List of animated box office bombs
An animated feature film is defined as a motion picture with a running time of more than 40 minutes, in which movement and characters’ performances are created using a frame-by-frame technique. Motion capture by itself is not an animation technique. In addition, a significant number of the major characters must be animated, and animation must figure in no less than 75 percent of the picture’s running time.
—Rule Seven - Special Rules For The Animated Feature Film Award : I. Definition[1]
In the film and media industry, if a animated film released in theatres fails to break even by a large amount, it is considered a box office bomb or box office flop, thus losing money for the distributor, studio, and/or production company that invested in it. Unless officially acknowledged by studios, figures of losses are usually rough estimates at best. This is mostly due to Hollywood accounting practices that typically manipulate profits or keep costs secret to avoid profit-sharing agreements.[2] In some cases, a company can make profits from a box office bomb when ancillary revenues are taken into account, such as home media sales and rentals, television broadcast rights, and licensing rights, so a film that performs poorly at the box office can still break even after its theatrical run.[3]
Biggest animated box office bombs
The following is a list of the biggest box office losses in the history of the film industry, presented along with how much money each film lost. Because currency devalues over time, it is important to adjust the nominal losses for inflation to make a fair comparison. The list is limited to films that are potentially among the top 13 box office losses, adjusted for inflation. The films are ordered alphabetically since it is not possible to provide an exact ranking due to missing data, and conflicting estimates for several films. DreamWorks Animation is the most represented studio with 3 films.
Background shading indicates films playing in the week commencing 02 December 2016 in theaters around the world.
| Title | Year | Production budget | Gross | Estimated loss | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominal | Adjusted for inflation | [nb 1] | ||||
| The Good Dinosaur | 2015 | $175,000,000–200,000,000 | $331,000,000 | $85,000,000 | $85,000,000 | [# 1] |
| Happy Feet Two | 2011 | $135,000,000 | $158,000,000 | $65,000,000 | $66,000,000 | [# 2] |
| Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return | 2014 | $70,000,000 | $18,700,000 | $71,000,000 | $71,000,000 | [# 3] |
| Mars Needs Moms | 2011 | $150,000,000 | $39,000,000 | $100,000,000–144,000,000 | $105,000,000–152,000,000 | [# 4] |
| Monkeybone | 2001 | $75,000,000 | $7,600,000 | $71,000,000 | $95,000,000 | [# 5] |
| Mr. Peabody & Sherman | 2014 | $145,000,000 | $275,700,000 | $57,000,000 | $57,000,000 | [# 6] |
| Rise of the Guardians | 2012 | $145,000,000 | $306,900,000 | $87,000,000 | $90,000,000 | [# 7] |
| Titan A.E. | 2000 | $75,000,000–90,000,000 | $36,800,000 | $100,000,000 | $138,000,000 | [# 8] |
| Kubo and the Two Strings |
2016 | $60,000,000 | $54,600,000 | $80,000,000+ | $80,000,000+ | [# 9] |
| Treasure Planet | 2002 | $140,000,000 | $109,600,000 | $85,000,000 | $112,000,000 | [# 10] |
| Delgo | 2008 | $40,000,000 | $915,840 | $39,100,000 | $43,000,000 | [# 11] |
| Penguins of Madagascar | 2014 | $132,000,000 | $373,015,621 | $49,000,000 | $49,000,000 | [# 12] |
| Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within | 2001 | $137,000,000 | $85,100,000 | $94,000,000 | $126,000,000 | [# 13] |
See also
- List of films considered the worst
- List of highest-grossing animated films
- List of box office bombs
- List of most expensive animated films
Notes
- ↑ Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Community Development Project. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved October 21, 2016.
References
- ↑ https://www.oscars.org/sites/oscars/files/88aa_rules.pdf
- ↑ Susman, Gary (May 12, 2016). "The 19 Biggest Box Office Bombs in Movie History". Moviefone. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- ↑ Davidson, Adam (June 26, 2012). "How Does the Film Industry Actually Make Money". The New York Times. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
Chart sources
- ↑ The Good Dinosaur
- Total worldwide gross: "The Good Dinosaur (2015)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- Production budget: Faughnder, Ryan (24 November 2015). "'Good Dinosaur' and 'Creed' to battle 'Hunger Games' at holiday box office". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
- Estimated loss: McClintock, Pamela (January 22, 2016). "'Good Dinosaur': Analyzing Pixar's First Box-Office Disaster". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- ↑ Happy Feet Two
- Total worldwide gross and production budget: "Happy Feet Two (2011)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- Estimated loss: Biggest Money Losers & (The Numbers)
- ↑ Legends of Oz
- Total worldwide gross and production budget: "Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return (2014)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- Estimated loss: Biggest Money Losers & (The Numbers)
- ↑ Mars Needs Moms
- Total worldwide gross: "Mars Needs Moms (2011)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- Production budget: Graser, Marc (May 10, 2011). "'Mars' flop dents Disney earnings". Variety. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- Estimated loss (lower-bound): Barnes, Brooks (March 14, 2011). "Many Culprits in Fall of a Family Film". The New York Times. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- Estimated loss (upper-bound): Biggest Money Losers & (The Numbers)
- ↑ Monkeybone
- Total worldwide gross: "Monkeybone (2001)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- Production budget: Thielman, Sam (February 6, 2009). "Selick puts stop motion in Focus". Variety. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- Estimated loss: Greatest Film Flops & (Filmsite)
- ↑ Mr. Peabody & Sherman
- Total worldwide gross and production budget: "Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- Estimated loss: Lieberman (2014)
- ↑ Rise of the Guardians
- Total worldwide gross and production budget: "Rise of the Guardians (2012)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- Estimated loss: Lieberman (2014)
- ↑ Titan A.E.
- Total worldwide gross and production budget: "Titan A.E. (2000)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
- Production budget: Welkos, Robert W. (June 12, 2000). "Animated Clash of the 'Titan'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
- Estimated loss: Palmeri, Christopher (September 19, 2013). "Despicable Me 2 Producer Knows How to Win the Box Office". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- ↑ Kubo and the Two Strings
- Total worldwide gross and production budget: "Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 18, 2016.
- Expected loss: Sakoui (2016)
- ↑ Treasure Planet
- Total worldwide gross: "Treasure Planet (2002)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- Production budget: Amdur, Meredith (May 12, 2016). "For Disney, it's a season on the brink". Variety. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- Estimated loss: Greatest Film Flops & (Filmsite)
- ↑ Delgo
- Canadian and U.S. gross, production budget and estimated loss: Greatest Film Flops & (Filmsite) (2007–Present)
- ↑ Penguins of Madagascar
- Total worldwide gross and production budget: "Penguins of Madagascar (2014)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
- Estimated loss: Lieberman (2014)
- ↑ Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
- Total worldwide gross and production budget: "Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within (2001)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 12, 2013.
- Production budget: Bolton, Christopher; Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr; Takayuki Tatsumi (2007). "10". Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams: Japanese Science Fiction from Origins to Anime. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-8166-4974-X.
- Estimated loss: Greatest Film Flops & (Filmsite)
Bibliography
- Dirks, Tim. "Greatest Box-Office Bombs, Disasters and Film Flops of All-Time". Filmsite.org. AMC. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- "Biggest Money Losers, Based on Absolute Loss on Worldwide Earnings". The Numbers. Nash Information Services. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- Graser, Marc (May 12, 2016). "Legendary Stumbles With Big Writedowns on 'Seventh Son,' 'Blackhat' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- Lang, Brent; Waxman, Sharon (September 1, 2011). "Inside the Revolution Library: Where Joe Roth Went Wrong". The Wrap. Archived from the original on May 12, 2016.
- Lieberman, David (May 12, 2016). "'Penguins' Loss Forecasts Chill DreamWorks Animation Shares". Deadline.com. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
- McClintock, Pamela (May 12, 2016). "Summer Box-Office Flops: 'Tomorrowland,' 'Fantastic Four' Top List". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 12, 2016.