Just Wondering... (Black Cauldron a Failure?)

[Sword and the Stone Rocks]

This is a question from a message I read earlier that referred to the Black Couldron as Disney's Biggest failure.

I was just wondering why?

[Tangela]

The Black Cauldron is considered to be one of Disney worst movies ever because it is one of my favorites, that automatically makes it underrated, secondly, it did terrible at the box office, 12 years were wasted in making that film with no financial reward at all, since they spent more money making it than selling it, also, it was a very dark movie, so many kids didn't like it, and if kids don't like a Disney animated film, it will be underrated, but it is another thing with Disney's second to crummiest work ever, The Rescuers, now that's garbage...

[Poppins#1]

That's easy. At the time (1985) it was the biggest budget Disney had ever spent on an animated feature. If memory serves, wasn't it $25 million? And it totally bombed at the box office. I have no idea why except perhaps the public may have already lost faith in the Disney name at that time.

I, myself enjoyed the movie very much. Disney needs to remaster the DVD though. The non-anamorphic transfer does not do the movie justice.

[Escapay]

It was the first Disney animated feature to be rated PG because of its dark tones (and those creepy deathless warriors!).

I think that they did spend so much time making it, that they were cutting out important stuff, making the story a little hard to follow (like how Eilonwy just appears, along with Ffleuder). Also, if you actually read the Chronicles of Prydain, the movie has basically taking bits and pieces from some of the books while trying to tell the "The Black Cauldron" story (Horned King isn't in the book Black Cauldron).

So, it was a financial flop, and just too damn convoluted to follow because they basically butchered the book series and tried to make it one movie.

Escapay

[MickeyMouseboy]

::psychodelic theme song:: My warriors!!!!!

[2099net]

The Black Cauldron is considered to be one of Disney worst movies ever because it is one of my favorites, that automatically makes it underrated, secondly, it did terrible at the box office, 12 years were wasted in making that film with no financial reward at all, since they spent more money making it than selling it, also, it was a very dark movie, so many kids didn't like it, and if kids don't like a Disney animated film, it will be underrated, but it is another thing with Disney's second to crummiest work ever, The Rescuers, now that's garbage...

Tangela, can you proudly proclaim that Shrek 2 is going to be your favourite movie? I'd love for that to sink at the box office

[bean:therio]

That's easy. At the time (1985) it was the biggest budget Disney had ever spent on an animated feature. If memory serves, wasn't it $25 million? And it totally bombed at the box office.

According to IMDB the budget for 'Cauldron' was $44 million while it only did $21 million at the boxoffice. It makes you wonder if debacles like Treasure Planet seem to have to happen every one or two decades. Auch!

Btw: I recently updated my 'favorite Disney' list for another forum and I put The Black Cauldron at number 9. It is really an underrated gem that suffers from the fact that it is somewhat 'un-Disney-like' in the story-department. With LOTR reviving the interest in the Fantasy genre this movie just begs to be rediscovered by a great number of people.

[karlsen]

To say that a movie is "Disney's Biggest failure" could be both wrong and correct.

There is a big diffrence between losing money over something and making a masterpiece.

Thru the history there are many films that did it terrible when on original release then later on. The best example must be the christmas classic "It's a Wonderfull World" by Frank Capra. It don't belive that this movie has made much money if anything because it was not known at all before the copyright expired due to a clerical error. The movie is now looked upon as the greatest Christmas movie ever, and that is just because TV stations began to show it since it was free.

[Prince Adam]

Yes, it is un-Disney-like, but the movie is still fantastic, and has legions of fans. So, it's a success.

[wizzer]

i saw black cauldren in the theater when it came out and never saw it again until i just recently added it to the collection. while i was happy that disney was trying to do something a little darker and scarier, i was disappointed with the movie in general. i put it at the bottom of my disney list somewheres. and i wanted to like it because i remember liking it as a kid.

[castleinthesky]

I believe, if you include inflation Treasure Planet might be Disney's biggest box office failure.

[Mr. Toad]

But on the bright side its comlete and dismal artistic and commercial failure helped usher in a the likes of Aladdin, Little Mermaid et al.

We only had to endure two more pictures from Disney's two decade long slumber before the renassaince.(sp?)

[Bashful]

I read the Chronicles of Prydain years before I saw the film, and although the film was less grand than I had expected after the long wait, I decided to give it another chance. The second viewing was much better, and I enjoyed its darkness and other non-disney qualities. Some of the visual effects were quite stunning, too.

I'd say that like with many other good films, one needs to watch The Black Cauldron more than once to fully appreciate it. And even if you didn't warm up to it, as a Disney fan you should definitely see it at least once, for completeness sake, since the film is one of the classics.

[castleinthesky]

People always look at the bad sides of the classics. If I'm not mistaken The Black Cauldron was the first animated film with 3-d affects/computer animation. I believe it also had thousands of colors in the film.

It should get an award for that.

[MickeyMousePal]

Here's how much The Black Cauldron made when it came out in the box office.

The Black Cauldron made about $21,000,000

Treasure Planet made about $38,000,000

The Black Cauldron is Disney worst film every relase.
At the time it was dark and scary for children also was PG-13.

Aiming for teenagers but it didn't work.

[Maerj]

It was actually PG, there was no PG-13 yet when that movie came out.

[Joe Carioca]

"Black Cauldron" was made during Disney's transitional period. The movie had some serious production problems, and it was even edited by Katzemberg himself some time before its release.
The film received terrible reviews and bombed at the box-office. The Disney animators moral was already low at the time, and it got even worse.
The, a few years after, there was a little mermaid...

[Tangela]

"Black Cauldron" was made during Disney's transitional period. The movie had some serious production problems, and it was even edited by Katzemberg himself some time before its release.
The film received terrible reviews and bombed at the box-office. The Disney animators moral was already low at the time, and it got even worse.
The, a few years after, there was a little mermaid...

Are you around Joe, can you come to chat? by the way, I love your new avatar.

[Disney Guru]

Black Cauldron was a terrific movie. It is a little scary for kids but it is pretty good. It is also directed by the know famous Richard Rich owner of Living Scriptures.

[Joe Carioca]

"Black Cauldron" was made during Disney's transitional period. The movie had some serious production problems, and it was even edited by Katzemberg himself some time before its release.
The film received terrible reviews and bombed at the box-office. The Disney animators moral was already low at the time, and it got even worse.
The, a few years after, there was a little mermaid...

Are you around Joe, can you come to chat? by the way, I love your new avatar.

Hello Tangela!
About the new avatar, I must admit it is pretty funny! I'm glad you liked it.

I can't chat now... It's three in the morning here and I gotta wake early tomorrow (er... today) because I'm going to travel. Anyway, thanks for the invitation (does this word exist? )