Being the most expensive animated film ever made at the time, it was a box-office bomb, grossing just $21.3 million against a budget of $44 million, putting the future of Disney's animation department in jeopardy. Because of its commercial failure, Disney did not release the film on home media until 1998.
Treasure Planet: The Masterpiece That Almost Ruined Disney
Did The Black Cauldron almost end Disney?
The Black Cauldron (Disney, July 1985)
At the time, it was purported to be the most expensive animated film ever made (though cheap by today's standards). It had quite a turbulent history and almost killed off Disney animation entirely.
It's easy to see why The Black Cauldron was deemed too scary for young audiences. The color palette is noticeably darker than previous Disney productions, with almost all locations being dark and dreary, foreboding places. The Horned King himself is also a terrifying prospect for the usual Disney audience.
In the case of The Little Mermaid, Disney's $284.8 million share of the box office left it with a $44.6 million profit after deducting its $240.2 million net spending.
The films contributing to the losses include “Lightyear,” “Thor: Love and Thunder,” “Strange World,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” “The Little Mermaid,” and “Elemental.” The eight films cost roughly $2.75 billion to produce but only brought in $1.86 billion.
“Wish” fell behind the opening weekend gross of nearly every other film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, only surpassing the openings of a few flops like “Strange World” and “Raya and the Last Dragon,” and it failed to reach the highs of its seven films that opened with more than $45 million in the 2010s.
In 1937, Walt Disney Animation Studios released its first fully animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, pioneering a new form of family entertainment.
Arguably the darkest film in the entire Disney animated canon is the 1996 film The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The movie opens with Frollo killing Quasimodo's mother and attempting to kill an infant Quasimodo before he's forced to stop. He attempts to atone for the sin of murdering Quasimodo's mother by taking the boy in.
Leonardo DiCaprio had the chance to play the lead role of Max Dennison in 1993 cult classic fantasy comedy movie Hocus Pocus, but ultimately turned it down.
On December 20, Netflix removed Moana to make room for a new lineup of films for Christmas and New Year's Eve. While Moana is no longer available on Netflix, you are still able to enjoy the movie over the holidays. Amazon Prime offers Moana for purchase, and iTunes offers both a rental and a purchase option.
First-night moviegoers gave the film an "A" on CinemaScore and critics gave it a solid good 98 percent approval rate. Outside North America, Moana grossed $16.3 million, including an estimated $12.3 million in China, where it opened on Nov 25. For a global opening totaling, Moana got over $97.4 million.
But depending on where in the world people saw Moana, they might know the great animated movie by another name. Disney retitled Moana in different countries, with most European countries using Vaiana. This change was reflected in the movie too, as Moana's name was changed to Vaiana due to copyright issues.
He says they were looking for the best actor for the role of any ethnicity who could not only sing but convey traits such as strength, passion, beauty, joy and intelligence, which they found in Bailey.
The Walt Disney Company Reports Third Quarter and Nine Months Earnings for Fiscal 2023. BURBANK, Calif. —The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) today reported earnings for its third quarter and nine months ended July 1, 2023. Revenues for the quarter and nine months grew 4% and 8%, respectively.
Little by little, however, the $200 million film became a hit, collecting nearly $500 million worldwide. For the year to date, “Elemental” ranks No. 9 on the list of top-grossing films, ahead of Marvel's latest “Ant-Man” sequel.
One of the most disturbing traits of the Horned King is his very own appearance. While the film shows him trying to resurrect the Cauldron Born, he doesn't look human at all. He looks mostly like a living dead due his skeletal appearance in spite of having skin, let aside his horns.
The Black Cauldron is likely to entertain children under 12 years, although it isn't suitable for children under 8 years. We also recommend parental guidance for children aged 8-10 years because of the movie's animated action violence and frightening scenes.
In adapting it for use on Once Upon a Nightmare, some liberties were taken with the plot and similarities were drawn to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings for added depth and to lend a bit of familiarity for those unfamiliar with Lloyd Alexander and his works.
