IMDb Score: 8.1
Approximate Budget: $50 million
Box Office Gross: $31 million

There is no crueler or less-deserving box office failure, perhaps in the history of cinema, than The Iron Giant. Made by Warner Bros when they didn’t truly believe in animated properties, and thus refused to properly market them, this film made by Brad Bird before he went to Pixar and developed The Incredibles films, was about as emotionally powerful an animated film as has ever existed, and it helped define a great era.

Produced on a shoestring budget compared to other animated films of its era, “The Iron Giant” has earned itself a reputation as one of the best animated films ever made. Despite numerous obstacles during production, it went on to capture hearts around the globe and cement itself as a pop culture icon.

2. Treasure Planet

Disney’s Biggest Undeserved Failure

IMDb Score: 7.2
Approximate Budget: $140 million
Box Office Gross: $109 million

Disney has had huge success with some major adaptations of beloved books. Their versions of the Robin Hood, Peter Pan, and Alice in Wonderland stories are some of the most well-known versions of those tales. However, attempting to do something similar with a sci-fi adaptation of Treasure Island didn’t work out as well, mostly due to the huge budget.

The $140 million to make the film, more than some recent Disney animated film budgets despite twenty years of inflation since Treasure Planet was released, was enough to stop this idea from working out. However, despite Disney’s marketing flailing throughout much of the 00s, this is now regarded as a classic, and one of Disney’s best films of the 21st Century, by many fans who recognize the emotional powerhouse of a film that Treasure Planet is.

1. Titan A.E.

Ridiculously Ambitious Sci-Fi Animation Epic

IMDb Score: 6.6
Approximate Budget: $75 million
Box Office Gross: $36 million

There are few sci-fi epic stories told in animated form, and Titan A.E. was thus considered especially ambitious. Although the film didn’t succeed at the box office, the creators Don Bluth and Gary Goldman have been credited since for their hugely ambitious attempt to tell such a wide-spanning story within the realms of ninety-minute animated movies.

Following humanity fifteen years after the destruction of Earth, Titan A.E. focuses on the bleak imminent destruction of the last remnants of Earth’s people. Despite the adult themes, there was something here for everybody, and with Don Bluth’s traditional style and a great voice cast including Matt Damon, Bill Pullman and Drew Barrymore, it is a true shock that Titan A.E. failed at the box office.

2025-03-16 09:37