Studios Pushed Into Financial Ruin
In extreme cases, a single film's poor performance can push a studio into bankruptcy or equivalent financial ruin, as happened with RKO Pictures (The Conqueror), United Artists (Heaven's Gate), Carolco Pictures (Cutthroat Island, once listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest box office flop of all time), Fox Animation Studios (Titan A.E.), The Ladd Company (Twice Upon a Time and The Right Stuff), Fleischer Studios (Mr. Bug Goes to Town), and ITC Entertainment (Raise the Titanic). The Golden Compass was seen as a significant factor in influencing Warner Bros.' decision to take direct control of New Line Cinema.
When a failed attempt to revive a genre is particularly costly, all studios may subsequently balk at producing similar films, as was the case with Gold Circle Films' horror-comedy Slither, which made less than a quarter of its $29.5 million budget. Some failures have changed a company's agenda, such as Walt Disney Pictures' decision to make only computer-animated features, which stemmed from several disappointing traditionally-animated releases, including Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and Treasure Planet. However, this decision was reversed a few years later. Similarly, Warner Bros. Animation went nearly bankrupt in December 2003 due to the disasters of Cats Don't Dance, Quest for Camelot, Osmosis Jones and Looney Tunes: Back in Action, but it continued to operate after reorganizing from theatrical features to television shows, however recently it has produced some Looney Tunes theatrical shorts. Also, The Jim Henson Company was sold by Jim Henson's children to EM.TV as The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland and Muppets from Space underperformed comercially, and after the Henson Company was sold back to Henson's children, they have focused primarily on non-Muppet franchises such as Sid the Science Kid and Dinosaur Train since. However, Disney released The Muppets theatrically in 2011 to universal acclaim and major box office success leading to a Sesame Street film revival in works.
In 2001, Square Pictures released its first film, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, an animated motion picture inspired by the Final Fantasy series of video games. However, despite relatively positive reviews from critics, it lost over $52 million. In 2011, Mars Needs Moms was released to poor reviews and disastrous box-office returns; as of its second week of release, the film was on track to lose $100 million of its $150 million budget, and its failure led to the closing of ImageMovers Digital.
Read more about this topic: Box Office Bomb
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