The Walt Disney Company has been a behemoth in the entertainment business for decades now, churning out hit after hit and dominating the international box office. In recent years, the entertainment giant has continued to expand, acquiring Marvel and Lucasfilm. Even 21st Century Fox will soon be under Disney’s large umbrella.
With so many wildly popular franchises under its vast reach, it’s no surprise that Disney’s been turning profits as quickly as Skywalkers turn dark. The company is perhaps best known for its animated features, particularly its work with Pixar, but its live-action works have also been huge successes. That said, not every project under Micky’s flag has turned out quite so well.
Some Disney movies have had the dubious honor of receiving Golden Raspberry nominations, the joke prize awarded to the worst in film of the year. On the other hand, other live-action movies from Disney have been widely lauded, with sequels following close on their heels.
The list below doesn’t just include live-action reboots and reimaginings of pre-existing Disney animations. Any live-action movie produced by Walt Disney Pictures is eligible for the list as long as there are human actors-- even if they’re largely accompanied by puppets. Even if a film’s worldwide gross is a pretty large number compared to its competitors, it’s still included as a flop if the figures didn’t meet expectations. Since part of the criteria is box office performance, direct-to-video movies and Disney Channel movies aren’t included.
In no particular order, here are 10 Live-Action Disney Movies That Completely Flopped (And 10 Massive Hits).
20 Flop: Newsies
Disney musicals seem to be dominating both the Broadway and the box office. There’s Frozen and Aladdin, which have proven to be a huge hit in both mediums, and Anastasia, who started off as a Dreamworks princess but has since joined the Disney line-up.
However, Newsies did not nearly garner the same level of praise as its movie musical peers when it came out in 1992.
The plot is loosely based on the Newsboys Strike of 1899 and it stars a young Christian Bale.
Fast forward to the 21st century, and Newsies has transformed into a Tony Award-winning stage musical on Broadway. The revamped version includes new music as well as a number that replaces two songs from the movie.
19 Hit: Enchanted
Amy Adams may be keeping audiences at the edge of their seats in 2018 with her performance in Sharp Objects, but she had them singing at the top of their lungs in Enchanted back in 2007.
This half-parody, half-homage to animated fairy tales was a commercial success, won multiple awards and secured Adams’ spot as a leading lady. She stars as Giselle, an animated almost-princess who gets swept away to the real-life New York City, where she confronts the world’s cynicism with her endless optimism.
The film was such a hit that there’s now a sequel called Disenchanted in development, with Giselle figuring out what happily ever after means ten years after the events of the first movie.
18 Flop: John Carter
Edgar Rice Burroughs’ seminal science fantasy novel A Princess of Mars has heavily shaped the genre, and there have been several attempts to bring the Barsoom series to the silver screen.
The source material seemed dated and derivative when a movie adaptation finally came out in 2012.
John Carter follows the titular character, a former Confederate Army captain who is transported to Barsoom, where he’s able to basically have super strength and jump super high because of the planet’s gravity and his bone density. The movie was meant to be the first in a trilogy, but due to its apalling performance at the box office, plans for sequels have been scrapped, to some cast members’ disappointment.
17 Hit: George Of The Jungle
Another one of Burroughs’ most recognizable characters is Tarzan, who has inspired direct adaptations as well as the animated TV show George of the Jungle. Thirty years after the cartoon first aired in 1967, Brendan Fraser starred in a live-action version.
Much like Tarzan, George is a human who is raised by animals in a jungle with limited interactions with human society. However, he’s a lot clumsier than Tarzan, regularly swinging face-first into trees.
Although critical responses were lukewarm, the movie went on to become a box office success, leading to a direct-to-video sequel in 2003. Most of the major characters are re-cast, with only Keith Scott, Thomas Haden Church, and John Cleese returning for the sequel.
16 Flop: Tomorrowland
If the title of the movie sounds familiar, it’s probably because you know it from the themed land of the same name at Disney’s theme parks.
The screenplay’s originality was praised but it wasn't enough to win over critics and audiences.
The movie ended up a flop, even with major movie stars George Clooney and Hugh Laurie among the cast.
The story follows tech-loving youngster Casey as she tries to prevent the end of humanity, with help from the audio-animatronic robot Athena and the reclusive inventor Frank.
Dave Hollis, Disney’s distribution chief, has also attributed the movie’s lukewarm response to a market that prefers reboots and sequels of existing films rather than fresh ideas.
15 Hit: The Santa Clause
Tim Allen stars as Scott in the 1994 Christmas movie The Santa Clause, in which a business-minded dad rediscovers the true meaning of Christmas by becoming Santa himself.
The original Santa falls off a roof during a routine present-giving excursion, so Scott puts on the Santa suit and is transported to the North Pole, where he learns that he has inherited Santa’s responsibilities.
The movie was a worldwide hit, becoming a classic Christmas movie alongside It’s a Wonderful Life and The Muppet Christmas Carol. It even spawned not one, but two sequels. However, neither of these fared as well as the original movie, with the final film getting a dismal 17% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
14 Flop: Snow Dogs
Snow Dogs is yet another movie inspired by a book, this time a non-fiction work called Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod by Gary Paulsen.
Cuba Gooding Jr. plays Ted Brooks, a well-known dentist in Miami, Florida who receives a letter from naming him the heir of Lucy Watkins, his birth mother whom he’d never known. He inherits a border collie and seven huskies, and goes to Toltekna, Alaska to reconnect with his roots.
Ted’s a fish out of water, struggling to acclimate to the harsh cold of Alaska and finding it difficult to deal with the dogs.
The movie does conclude with a happy ending, but in real life, it earned a dismal %24 on Rotten Tomatoes.
13 Hit: Cinderella
Sir Kenneth Branagh has had a long and illustrious career on both the screen and the stage, with acting credits that encompass everything from Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing to Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter. He’s also no stranger to directing Hollywood blockbusters, including the 2015 live-action Cinderella reboot.
The movie stars Lily James as Cinderella, with Cate Blanchett as her evil stepmother. Cinderella was a hit amongst critics as well as at the box office, even earning several nominations for costume design.
It paid homage and referred to the 1950 animated classic, but ultimately didn’t feature large musical numbers, much to some fans’ dismay. Screenwriter Chris Weitz explained that he couldn’t work them into the world of the film.
12 Flop: The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger made his first appearance in 1933, quickly becoming a highly recognizable figure in the Western genre-- and in American culture in general-- thanks to a series of popular books, comics, movies and a TV show.
However, the 2013 version starring Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp ended up a box office flop, trailing behind Despicable Me 2, which opened the same weekend.
On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 30% critics’ score and a 51% audience score.
Although the movie is named after the Lone Ranger, the focus lies more heavily on Tonto, his sidekick, than previous incarnations. The movie also sparked controversy by allowing the white Depp to play Tonto, who is widely seen as a disrespectful caricature of Native Americans.
11 Hit: The Princess Diaries
Amelia Mignonette Grimaldi Thermopolis Renaldo may be the Princess of Genovia and heir to the throne, but her royal status doesn’t make her any less relatable to the readers of her diary. She reached any even wider audience thanks to the movie adaptation of Meg Cabot’s acclaimed YA novels, starring Anne Hathaway in her breakthrough role.
Plus, industry legend Julie Andrews plays Mia’s grandmother, the Queen of Genovia while Whitney Houston produced the movie. Not bad for Hathaway’s movie debut.
The commercial success of the first film led to a sequel, although it’s not based on any of the books. Apparently, there’s a third movie in the works as well. We’re keeping our fingers crossed!
10 Flop: A Wrinkle In Time
There has already been a movie adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s acclaimed young adult novel, but that didn’t diminish the anticipation for Ava DuVernay’s new version of the literary classic.
Teenaged Meg Murry tried to adapt to life without her father, who had vanished when she was younger. She encounters three astral travellers, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which, who take Meg on the adventure of a lifetime.
The 2018 movie might have been a flop in the conventional sense, but it’s still a win for inclusion in the industry.
Although the Murrys are usually imagined as a white family, DuVernay chose to feature a mixed race family, with Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Chris Pine as Meg’s parents. Meg’s younger brother is adopted in the film in order to honor Deric McCabe’s Filipino heritage.
9 Hit: High School Musical 3
If you grew up glued to the Disney Channel (which, let’s be honest, a good chunk of us have), you can almost certainly sing a verse of two from Disney’s smash hit High School Musical. The musical flick starred Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens, both of whom have grown into fruitful careers after the trilogy concluded.
The first two movies the hearts of teenagers everywhere and stitched them back together, and the final installment—the only one to get a theatrical release—is no different.
High School Musical 3: Senior Year follows the six main characters as they navigate their hopes, dreams, and fears during their last year of high school, culminating in their last musical at East High.
8 Flop: The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is perhaps best known for The Sorrows of Young Werther, but Disney’s Fantasia helped to popularize his poem The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. The sequence was so popular that it even appeared in Fantasia 2000. It’s not hard to see how the company would be motivated to release a feature film based on the same material ten years later.
Nicolas Cage plays Balthazar Blake, a sorcerer who fights evil forces in Manhattan.
After finding out that physics student Dave Stutler (played by Jay Baruchel) is the one who will inherit Merlin’s powers, Balthazar takes him on as an apprentice. The movie even makes a reference to its Fantasia origins in one scene. However, the story’s derivative nature made the movie a flop.
7 Hit: The Parent Trap
The 1998 movie The Parent Trap is a remake of the 1961 version, which in turn was adapted from a German book called Lottie and Lisa. While the remake didn’t generate the same awards buzz as the original (which was nominated for two Academy Awards), Nancy Meyers definitely delivered an iconic movie.
Lindsay Lohan makes her movie debut as both Hallie Parker and Annie James, two twins who were separated from birth and reunite at a summer camp. The sisters try to get their parents (Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson) to reconcile, and secretly switch identities. Elaine Hendrix plays Quaid’s evil publicist girlfriend, a role that is nothing short of iconic.
The movie probably made you suspect having a long-lost twin yourself!
6 Flop: Inspector Gadget
The King of the Jungle isn’t the only one to have originated from an animated series. Inspector Gadget, the cyborg police officer, also made his debut in a TV series of the same name. Despite his many high-tech alterations, Gadget isn’t the brightest of inspectors, resulting in some spirited hijinks as he attempts to solve crimes.
Matthew Broderick stars as Gadget in the 1999 live-action movie, alongside Rupert Everett as his nemesis Dr. Claw and Michelle Trachtenberg as Penny.
The movie introduces the audience to Gadget’s origin story.
It only has a rating of 21% on Rotten Tomatoes, in addition to having a mediocre box office performance. Inspector Gadget may have received a lukewarm reaction, but there might be a reboot on the horizon.
5 Hit: Honey, I Shrunk The Kids
The Little Mermaid is without a doubt one of Disney’s classics, but it actually had a lower worldwide gross than Honey, I Shrunk the Kids back in 1989.
In Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Rick Moranis plays an inventor who tries to perfect a shrinking ray in his home. Despite his apparent failure, the ray gun accidentally shrinks his children and his neighbor’s children. The kids are inadvertently taken out with the trash and have to find their way across the lawn back home.
Not only was the movie a commercial success, it also has a 75% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes and received several sequels and spin-offs, including a 4D movie at Disney World in 1994.
4 Flop: Popeye
Popeye the Sailor, created by Elzie Cristler Segar, is easily one of the most identifiable fictional figures in pop culture, with a history that spans almost 90 years. He’s appeared in comic books, cartoons, and video games, always saving Olive Oyl at the end of the day thanks to his habit of munching on spinach.
In 1980, Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall starred in a musical movie based on Popeye, and was Williams’ first starring film role. However, the movie opened to mixed critical reviews and the worldwide gross was less than anticipated.
The plot follows Popeye as he arrives in a small town in search for his father, meeting and falling in love with Olive along the way.
3 Hit: Muppet Treasure Island
The Muppets have been a staple of pop culture ever since they first appeared in the 1950s, thanks to a string of high-profile movies and shows. Among one of these hits is Muppet Treasure Island, based on the novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Just like The Muppet Christmas Carol, the Muppets star alongside human actors as they rush to retrieve Captain Flint’s lost treasure, pausing along the way for some obligatory musical numbers. The source material might be about vicious pirates, but the Muppets add a lot of cheer. Let’s be real, of all the actors who’ve portrayed Ben Gunn over the years, Miss Piggy easily takes the crown.
The movie even has a tie-in video game for Windows and Mac!
2 Flop: Around The World In 80 Days
Around the World in 80 Days is yet another book-to-movie adaptation based on the novel by Jules Verne. The adaptation is only loosely based on the book to maximize the comedic elements.
The critics were not thrilled with the ineffective changes to the source material.
The movie revolves around Lau Xin, a Chinese man who becomes the valet for an inventor in order to run from the police after having robbed the Bank of England. The inventor, Phileas Fogg takes on a bet to travel the world in 80 days. If he succeeds, he becomes the Minister of Science, and if he fails, he’ll destroy his lab.
Released in 2004, the movie stars Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, and Cécile de France. Plus, it was Arnold Schwarzenegger’s last gig before his political hiatus.
1 Hit: Beauty And The Beast
Disney’s live-action reboot of the classic animated feature stars Emma Watson and Dan Stevens as the titular characters, joined by industry icons like Audra McDonald, Emma Thompson, and Sir Ian McKellen. While big names don’t always guarantee commercial or critical success, Beauty and the Beast certainly checked both those boxes. In fact, it was the second-highest grossing movie of 2017, behind Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
The movie follows close on the heels of other live-action reimaginings like Alice in Wonderland and The Jungle Book, both of which were hits. The movie also garnered a lot of attention due to the characterization of LeFou as a gay man, and generated debates about Belle and the Beast’s relationship.
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