Disney's Biggest Action Movie Failures

Before they bought Marvel and Star Wars, Disney had a long history of trying - and mostly failing - to make their own blockbuster adventure films.

It may be hard to remember now that Disney dominates the box office every year with Marvel and Star Wars movies, but there was a long time when House of Mouse couldn't make a successful action movie to save their lives.

Granted, there are exceptions to this rule. Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean movies are blockbuster hits, the National Treasure movies made a killing, and the original 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is still a classic. But for the most part Disney usually seemed to have trouble making action-packed movies that could compete with other studios' kick-butt blockbusters, which probably explains why they felt the need to buy pre-existing franchises that already had a huge built-in audience.

If you don't remember all of Disney's action movie flops, you're not alone. Quite a few of them got swept under the rug, and many of the others went on to become cult favorites, so it's easy to forget that they were once major box office disappointments. But don't cry for Disney; they're making billions. Let's just take a moment to remember where they came from, and how often they came close to financial ruin by putting all their money into action-adventure films that failed to find an audience. Watch the video above or check out the slideshow below for Disney's biggest action movie failures...
Disney's Biggest Action Movie Failures
Do you think these misses from Disney should've fared better at the box office? Or were they rightly discard into the trash heap of box-office history?

Let's discuss in the comments!

In This Article

Around the World in 80 Days [2004]

Rated "PG"
Release DateJune 16, 2004
Platformstheater, dvd