In the 2010s, it was rare for Disney to not blow audiences away at the box office. Some of the decade’s biggest films included Disney productions, like “Avengers: Endgame,” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” and “Frozen II.” However, one surprising flop was 2015’s “Tomorrowland,” an original sci-fi film based on one of their theme parks directed by Brad Bird, who helmed successes like “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille.”
With a cast including George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, and Britt Robertson, it came as a shock that the film was a financial loss of nearly $150 million for Disney in 2015. Its total box office gross worldwide ended up just over $209 million, a poor profit from its budget of $190 million. This failure could be attributed to the film’s mixed critical response, which labeled its storytelling as uninspired amidst dazzling visuals, with The New York Times stating, “It’s not another glib, phoned-in piece of franchise mediocrity but rather a work of evident passion and conviction … What it isn’t is in any way convincing or enchanting.”
Despite the negativity that followed “Tomorrowland” — and perhaps the impact it had on Disney’s risk-taking — Bird expressed pride in the finished film, comparing it to another box-office bomb of his that later found its audience: 1999’s “The Iron Giant.” He said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, “[Now] it exists, and people can discover it. The movies outlast the criticism of the moment. They exist separate from all that, in time.”
