Walt Disney is a mammoth filmmaking company, with it being near impossible now to imagine them making a movie that flops — but a little-known 2002 film of theirs, Treasure Planet, is one of Disney's most expensive failures. The Walt Disney Company conglomerate now consists of Pixar, Lucasfilm, the MCU, and many other properties, as well as launching its own streaming service, Disney+. The company nearly has a monopoly on filmmaking, rakes in billions of dollars a year from multiple different projects, and succeeds in nearly everything they produce. This, however, was not the case for Disney Treasure Planet.
Treasure Planet is based on the book Treasure Island but with a few tweaks. The film is set in space, and Jim Hawkins (voiced by a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a rebellious young boy who lost himself after he and his mother were abandoned by their father. From a young age, Jim is captivated by stories of pirates and knows that one day he will find Treasure Planet. After an old pirate crashes outside his mother's inn, Jim helps him and the pirate gives him a strange orb before he es away. Jim discovers that this orb is a secret map to the planet holding the hidden treasure of legendary pirate Nathaniel Flint. Jim and Doppler hire a ship crew and journey there, unbeknownst to them that they've hired Long John Silver and his pirate crew who plan to seize the treasure for themselves.
Upon release, Treasure Planet bombed so exponentially that the pre-planned sequel was almost immediately scrapped. Audiences, unfortunately, did not flock to see Disney's latest release, and the film did not meet financial expectations. The early 2000s animation, though, now receives its dues, but here's why Disney Treasure Planet was one of Disney's most expensive failures when it was first released.
Why Treasure Planet Cost Disney So Much To Make
The failure of Disney Treasure Planet lies somewhat in the fact that it is actually, to date, the most expensive traditionally animated film ever made, costing around $140 million. Putting so much money into the movie meant that it really had to have a big pay-off. Treasure Planet's animation style was a unique blend of Disney's traditional 2-D animation with new 3-D computer-generated animation in order to create a sci-fi world of wonder. Long John Silver's character, even, was a hybrid in every sense of the word. He is a cyborg in the film, and his 'human' parts were traditionally hand-drawn, and his cyborg parts were CG animation. This elevation of Disney animation, combining styles to make something newer and more mature, clearly would not have been cheap to make. This, ed with the fact that the filmmakers wanted Treasure Planet to resemble something by Steven Spielberg or James Cameron, really solidified how expensive the film was going to be for Disney.
Why Treasure Planet Bombed At The Box Office (& How Much Disney Lost)
In the early 2000s, Disney films were still finding their footing. Hercules (perfect casting and all) did Disney green-light the project. Treasure Planet was also hindered by the unfortunate fact that its release coincided with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and the film lost Disney around $74 million.
Why Treasure Planet Deserved Much Better Than Its Box Office Failure
Although its traditional animation was, at the time, outdated, Treasure Planet is an aesthetically beautiful film. There are some particularly stunning shots through space, with the wash of colors popping against the ships. Silver's cyborg animation, too, remains impressive. The mechanics of his arm are quite hypnotizing and fascinating to watch. Morph stands out as Disney's signature cute sidekick, and does a wonderful job of being funny and adorable. The script ebbs and flows, with humor being provided by the only entirely CG character in the film, B.E.N. Superior to all, though, is the relationship between Jim and Silver.
Silver is one of the most Disney balanced the line between hero and villain. Silver sacrifices his treasure to save Jim, and in turn, Jim helps Silver flee prosecution when they arrive back on their ship safely. Despite the film being set in outer space and involving a plethora of odd aliens and dangerous cyborgs, the natural human impulse to connect and belong seems to be at the center of it.
It is rare at this time that Disney has its name connected to a project that flops, and unfortunately, Treasure Planet was one of those times. The film is a prime example that financial failures do not necessarily equate to an awful piece of work, as Treasure Planet is both a feat of animation and a truly heartwarming story. It is a shame that the movie only received audience praise long after it financially counted, but nonetheless, it can now take its title as a classic Disney film.
Why Treasure Planet Didn't Totally Fail
Despite Treasure Planet's outright box office failure, the film wasn't a complete disaster. As of now, the Treasure Island adaptation holds a decent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. With a 69% critics score and a 72% audience score, the movie is technically certified fresh. Jim's journey throughout outer space may not have been well-received when it came out in 2002, but as of late, the film is starting to gain more traction in of positive reviews. Many of Treasure Planet's positive reviews have come from as late as 2020 – almost a decade after the movie's release in 2002. It seems that the film didn't do well initially, but people have started to notice the Robert Louis Stevenson adaptation and appreciate it through a different lens. Though earlier reviews lamented that the adaptation lacked decent characterizations, had poor comedic taste, and suffered from an incoherent plot, many today are praising the movie for its expansive (and expensive) animation, fast-paced adventure, and witty entertainment factor.
In a way, Treasure Planet didn't really fail. The movie's reputation has only grown over the years, keeping it at the edges of mainstream awareness as time goes by. It's only in retrospect that the movie can be considered something of a sleeper hit or even a Disney cult classic akin to The Black Cauldron. The notion that the movie Treasure Planet has only grown in its reputation over the years reflects its true value far more clearly than the fact that it was a blockbuster flop.
