Disney’s Live-Action Movie Bombs, 1979–2019

This book explores the history of Disney’s biggest live-action movie failures from the late 1970s to the late 2010s. That stretch of time was a transformative period in which the company made many financial gains but gradually lost its identity, which had largely been synonymous with founder Walt Disney. The chapters explain why each movie was made, the casting process, production details, and why each movie failed financially. Covered here are cult classics like Tron and Hocus Pocus alongside more well-known bombs like John Carter and The Lone Ranger.

Tyler Mattis is a writer, a fan of history, and a movie buff. He has previously written about the Universal Monster movies.

Tyler Mattis
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 242
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2025
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9625-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5466-9
Imprint: McFarland

Prologue 1

1. The Black Hole (1979) 3

2. Midnight Madness (1980) 10

3. The Watcher in the Woods (1980) 16

4. Dragonslayer (1981) 22

5. Condorman (1981) 30

6. Tron (1982) 35

7. Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) 43

8. Return to Oz (1985) 48

9. The Rocketeer (1991) 56

10. Hocus Pocus (1993) 67

11. Nixon (1995) 75

12. Kundun (1997) 81

13. Meet the Deedles (1998) 87

14. Inspector Gadget (1999) 91

15. Mission to Mars (2000) 96

16. The Country Bears (2002) 103

17. The Alamo (2004) 109

18. Around the World in 80 Days (2004) 116

19. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010) 121

20. John Carter (2012) 128

21. The Lone Ranger (2013) 141

22. Tomorrowland (2015) 150

23. The Finest Hours (2016) 157

24. Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) 161

25. The BFG (2016) 170

26. A Wrinkle in Time (2018) 174

27. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018) 180

28. Dumbo (2019) 190

Epilogue 197

Chapter Notes 201

Bibliography 221

Index 235