Recommended Free Tools
There is no official, audited ranking of Disney’s biggest box-office bombs. One useful historical reference is 24/7 Wall St./24/7 Tempo’s 2021 list, which compared inflation-adjusted worldwide ticket sales with inflation-adjusted production budgets across 632 feature-length Disney films. By that source’s method, Mars Needs Moms ranked first, followed by The Alamo and The 13th Warrior. The ranking below reproduces its 30 titles in order, but it should be read as that publication’s estimate—not a definitive 2026 league table or a tally of Disney’s audited losses.
How this Disney box-office-bomb ranking works
“Box-office bomb” is an editorial label, not a standardized accounting category. The 2021 24/7 Wall St./24/7 Tempo ranking examined 632 feature-length Disney films and ordered its 50 flops by comparing production budgets with worldwide ticket sales, adjusting both figures for inflation using historic ticket prices and the Consumer Price Index. It credited The Numbers for movie-industry data. Its reported shortfall is not an audited studio loss.
The list’s use of “Disney” also reflects a source-defined selection of films, not a complete, universally agreed rule for how to handle every distributed title, production label, or acquired studio catalogue. Disney has multiple film divisions, and sources can draw the boundary differently. The rankings below preserve the 2021 list’s scope and method rather than claiming to settle that classification question for all films.
The 30 titles, from largest stated shortfall
- Mars Needs Moms
- The Alamo
- The 13th Warrior
- Onward
- Holy Man
- Shadow Conspiracy
- The Scarlet Letter
- Last Shot
- Big Trouble
- Deep Rising
- Cradle Will Rock
- Miracle at St. Anna
- White Squall
- Home on the Range
- Beloved
- Return to Oz
- Mumford
- Kundun
- Just Visiting
- Mighty Joe Young
- Super Mario Bros. (1993)
- Meet the Deedles
- My Favorite Martian
- Instinct
- The Finest Hours
- Play It to the Bone
- The Fifth Estate
- Moonlight Mile
- Jefferson in Paris
- Ed Wood
What the 2021 ranking reported for its top three
These are the source’s reported production budgets, worldwide ticket sales, and losses for the three highest-ranked films. They belong to its inflation-adjusted budget-versus-ticket-sales approach and should not be treated as audited full-cycle losses.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →#1 Best Overall
| Rank | Film | Reported production budget | Worldwide ticket sales | Reported loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mars Needs Moms | $177.5 million | $45.7 million | $131.9 million |
| 2 | The Alamo | $129.7 million | $35.3 million | $94.4 million |
| 3 | The 13th Warrior | $199.8 million | $111.7 million | $88.1 million |
Why box-office gross is not the same as studio profit
Worldwide theatrical gross is the total ticket revenue reported for a film; it is not the amount returned to the studio. Theaters retain part of ticket sales, while marketing and distribution add costs beyond a film’s production budget. Later income from streaming, television, home entertainment, and rights sales can also change a film’s financial result. Subtracting gross from production budget is therefore a useful rough comparison, not a profit-and-loss statement.
Different sources can also publish different budgets, gross figures, loss ranges, and inflation adjustments. For instance, Filmsite.org’s approximate figures stated through 2025 put Mars Needs Moms at a $150 million production budget, $39 million worldwide gross, and an estimated $100–144 million loss; its inflation-adjusted loss range is $140–201 million. Those numbers differ from 24/7 Tempo’s 2021 figures because the estimates and methods are not harmonized.
Rank #2
- Ideal for Gifting
- Ideal for a bookworm
- Compact for travelling
Why other Disney flop lists rank films differently
Some lists rank a budget-to-theatrical-sales shortfall; others use estimated losses that try to account for more of a film’s distribution lifecycle. Filmsite.org’s approximate estimates, stated through 2025, illustrate the difference: John Carter had a reported $263.7 million production budget and $284.1 million worldwide gross, yet its estimated loss is $112–200 million (inflation-adjusted: $153–274 million). A gross above the production budget does not by itself establish that a studio made money.
The same source gives The Lone Ranger an approximate $225–250 million production budget, $260.5 million worldwide gross, and estimated loss of $160–190 million, or $216–256 million inflation-adjusted. For The Marvels, Filmsite lists a $270 million production budget, $206.1 million worldwide gross, and estimated loss of $199–237 million, or $205–245 million inflation-adjusted. These remain estimates, not audited final results. They cannot be inserted into the 2021 Disney-only ranking without recalculating every title on a consistent basis.
How to read recent and pandemic-era flops
A current theatrical run may be incomplete, so a film should not be placed in an all-time ranking before its run and relevant reporting period are clear. Pandemic-era releases add another complication: theatre closures and simultaneous release strategies affected theatrical receipts, while streaming revenue and viewership have not been reported in a consistently comparable way. A theatrical gross alone can therefore give an incomplete picture of those films’ overall performance.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- It can be a gift option
- Comes with secure packaging
- Helpful in various ways
Rank #4
- Check whether a list ranks production-budget shortfall, estimated studio loss, or another measure.
- Keep nominal and inflation-adjusted figures distinct, and note the release year and the source’s adjustment method.
- Preserve a source’s estimate range instead of treating one end of it as certain.
- Do not combine rankings built with different budgets, loss definitions, or time periods.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
