- 3 months ago
Stop motion animation is a beloved art form, but not every film finds its audience at the box office. Join us as we uncover some of the most ambitious and visually stunning stop motion movies that, despite their charm and creativity, failed to make a financial splash. From quirky tales to dark fantasies, these films didn’t quite capture the magic needed to succeed commercially.
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00:00Outright insubordination.
00:03If I am insubordinate, sir, it was you who made me so.
00:08Me?
00:08Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today, we're counting down our picks for worst-performing stop-motion movie
00:15based on a mix of their box office performance and their reviews.
00:19I've been paid a pretty sum to stop you and this creature from ever-reaching civilized society.
00:26Quite a catch.
00:27Number 10. The Box Trolls
00:30From the studio that brought us hits like Coraline and Paranorman,
00:42Box Trolls is a technically impressive film that couldn't quite keep up with its predecessors.
00:46It had a comedic story that hit it off with kids, but left older audiences wanting.
00:50The film was a success at the box office, making $108 million international.
00:55Stooges can choose to change their lives.
00:59Our dreams are not.
01:00Yes!
01:01It even earned a respectable 78% on Rotten Tomatoes.
01:04Unfortunately, after its release, the film failed to create a following and didn't sell as well
01:09domestically, especially compared to its $60 million budget.
01:13Animation is an expensive and time-consuming process, especially for a stop-motion.
01:17What if our world is just like a tiny speck?
01:21A tiny little speck?
01:23And there are giants looking down on us.
01:25And every time we move...
01:26It's actually them moving us.
01:30Even if a film does well by normal standards, the margin for long-term success is razor thin.
01:36Number 9.
01:37The Adventures of Mark Twain
01:38Mr. Twain, there's been some kind of an accident.
01:41I think a miscalculation.
01:44Not by a considerable sign.
01:46But we're taking off.
01:48This claymation hidden gem delves deep into the life and works of legendary author Mark Twain.
01:53It showcases crisp and expressive modeling as directed by Will Vinton, who also worked on the California Raisins commercials.
02:00The film was intended to be a feature-length flick for adults.
02:10But like many claymations at the time, it was marketed as a children's film.
02:14Most of the movie is probably fine for kids, but some pretty dark scenes are mixed in.
02:19You may make some people.
02:22I'll make the king and queen.
02:25There's the one where Satan creates a whole society of tiny clay people and then obliterates them.
02:30Yeah, it's nightmare fuel.
02:32Fools.
02:34What fascinations there are on this planet.
02:37After a limited release, the film only made $850,000 on a $1.5 million budget.
02:43It just goes to show that even a good movie needs the right audience.
02:47And this ship, a large enough body of work that you may live forever or long enough.
02:56Number 8.
02:56Fantastic Mr. Fox
02:58I don't want to live in a hole anymore.
03:01It makes me feel poor.
03:02We are poor, but we're happy.
03:06Wes Anderson spearheaded this adaptation of the Ruol Dahl's children's classic, which fully embraced the stop-motion animation style that he played with in the life of Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
03:16His creative vision in the Foxy comedy was praised by critics, who lauded its visual imagination and the disarmingly realistic look it achieved for its animal characters.
03:25Despite critical love, Mr. Fox came up short at the ticket window, grossing only a worldwide $46 million against a budget of $40 million.
03:46Anderson admitted that the use of stop-motion likely reduced some of its mainstream audience appeal.
03:52I'm not leaving here without that necktie.
03:57Kill him!
03:59Given the movie's admired style and numerous award nominations, it may be a glaring testament that stop-motion and financial success rarely go hand in hand.
04:07Number 7, Early Man
04:09Football?
04:12What's football?
04:15And how's it gonna get our valley back?
04:16It's this amazing game, Chief.
04:19From the creators of Wallace and Gromit, Early Man tells the story of a caveman named Doug trying to save his tribe by winning a game of prehistoric football.
04:28We challenge the champions!
04:31Huh?
04:32What did you say?
04:34The film went up against some pretty steep competition on its release, premiering the same week as Black Panther.
04:40The movie received good reviews, but ultimately bombed at the box office, making only $54 million worldwide.
04:47Even with its positive reception, the film was seen as a financial failure.
04:51It was the last film Aardman released theatrically in America.
04:55Symbol of a game sent from heaven.
04:58Thank you, your bronzed chiefness.
05:03And now I believe it's time you went home.
05:07Number 6, Toys in the Attic.
05:09One person's trash can be someone else's treasure.
05:12Toys in the Attic is a low-budget children's film produced in the Czech Republic.
05:27The film was made by a small team of artists who used antiques and junk to craft the characters and sets for the film, giving it a truly unique and creative style.
05:36Oh, please help me, I'm lost.
05:39Don't worry, I will help you.
05:44No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!
05:48The film won several international awards.
05:51Though the original version was released in the theatres in Europe, the English adaptation went straight to home release.
05:57Its box office receipts only totaled $64,918.
06:01While the film is visually interesting, it was hard to tell who it was actually for.
06:05It's better that you go before you break everything here.
06:09Go to the mountains.
06:12We will catch up with you there.
06:14The film's art style seemed a bit too creepy for kids, while the plot and characters seemingly fell to interest enough adults.
06:20Number 5, Missing Link.
06:22Sir Lionel Frost, I presume.
06:24Hi.
06:27The fifth film in the Leica Studios' stop-motion lineup, Missing Link, was well-received.
06:31But unfortunately, this didn't translate to financial success.
06:35Even with an all-star cast and beautiful animation, the film only grossed $26 million at the box office and cost the studio $102 million, making it one of the worst opening weekends for an animated movie that opened in over 3,000 theatres.
06:49Even though it won Best Animated Feature Film at the Golden Globe Awards, the stop-motion animated comedy continued the trend of diminishing returns that Leica had been having with each of their subsequent flicks.
07:09The VG Mermaid.
07:12This, Mr. Link, might just provide the vital clue I need to the greatest discovery of the century.
07:18But I thought we did Shingra La already.
07:20No, no. Atlantis.
07:22You don't say.
07:23Number 4, Hell and Back.
07:24Hell and Back is a raunchy stop-motion comedy with a hellish twist.
07:28The film features a robust cast of comedic talent, including Bob Odenkirk as the devil himself.
07:33It is not tickling!
07:35Is this a Sibian?
07:36It's a Sibian.
07:40The black comedy was only in theatres for a brief period, where it grossed a measly $150,000.
07:46But if the producers were banking on making their money back through home release, they were sorely mistaken.
07:51The film was panned by critics for its over-reliance on blue comedy, a not-so-good script, and general meanness.
07:58Maybe this film should have stayed in hell.
08:00There ain't no pizza. You can have a chalupa, burrito, chiro.
08:07Now it does say Pizza Hut Taco Bell.
08:09Yeah, yeah, yeah. Welcome to hell.
08:11Number 3, Gumby the Movie.
08:13Gumby was one of the first stop-motion clay icons in American pop culture.
08:27The Green Guy's brand had a bit of a comeback in the early 80s, and a movie was put into production.
08:32Some of the voice actors and animators from the original show returned to work on the mid-90s project,
08:37doing their best to recreate the charm of the series.
08:39Holy Toledo! Shush!
08:47It took them three years to find a distributor, and it was only shown in 21 theaters in the U.S.
08:52The film only grossed $57,000 at the box office, but was picked up by Warner Brothers in 1996.
08:59The movie became one of their top-selling home releases for that year, and is now considered a cult classic.
09:04Take me away!
09:07Take me away!
09:11Take me away!
09:15Take me away!
09:19Number 2, Live Freaky, Die Freaky.
09:21There's nothing better than driving around town in a big car for no apparent reason.
09:25Just driving around polluting the precous environment.
09:29Global warming?
09:30Why not?
09:31I love to tell.
09:33Live Freaky, Die Freaky is an independent musical dark comedy.
09:35The story is a satire of the Manson family murders, telling the story through a slapstick stop-motion lens.
09:42The cast is made up of several well-known rock artists, including members of Green Day, Blink-182, and Good Charlotte.
09:48The movie went straight to DVD, though it played in select theaters on select dates and only made $11,000.
09:54The film's subject matter is controversial, to say the least.
10:06With its juvenile humor and sensitive real-world subject matter, the film's intentionally offensive comedy tends to cross the line from edgy to gross.
10:14That was great, but your hair got a little messed up during that extravagant musical number.
10:18Never you mind, Mr. Gay Hairdresser Man.
10:21I'm completely prepared.
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10:41Number 1, Monkeybone.
10:43Stu Miley, right?
10:46I've seen all your dreams.
10:49You're a big celebrity down here.
10:51Down where?
10:52Downtown.
10:54When the nightmares.
10:56Wake up, everybody!
10:58It's time for Monkeybone Live!
11:04Director Henry Selleck made some of the greatest stop-motion masterpieces ever.
11:09He also made Monkeybone.
11:10Brendan Fraser stars as the mild-mannered Stu Miley, a cartoonist who becomes trapped in a place comparable to Limbo with his animated creation, Monkeybone.
11:19A combination of live-action, stop-motion, and puppetry was used to create a surreal and chaotic atmosphere.
11:24The film wasn't only critically panned, but it was also a commercial misfire, making only $7 million off of its $75 million production cost.
11:47The interesting blend of visual styles feels wasted on the one-note characters and convoluted story.
11:53But it's my fantasy.
11:58I don't care!
11:59We sent you up here to make nightmares!
12:02Now you get out there and you get that nightmare juice and you get to work!
12:06Monkeybone's perception was so poor that Selleck had to admit that live-action wasn't his forte.
12:13Which stop-motion film do you think should have performed better?
12:15Let us know in the comments down below.
12:17What was that?
12:20An old friend kissed the bride.
12:22float the bride.
12:23determinate.
12:24cookies is so poor that Selleck.
12:25A apostle of the dad did not individually sing to your father's son.
12:26That had to be called the cat temple in the home of Jesus Listolventy Watertown Season.
12:31That was the night那 before her day.
12:32I don't wish to be like a city.
12:33But pięćrenize fat all the time.
12:34You came to be like a city.
12:36Much of the br?", I was like a city 찍lin en gauge.
12:38For me, I had to blind them look for some vimos cars and how are hardly any people.
12:39I don't know.
12:39That's perfect.
12:40It was near the end before the Nightmares.
12:41That was like the sound of my brothers jeu and I know together.
12:43I found that you i could Tudo Das Cleplac.
12:45did and I found thisacji.
12:46And I made the sound of the movie though?
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