The Walt Disney Company, popularly known as Disney, is an entertainment powerhouse. It was founded almost a century ago and was originally synonymous with animation, but diversified into live-action films, television, and theme parks.
It has created and acquired various divisions that make films, including Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, 20th Century Animation, Searchlight Pictures, and Pixar. (Here’s how every Pixar movie did at the box office.)
Disney is known for hugely successful franchises such as Avengers, Iron Man, Toy Story, and Star Wars, and for standalone hits such as “Beauty and the Beast” and “Black Panther.” (For more, see the best Disney movies of all time.)
However, not everything Disney touches turns to gold, and the company has had its share of flops, too. 24/7 Tempo has compiled a list of the biggest Disney flops of all time by looking at 632 feature length Disney films and subtracting the worldwide domestic box office from the production budget.
Our list is headed by three films you might not have even heard of, or at least not been aware they were Disney productions. The biggest flop was “Mars Needs Moms,” a 2011 film that had a production budget of almost $132 million and made less than $48 million. Behind that is “The Alamo,” a 2004 film about a pivotal event in Texas history. Disney probably doesn’t want to remember that film because it lost almost $100 million.
Click here for the 50 biggest flops in Disney history
Methodology
To identify the biggest all time Disney flops, 24/7 Tempo calculated the net loss of 632 feature length Disney movies in our database by subtracting the worldwide domestic box office from the production budget. Both financial figures are adjusted for inflation using historic ticket prices and the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and come from movie industry data site The Numbers, an online movie database owned by Nash Information Services. Casting information comes from IMDb.
50. Teacher’s Pet (2004)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $4.5 million
> Production budget: $14.1 million — #330 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $9.6 million — #544 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Nathan Lane, Shaun Fleming, David Ogden Stiers, Kelsey Grammer
[in-text-ad]
49. The Straight Story (1999)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $4.8 million
> Production budget: $16.0 million — #323 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $11.2 million — #535 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, Jane Galloway Heitz, Joseph A. Carpenter
48. Goal! The Dream Begins (2005)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $5.5 million
> Production budget: $45.0 million — #221 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $39.5 million — #422 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Kuno Becker, Alessandro Nivola, Anna Friel, Leonardo Guerra
47. Nixon (1995)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $5.6 million
> Production budget: $78.6 million — #153 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $73.0 million — #329 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Joan Allen, Powers Boothe, Ed Harris
[in-text-ad-2]
46. Queen of Katwe (2016)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $6.0 million
> Production budget: $16.6 million — #319 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $10.6 million — #538 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Madina Nalwanga, David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong’o, Martin Kabanza
45. New York Stories (1989)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $7.5 million
> Production budget: $32.2 million — #262 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $24.7 million — #476 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Woody Allen, Nick Nolte, Rosanna Arquette, Marvin Chatinover
[in-text-ad]
44. Mr. 3000 (2004)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $10.1 million
> Production budget: $42.3 million — #230 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $32.2 million — #452 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Bernie Mac, Angela Bassett, Michael Rispoli, Brian White
43. Veronica Guerin (2003)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $10.3 million
> Production budget: $24.6 million — #294 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $14.3 million — #522 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Cate Blanchett, Colin Farrell, Brenda Fricker
42. Dark Water (2005)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $11.1 million
> Production budget: $81.8 million — #150 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $70.7 million — #333 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Jennifer Connelly, Ariel Gade, John C. Reilly, Tim Roth
[in-text-ad-2]
41. Bubble Boy (2001)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $11.4 million
> Production budget: $19.5 million — #309 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $8.1 million — #549 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Swoosie Kurtz, Marley Shelton, Danny Trejo
40. High Heels and Low Lifes (2001)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $11.5 million
> Production budget: $15.0 million — #326 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $3.5 million — #564 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Kevin McNally, Minnie Driver, Mary McCormack, Mark Williams
[in-text-ad]
39. The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $12.0 million
> Production budget: $34.1 million — #255 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $22.1 million — #490 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Stephen Dillane, Elias Koteas, James Paxton
24/7 Wall St.
38. Prefontaine (1997)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $12.1 million
> Production budget: $13.3 million — #333 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $1.2 million — #571 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Jared Leto, R. Lee Ermey, Ed O’Neill, Breckin Meyer
37. Gun Shy (2000)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $12.7 million
> Production budget: $15.5 million — #325 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $2.8 million — #565 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Liam Neeson, Sandra Bullock, Oliver Platt
[in-text-ad-2]
36. The Crew (2000)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $13.4 million
> Production budget: $35.6 million — #249 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $22.1 million — #489 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Burt Reynolds, Dan Hedaya, Seymour Cassel
35. Duets (2000)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $13.5 million
> Production budget: $24.7 million — #292 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $11.2 million — #534 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Huey Lewis, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Giamatti, Andre Braugher
[in-text-ad]
34. Renaissance Man (1994)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $17.6 million
> Production budget: $71.9 million — #169 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $54.3 million — #376 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Danny DeVito, Gregory Hines, James Remar, Ed Begley Jr.
33. 102 Dalmatians (2000)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $17.7 million
> Production budget: $131.4 million — #100 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $113.8 million — #270 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Glenn Close, Gerard Depardieu, Ioan Gruffudd, Alice Evans
32. Breakfast of Champions (1999)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $18.9 million
> Production budget: $19.2 million — #311 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $0.3 million — #576 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Bruce Willis, Nick Nolte, Albert Finney, Barbara Hershey
[in-text-ad-2]
31. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $19.1 million
> Production budget: $70.5 million — #170 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $51.3 million — #384 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Anjelica Huston, Cate Blanchett
30. Ed Wood (1994)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $19.3 million
> Production budget: $32.3 million — #261 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $13.1 million — #525 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette
[in-text-ad]
29. Jefferson in Paris (1995)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $19.3 million
> Production budget: $24.5 million — #295 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $5.2 million — #561 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Nick Nolte, Greta Scacchi, Gwyneth Paltrow, Estelle Eonnet
28. Moonlight Mile (2002)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $20.3 million
> Production budget: $31.1 million — #265 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $10.8 million — #536 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon, Alexia Landeau
27. The Fifth Estate (2013)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $22.8 million
> Production budget: $29.7 million — #270 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $6.9 million — #557 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Bruhl, Carice van Houten, Alicia Vikander
[in-text-ad-2]
26. Play It to the Bone (1999)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $23.1 million
> Production budget: $38.4 million — #243 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $15.3 million — #517 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Woody Harrelson, Antonio Banderas, Lolita Davidovich, Marie Park
25. The Finest Hours (2016)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $25.5 million
> Production budget: $77.6 million — #154 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $52.2 million — #381 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Eric Bana
[in-text-ad]
24. Instinct (1999)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $26.2 million
> Production budget: $87.9 million — #143 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $61.7 million — #355 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Cuba Gooding Jr., Donald Sutherland, Maura Tierney
23. My Favorite Martian (1999)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $29.2 million
> Production budget: $95.9 million — #136 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $66.7 million — #338 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Daniels, Elizabeth Hurley, Daryl Hannah
22. Meet the Deedles (1998)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $30.7 million
> Production budget: $39.2 million — #242 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $8.5 million — #547 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Paul Walker, Steve Van Wormer, A.J. Langer, John Ashton
[in-text-ad-2]
21. Super Mario Bros. (1993)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $31.3 million
> Production budget: $77.4 million — #155 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $46.1 million — #402 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, Samantha Mathis
20. Mighty Joe Young (1998)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $31.8 million
> Production budget: $130.7 million — #101 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $98.9 million — #298 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Bill Paxton, Charlize Theron, Rade Serbedzija, Peter Firth
[in-text-ad]
19. Just Visiting (2001)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $33.9 million
> Production budget: $60.1 million — #184 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $26.2 million — #473 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Jean Reno, Christina Applegate, Christian Clavier, Matt Ross
18. Kundun (1997)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $35.1 million
> Production budget: $46.4 million — #213 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $11.3 million — #533 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Tenzin Thuthob Tsarong, Gyurme Tethong, Tulku Jamyang Kunga Tenzin, Tenzin Yeshi Paichang
17. Mumford (1999)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $37.6 million
> Production budget: $45.9 million — #217 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $8.3 million — #548 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Loren Dean, Hope Davis, Jason Lee, Alfre Woodard
[in-text-ad-2]
16. Return to Oz (1985)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $39.4 million
> Production budget: $66.8 million — #174 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $27.4 million — #464 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Fairuza Balk, Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Piper Laurie
15. Beloved (1998)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $41.9 million
> Production budget: $86.6 million — #145 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $44.6 million — #405 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Yada Beener, Emil Pinnock
[in-text-ad]
14. Home on the Range (2004)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $42.2 million
> Production budget: $155.0 million — #82 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $112.8 million — #272 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Judi Dench, Cuba Gooding Jr., Jennifer Tilly, Randy Quaid
13. White Squall (1996)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $43.3 million
> Production budget: $64.5 million — #176 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $21.2 million — #493 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Jeff Bridges, Caroline Goodall, John Savage, Scott Wolf
12. Miracle at St. Anna (2008)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $43.3 million
> Production budget: $55.6 million — #193 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $12.3 million — #529 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso, Omar Benson Miller
[in-text-ad-2]
11. Cradle Will Rock (1999)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $45.9 million
> Production budget: $51.1 million — #204 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $5.2 million — #560 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Hank Azaria, Ruben Blades, Joan Cusack, John Cusack
10. Deep Rising (1998)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $51.6 million
> Production budget: $73.5 million — #164 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $21.9 million — #491 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Treat Williams, Famke Janssen, Anthony Heald, Kevin J. O’Connor
[in-text-ad]
9. Big Trouble (2002)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $53.2 million
> Production budget: $66.6 million — #175 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $13.4 million — #524 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Tim Allen, Rene Russo, Stanley Tucci, Tom Sizemore
8. Last Shot (2004)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $55.7 million
> Production budget: $56.4 million — #190 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $0.7 million — #575 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Matthew Broderick, Alec Baldwin, Toni Collette, Tony Shalhoub
7. The Scarlet Letter (1995)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $65.5 million
> Production budget: $87.3 million — #144 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $21.8 million — #492 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Demi Moore, Gary Oldman, Robert Duvall, Lisa Andoh
[in-text-ad-2]
6. Shadow Conspiracy (1997)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $70.3 million
> Production budget: $74.6 million — #162 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $4.3 million — #562 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Charlie Sheen, Donald Sutherland, Linda Hamilton, Stephen Lang
5. Holy Man (1998)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $74.4 million
> Production budget: $98.0 million — #130 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $23.6 million — #483 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Eddie Murphy, Jeff Goldblum, Kelly Preston, Robert Loggia
[in-text-ad]
4. Onward (2020)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $77.8 million
> Production budget: $205.7 million — #43 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $127.9 million — #248 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Octavia Spencer
3. The 13th Warrior (1999)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $88.1 million
> Production budget: $199.8 million — #47 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $111.7 million — #276 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Antonio Banderas, Diane Venora, Vladimir Kulich
2. The Alamo (2004)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $94.4 million
> Production budget: $129.7 million — #106 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $35.3 million — #439 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton, Jason Patric
[in-text-ad-2]
1. Mars Needs Moms (2011)
> Loss (world ticket sales – production budget): $131.9 million
> Production budget: $177.5 million — #69 highest out of all Disney movies
> Worldwide ticket sales: $45.7 million — #404 highest out of all Disney movies
> Starring: Seth Green, Joan Cusack, Dan Fogler, Elisabeth Harnois
Want to Retire Early? Start Here (Sponsor)
Want retirement to come a few years earlier than you’d planned? Or are you ready to retire now, but want an extra set of eyes on your finances?
Now you can speak with up to 3 financial experts in your area for FREE. By simply clicking here you can begin to match with financial professionals who can help you build your plan to retire early. And the best part? The first conversation with them is free.
Click here to match with up to 3 financial pros who would be excited to help you make financial decisions.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Latest from 24/7
