History ScrewedByTheNetwork / Film

* In November 2023, Warner Bros. shelved the live-action[=/=]animated ''Franchise/LooneyTunes'' film ''Film/CoyoteVsAcme'' for a $30 million tax break despite its completion and wonderful reviews from test audiences, confirming the fears of people who were wondering why Warner Bros. hasn't marketed the film after placing ''Film/Barbie2023'' on its original release date of July 21, 2023. As a result, this enraged many fans, filmmakers and other creatives in the entertainment industry so much they took action to teach the studio a lesson. One of the film's background actors made a petition demanding for the film's release which quickly attracted over 12,000 and more signatures, while several filmmakers left angry phone calls at the studio and cancelled several meetings with them to protest. All of these efforts seemingly proved to be successful, as Warner Bros. eventually surrendered four days later and unwrote off the film, giving the crew permission to offer it to third-party distributors. Unfortunately, a couple of months later, a report from The Wrap came out confirming that they've walked back on this and still intend to write off the film, while also suggesting that Warner Bros. never actually intended to release the film (with the "announcement" being little more than a fake PR stunt to quell the angry protests) and had planned to quietly shelve the film anyway to put it behind them, all while turning away potentially interested third party distributors by offering the film for the high price of $70-80 million with no option for counter offers. Despite the immense backlash and protests that followed the report, Warner Bros. simply chose to ignore it, with Will Forte -- one of the film's star actors -- [[https://www.instagram.com/orviv/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=34e175cb-76c0-4cb1-a3c0-d53ddda5641d&ig_mid=DD62DBD5-9159-4474-BA06-770B804F0A1C outright saying it'll likely never be released.]] It's unclear as to why Warner Bros. is so against releasing it despite the good press it has received, but most speculate it's a mix of changing business politics and egos clashing following the Warner Bros. and Discovery merger (which is backed up by some reports) and the critical and box office underperformance of ''Film/SpaceJamANewLegacy'' giving Warner Bros. cold feet on green lighting any further big budget Looney Tunes media.

* In November 2023, Warner Bros. shelved the live-action[=/=]animated ''Franchise/LooneyTunes'' film ''Film/CoyoteVsAcme'' for a $30 million tax break despite its completion and wonderful reviews from test audiences, confirming the fears of people who were wondering why Warner Bros. hasn't marketed the film after placing ''Film/Barbie2023'' on its original release date of July 21, 2023. As a result, this enraged many fans, filmmakers and other creatives in the entertainment industry so much they took action to teach the studio a lesson. One of the film's background actors made a petition demanding for the film's release which quickly attracted over 12,000 and more signatures, while several filmmakers left angry phone calls at the studio and cancelled several meetings with them to protest. All of these efforts seemingly proved to be successful, as Warner Bros. eventually surrendered four days later and unwrote off the film, giving the crew permission to offer it to third-party distributors. Unfortunately, a couple of months later, a report from The Wrap came out confirming that they've walked back on this and still intend to write off the film, while also suggesting that Warner Bros. never actually intended to release the film (with the "announcement" being little more than a fake PR stunt to quell the angry protests) and had planned to quietly shelve the film anyway to put it behind them, all while turning away potentially interested third party distributors by offering the film for the high price of $70-80 million with no option for counter offers.

* In November 2023, Warner Bros. shelved the live-action[=/=]animated ''Franchise/LooneyTunes'' film ''Film/CoyoteVsAcme'' for a $30 million tax break despite its completion and wonderful reviews from test audiences, confirming the fears of people who were wondering why Warner Bros. hasn't marketed the film after placing ''Film/Barbie2023'' on its original release date of July 21, 2023. As a result, this enraged many fans, filmmakers and other creatives in the entertainment industry so much they took action to teach the studio a lesson. One of the film's background actors made a petition demanding for the film's release which quickly attracted over 12,000 and more signatures, while several filmmakers left angry phone calls at the studio and cancelled several meetings with them to protest. All of these efforts seemingly proved to be successful, as Warner Bros. eventually surrendered four days later and unwrote off the film, giving the crew permission to offer it to third-party distributors. Unfortunately, a couple of months later, reports came out confirming that they still intend to shelve the film again despite the backlash, with some sources indicating that they've never intended to actually release the film or give it to anyone, despite having said so prior (with the plan being to quietly shelve it).

* In November 2023, Warner Bros. shelved the live-action[=/=]animated ''Franchise/LooneyTunes'' film ''Film/CoyoteVsAcme'' for a $30 million tax break despite its completion and wonderful reviews from test audiences, confirming the fears of people who were wondering why Warner Bros. hasn't marketed the film after placing ''Film/Barbie2023'' on its original release date of July 21, 2023. As a result, this enraged many fans, filmmakers and other creatives in the entertainment industry so much they took action to teach the studio a lesson. One of the film's background actors made a petition demanding for the film's release which quickly attracted over 12,000 and more signatures, while several filmmakers left angry phone calls at the studio and cancelled several meetings with them to protest. All of these efforts proved to be successful, as Warner Bros. eventually surrendered four days later and unwrote off the film, giving the crew permission to offer it to third-party distributors.

* In November 2023, Warner Bros. shelved the live-action[=/=]animated ''Franchise/LooneyTunes'' film ''Film/CoyoteVsAcme'' for a $30 million tax break despite its completion and wonderful reviews from test audiences, confirming the fears of people who were wondering why Warner Bros. hasn't marketed the film after placing ''Film/Barbie2023'' on its original release date of July 21, 2023. As a result, this enraged many fans, filmmakers and other creatives in the entertianment industry so much they took action to teach the studio a lesson. One of the film's background actors made a petition demanding for the film's release which quickly attracted over 12,000 and more signatures, while several filmmakers left angry phone calls at the studio and cancelled several meetings with them to protest. All of these efforts proved to be successful, as Warner Bros. eventually surrendered four days later and unwrote off the film, giving the crew permission to offer it to third-party distributors.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm'' suffered from an eleventh-hour lack of faith by Warner Bros., [[NotScreenedForCritics refusing to screen the film for critics]] until the last minute and giving it the InvisibleAdvertising treatment. It was ultimately dumped by WB in favor of ''Film/GrumpyOldMen'', which ''was'' screened for critics, given a solid advertising campaign ''and'' opened the same day as ''Mask of the Phantasm'', even though the latter was produced in a comparatively lower budget. The result? The film opened a measly $1.2 million against a budget of $6 million on opening weekend, and while ''Grumpy Old Men'' would go one to gross a blockbuster $70.2 million against a $35.1 million budget, ''Mask of the Phantasm'' fell $400,000 short in its entire theatrical run, only turning a profit thanks to [[VindicatedByCable home video sales]]. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen It should be noted that the film was intended to be a direct-to-video release]], [[{{Irony}} but WB thought it would make more money in theaters than on video]]. The whole debacle made WB make sure they didn't repeat the same mistake with the follow-up, ''WesternAnimation/BatmanAndMisterFreezeSubZero'', five years later. It was also the first in a string of animated movies -- many of which are also in this folder -- that WB would end up hosing in some fashion[[note]]it was even remarked upon by some WB employees during the 90s -- "[[CrossesTheLineTwice Want to get rid of AIDS? Just put it in front of the WB marketing department!]]"[[/note]].

* Creator/PeterBogdanovich's ''Film/{{Texasville}}'' the long-awaited sequel of ''Film/TheLastPictureShow'', is another example of getting "Screwed by the Studio" (and Bogdanovich actually used those words to describe it). Creator/ColumbiaPictures was supposed to re-release ''Picture Show'' -- which was rarely shown on TV and unreleased on video at the time -- prior to releasing the sequel, a promise that was later reneged. Originally 2½ hours, Bogdanovich cut 25 minutes off of ''Texasville'', predominantly scenes that would have not made sense to a viewer that had not seen the earlier film. To make matters worse, Columbia subsequently dumped ''Texasville'' with limited distribution. A director's cut was released on Laserdisc, and nowhere else until '''2023''', when that cut was included on Creator/TheCriterionCollection's Blu-Ray/DVD release of the original film.

* Creator/PeterBogdanovich's ''Film/{{Texasville}}'' the long-awaited sequel of ''Film/TheLastPictureShow'', is another example of getting "Screwed by the Studio" (and Bogdanovich actually used those words to describe it). Creator/ColumbiaPictures was supposed to re-release ''Picture Show'' -- which was rarely shown on TV and unreleased on video at the time -- prior to releasing the sequel, a promise that was later reneged. Originally 2½ hours, Bogdanovich cut 25 minutes off of ''Texasville'', predominantly scenes that would have not made sense to a viewer that had not seen the earlier film. To make matters worse, Columbia subsequently dumped ''Texasville'' with limited distribution. A director's cut was released on Laserdisc, and nowhere else.

* Lionsgate (through Summit Entertainment) decided to release ''WesternAnimation/EarlyMan'' on the exact same weekend as ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'', resulting in it having the third-worst opening for an animated film of all time in the United States after ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven2'' and ''WesternAnimation/TeachersPet''. It also did poorly in its home country of the United Kingdom due to it being released the same weekend as ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}''. Tellingly, Creator/{{Aardman|Animations}} sold the international distribution rights to their following films, beginning with ''A WesternAnimation/ShaunTheSheep Movie: Farmageddon'', to Creator/{{Netflix}}.

* Paramount canceled the United States release of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Prince|2015}}'' just a week before its scheduled release, making it one of the most abrupt release cancellations ever. Paramount allegedly feared the film would not hold out against either ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' (which was a massive hit) or ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' (which was scheduled for release the week after ''The Little Prince''[='=]s canceled release), and would've served as another box office bomb in Paramount's history books[[note]]The film's release was planned during a turbulent time at Paramount, thanks to under-performing releases in 2015 and continued executive meltdowns at Creator/{{Viacom}}, their parent company[[/note]]. The distribution rights were eventually picked up by Creator/{{Netflix}} on the week of its intended release.

* ''Film/AbsolutelyAnything'' was supposed to get a wide release in 2016, but wound up being not only pushed to May of 2017 but it also only got picked up by 106 theaters and premiered on the same weekend as ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMenTellNoTales'', resulting in a $21,000 dollar total gross in the US.

[[folder:Sony Pictures (Columbia[=/=]TriStar[=/=]Screen Gems)]]

* Weinstein also screwed over ''Underdogs'' by moving its release date August 27, 2014 to January 16, 2015. Then, it was moved from January 16, 2015 to April 10th, 2015 so that they could release ''Film/Paddington2014''. After that, they moved the release date from April 10th, 2015 to August 14, 2015 to avoid competition with ''Film/FuriousSeven''. The week before the scheduled release date, it was pulled with no explanation whatsoever, which was a bad move on their part since the only kids' movies in wide release at the time were ''WesternAnimation/ShaunTheSheep Movie'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Minions}}''.

* ''Back To The Outback''’s trailer promised that the film would be screened in select theaters. However, in the United States, most theaters that showed Netflix films passed on showing the film in favor of ''The Unforgiveable''.

* Paramount screwed ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTintin2011'' in the U.S. by choosing to open the film on the same day as the expansion of another Paramount title, ''Film/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol''. While ''Mission: Impossible'' got trailers months in advance, a large IMAX push, heavily-promoted advance screenings, and deluxe treatment by Paramount, ''Tintin'' was treated as an afterthought (granted, the character and his comics never caught on in the United States) with a light marketing push, limited awareness, and the cancellation of IMAX evening showings. All despite having none other than Creator/StevenSpielberg as director and the premiere of the trailer for ''Film/TheHobbit'' on select prints. As a result, ''Tintin'' was outgrossed on opening day by the third ''Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'' film. The good news here was that the international release was ''far'' more successful.[[note]]And that was because Sony handled the international release in select markets.[[/note]]

** ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobMovieSpongeOutOfWater'' was this in Japan. First of all, it was only played at one theater chain, Aeon, who has only a handful of theaters in Japan. Second, it was released at a time when ''Film/{{Cinderella 2015}}'' captured the hearts of Japanese audiences -- it owes part of its success in Japan to [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff the popularity of Disney in Japan]], especially the characters in [[WesternAnimation/FrozenFever the short that plays alongside the movie]]. Third, [[Manga/CaseClosed a few family]] [[Manga/CrayonShinChan films based on]] [[Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF more popular animated shows]] had just come out.

* ''Film/{{Mowgli}}'' was supposed to be released in October 2018 and even had the trailer attached to a few movies, but because [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids Warner Brothers was afraid that people would mistake it for a kids' movie]] or misconceive it as a sequel to [[Film/TheJungleBook2016 Disney's live-action ''Jungle Book'']], they sold the rights to Netflix three months before its release.

** Creator/WarnerMedia has remained completely silent (no numbers, no celebration of its positive reception, no thanking for Snyder and so on) about the film since Ann Sarnoff's statement the day after its release about "Creator/ZackSnyder's trilogy being completed" (where he had intended to make an arc of at least five films and left plenty of {{Sequel Hook}}s in) and there being no intent to produce follow-ups. Snyder himself liked social media posts stating that there's a "gagging order" about the film within Creator/WarnerMedia. Them releasing a 4K trailer of the much maligned 2017 theatrical cut over a month after the release of the much better received 2021 version also sent a very odd message, to say the least.

* ''WesternAnimation/MissingLink'' was released in the midst of [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 three]] [[Film/Shazam2019 major]] [[Film/AvengersEndgame superhero]] releases. This, combined with the surprise success of competitor ''[[Film/Dumbo2019 Dumbo]]'', resulted in the film having just a 5 million dollar opening weekend.

* Weinstein also screwed over ''Underdogs'' by moving its release date August 27, 2014 to January 16, 2015. Then, it was moved from January 16, 2015 to April 10th, 2015 so that they could release ''Film/Paddington2014''. After that, they moved the release date from April 10th, 2015 to August 14, 2015 to avoid competition with ''[[Film/TheFastAndTheFurious Furious 7]]''. The week before the scheduled release date, it was pulled with no explanation whatsoever, which was a bad move on their part since the only kids' movies in wide release at the time were ''WesternAnimation/ShaunTheSheep Movie'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Minions}}''.

* Weinstein also screwed over ''Underdogs'' by moving its release date August 27, 2014 to January 16, 2015. Then, it was moved from January 16, 2015 to April 10th, 2015 so that they could release ''Film/{{Paddington}}''. After that, they moved the release date from April 10th, 2015 to August 14, 2015 to avoid competition with ''[[Film/TheFastAndTheFurious Furious 7]]''. The week before the scheduled release date, it was pulled with no explanation whatsoever, which was a bad move on their part since the only kids' movies in wide release at the time were ''WesternAnimation/ShaunTheSheep Movie'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Minions}}''.

* Paramount screwed ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTintin2011'' in the U.S. by choosing to open the film on the same day as the expansion of another Paramount title, ''Film/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol''. While ''Mission: Impossible'' got trailers months in advance, a large IMAX push, heavily-promoted advance screenings, and deluxe treatment by Paramount, ''Tintin'' was treated as an afterthought (granted, the character and his comics never caught on in the United States) with a light marketing push, limited awareness, and the cancellation of IMAX evening showings. All despite having none other than Creator/StevenSpielberg as director and the premiere of the trailer for ''Film/TheHobbit'' on select prints. As a result, ''Tintin'' was outgrossed on opening day by the third ''Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'' film. The good news here was that the international release was ''far'' more successful.[[note]]And that was because Sony handled the international release.[[/note]]

* Paramount did this to ''Film/{{Hugo}}'' after picking the film from Sony (due to the film's producer/co-financer wanting to open the film on Thanksgiving and Sony wanting ''WesternAnimation/ArthurChristmas'' for that spot). Examples include: mismarketing the film as either a comedy or an ''Film/{{Inception}}''-style thriller, barely marketing the film before the release, reducing the film's theater count from 3,000 theaters to just 1,200 a week before opening and choosing to go with a quiet expansion rather than spreading awareness. Not even the film's massive critical acclaim and awards nominations and wins helped Paramount change their minds.

** In the United States, ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobMovieSpongeOnTheRun'', after many delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was changed to a release on Paramount Plus with a video on demand release occurring beforehand. However, even as other countries got release dates for the movie on Netflix (and Canada and South Korea getting theatrical releases), the on-demand release for the United States remained unannounced, with Paramount instead focusing their attention on promoting ''Rumble''.

* ''Film/OsmosisJones'' was envisioned first as a PG-13-rated animated adult comedy film, with swearing, excessive violence, and gross-out live-action sequences in the script. Halfway through production, however, the [[AnimationAgeGhetto animation-is-for-kids mentality]] kicked in at Warner Bros. and a number of changes were ordered, turning it into a PG-rated buddy cop film for family audiences, though the live-action sequences remained. Since Warner Bros. had no idea if ''Osmosis Jones'' was either an adult film or children's film, they proceeded to send it to an August weekend and gave it a rather confusing marketing campaign, which turned potential audiences out. It grossed just $14 million on a $70 million budget in its theatrical run, leading to a massive write-down at Warner Bros. and accelerating the death spiral of Warner Bros. Feature Animation (''Looney Tunes: Back In Action'', released a couple years later, just put the coffin on the ground).

* When ITV showed the Film/DollarsTrilogy, each film was presented in a pan-and-scan version and in their original UK theatrical versions, which meant the loss of four minutes of footage from ''Film/AFistfulOfDollars'', for example. Needless to say, the fans were displeased.
* ''Duck Duck Goose'' was scheduled for a release in late April 2018, but was pulled because Open Road Films feared that the movie would be overshadowed by ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''. It did however make it to Netflix in July of 2018.

* Dimension Films asked director David Twohy to recut his film ''Film/{{Below}}'' so it could get a PG-13 rating instead of an R. Twohy refused, and Dimension retaliated by giving it a limited release with almost no advertising, all but guaranteeing it would bomb. And bomb it did, only taking in $605,562 on a $40 million budget. Twohy has not worked with Dimension Films since.

[[folder: Anime movies]]

* At the end of the preshow shown during the Fathom Events screening of ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF'', previews were shown for other Funimation films that would get releases on a nationwide scale, including ''Film/ShinGodzilla'', ''Anime/TheBoyAndTheBeast'', ''Anime/PsychoPass'', both parts of ''Film/AttackOnTitan'' and ''[[Franchise/GhostInTheShell Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie]]''. Of these films, only ''Attack on Titan'' was released nationwide. However, said release [[https://kotaku.com/the-attack-on-titan-subtitle-disaster-1733962390 had a subtitling error]] which got so much backlash that Funimation wound up canceling their plans for the remaining four nationwide releases.

* Both ''Shimajiro'' movies were this: The first was released the same weekend as that year's Doraemon film and the second ''[[Anime/PrettyCureAllStars Pretty Cure All Stars New Stage]]'' movie and the second was released the same exact week as Frozen, which had a 16-week reign at the top of the box office. Both wound up totaling 116,000,000 yen in ticket sales. Box Office Mojo doesn't even list either movie in any list at all for this reason. The films after ''Shimajiro and the Whale's Song'' were released only to Aeon theaters as a result, with the exception of the [[MilestoneCelebration 30th anniversary film]] ''Shimajiro and the Rainbow Oasis'', which also failed at the box office against that year's ''Doraemon'' film and ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}''.
* ''[[Anime/LoveLiveSunshine Love Live Sunshine: The School Idol Movie Over The Rainbow]]'' got a horrible case of this. Not only did it open in less than half the theaters of its predecessor, it also opened on New Year's weekend, which is the most important holiday in Japanese culture and also is a time when many children get a two-week-long break from school. The result was that the film opened at #8, curbstomped by ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'', ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'' and ''Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Forever'', all of which were aimed at a child audience, as well as the wildly-popular ''Film/BohemianRhapsody''.
** The American release only happened in a handful of theaters despite being advertised to be in a good number of them like ''Anime/MyHeroAcademia: Two Heroes'' and ''Anime/YourName'' were.

* Weinstein also screwed over ''Underdogs'' by moving its release date August 27, 2014 to January 16, 2015. Then, it was moved from January 16, 2015 to April 10th, 2015 so that they could release ''Film/{{Paddington}}''. After that. they moved the release date from April 10th, 2015 to August 14, 2015 to avoid competition with ''[[Film/TheFastAndTheFurious Furious 7]]''. The week before the scheduled release date, it was pulled with no explanation whatsoever, which was a bad move on their part since the only kids' movies in wide release at the time were ''WesternAnimation/ShaunTheSheep Movie'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Minions}}''.
* Harvey Weinstein was in charge of the international release of ''Film/{{Snowpiercer}}'', and tried to have the film edited ''heavily'' to appeal to American audiences, including editing or removing twenty minutes of footage and adding opening and closing monologues. Director Bong Joon Ho refused, meaning the film initially only saw a very limited release before critical acclaim and viewer demand led to a wider uncut release.

* The 1992 film adaptation of ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen'' was dumped to just 398 theaters and grossed only $5.4 million in its run. Since the film was well-received and is regarded as one of the finest adaptations of the original novel, one can scratch his or her head wondering what prompted MGM to think the film wasn't worth it.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheMitchellsVsTheMachines'' was supposed to get a nationwide event cinema release. Due to reasons unknown, not all theaters that released Iconic Events releases in the past got the movie. Approximately 130 theaters got the film unlike most event cinema releases of a similar scale, which usually come to 300+ theaters. [[https://twitter.com/michaelrianda/status/1461466387818315778?s=21 Even the director was aware of this]], and hinted that there might be more showings in the future.
* ''Back To The Outback''’s trailer promised that the film would be screened in select theaters. However, in the United States, most theaters that showed Netflix films passed on showing the film in favor of ''The Unforgiveable''.

** ''Film/SnakeEyesGIJoeOrigins'' had an ''even worse'' go of it, releasing in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, and seeing a drastically lesser promotion than planned, mainly because of Paramount using it as a replacement for ''Film/TopGunMaverick'' after moving it out of 2021, and ultimately the film crashed and burned at the box office as a result of the burial and bad reviews (which admittedly didn't stop the first 2 films), only making $40.1 million altogether, less than ''half'' of a budget estimated as high as $110 million. Combined with outside factors such as Paramount focusing more attention on their streaming service Paramount+ and co-producer MGM being bought out by Amazon, and this may put the already-on-life-support ''G.I. Joe'' franchise into a deep freeze, for a moment at least.
* ''God Particle'' was a science-fiction film set to come out in early 2018. Fearing a bomb, Paramount ultimately took the film to J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot, who shot additional scenes and re-worked the film into ''Film/TheCloverfieldParadox'', and then the studio sold the film to Netflix, who then debuted it immediately after the Super Bowl. [[note]]Ironically, this film and ''Film/TenCloverfieldLane'' both came out of scripts previously attached to a Paramount subsidiary studio, [=InSurge=], that had been shut down, then re-worked to fit inside the ''Cloverfield'' concept. While ''Lane'' debuted to solidly positive reviews, ''Paradox'' did not -- the stigma of being "dumped to Netflix" not helping matters.[[/note]]
* Paramount did this to ''Film/{{Hugo}}'' after picking the film from Sony (due to the film's producer/co-financer wanting to open the film on Thanksgiving and Sony wanting ''WesternAnimation/ArthurChristmas'' for that spot). Examples include: mismarketing the film as either a comedy or an ''Film/{{Inception}}''-style thriller, barely marketing the film before the release, reducing the film's theatre count from 3,000 theatres to just 1,200 a week before opening and choosing to go with a quiet expansion rather than spreading awareness. Not even the film's massive critical acclaim and awards nominations and wins helped Paramount change their minds.

** In the United States, ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobMovieSpongeOnTheRun'', after many delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was changed to a release on Paramount Plus with a video on demand release occuring beforehand. However, even as other countries got release dates for the movie on Netflix (and Canada and South Korea getting theatrical releases), the on-demand release for the United States remained unannounced, with Paramount instead focusing their attention on promoting ''Rumble''.

* ''Film/AttackTheBlock'' was dumped into just 11 markets with almost no advertising by Screen Gems despite having mostly excellent test screenings and word-of-mouth. Supposedly, Screen Gems wanted to build ''Film/ParanormalActivity''-esque hype around the film but their choices of theatres was completely random, and entire markets were shut completely out. There was also no website that listed when theaters would be getting the film.

* ''Film/TheApparition'': The film was shot in early 2010, but Warner Bros. kept delaying the release until it finally came out in August of 2012. While it hasn't been confirmed, the finished film has all the hallmarks of ExecutiveMeddling with what appears to be heavy cuts and reshoots. The movie was produced by Dark Castle Entertainment, who Warner Bros were just then discontinuing a distribution deal with. The studio not only delivered it two years late, they dumped it into just 810 theatres with little to no marketing -- just ''one week'' before Lionsgate's heavily-marketed, 2,860-theatre release of ''Film/ThePossession''. It opened in 12th place at the domestic box office and grossed less than $10 million worldwide against a $17 million production budget.
* ''Batgirl'' had the unfortunate fate of getting canceled in ''post-production''. Despite already finished shooting the film and having the final touches of editing and [=VFX=] almost finished, it won't be seeing an official release either in theaters or on HBO Max per WB's new boss David Zaslav. What made the cancellation so startling is that production didn't suffer from any problems or budget overruns that would justify a cancellation. Even worse is that the cast and crew weren't informed ahead of the announced cancellation with directors Adil el Arbi and Bilall Fallah only learning about it while attending the former's wedding in Morocco.

* One can only wonder how ''Film/LooneyTunesBackInAction'' would've fared if Warner Bros. kept its July release instead of fretting that it would be crushed by ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', which had been out for almost two months and had dropped out of the top 5. Not helping matters was that the film ended up competing against the well-received ''Film/{{Elf}}'' (which was from their sibling company Creator/NewLineCinema) and ''Film/MasterAndCommander'', and the heavily-advertised ''Film/TheCatInTheHat'', after which Warner Bros. didn't bother promoting the film that much at all.

* ''Film/OsmosisJones'' was envisioned first as a PG-13-rated animated adult comedy film, with swearing, excessive violence, and gross-out live-action sequences in the script. Halfway through production, however, the [[AnimationAgeGhetto animation-is-for-kids mentality]] kicked in at Warner Bros. and a number of changes were ordered, turning it into a PG-rated buddy cop film for family audiences, though the live-action sequences remained. Since Warner Bros. had no idea if ''Osmosis Jones'' was either an adult film or children's film, they proceeded to send it to an August weekend and gave it a rather confusing marketing campaign, which tuned potential audiences out. It grossed just $14 million on a $70 million budget in its theatrical run, leading to a massive write-down at Warner Bros. and accelerating the death spiral of Warner Bros. Feature Animation (''Looney Tunes: Back In Action'', released a couple years later, just put the coffin on the ground).

* ''WesternAnimation/MissingLink'' was released in the midst of [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 three]] [[Film/Shazam2019 major]] [[Film/AvengersEndgame superhero]] releases. This, combined with the surprise success of competitor ''[[Film/Dumbo2019 Dumbo]]'', resulted in the film having a 5 million dollar opening weekend.
* ''Film/{{Postal}}'', Uwe Boll's film based on the video game, was originally scheduled to be released in 2007, then pushed back to 2008. Three days prior to the U.S. premiere date, its theatrical run was reduced from 1,500 screens to 21 (Boll offered to pay more theatres in New York to screen the film, but they refused). In addition, it was opened against ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull''. To say it was buried at the theatre is a gross understatement.
* ''[[WesternAnimation/PostmanPat Postman Pat: The Movie]]'' in the United States: Shout Factory promised to release the film into more theaters after its NYC/LA release, but it was put onto DVD three months later.
* Creator/AndreiKonchalovsky's 1987 film ''Film/ShyPeople'' was dumped into 300 theaters in the American Southwest with virtually no advertising by the then-financially struggling [[Creator/TheCannonGroup Cannon Group]]. To add insult to injury, another distributor attempted to buy the distribution rights to the film only to discover that Cannon had already released it and pulled out of the deal. Despite getting good reviews from critics such as Creator/RogerEbert, ''Shy People'' flopped massively, earning a measly $769,119 at the box office.
* ''WesternAnimation/UglyDolls'' opened a week after ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' and wound up only making a little over eight million dollars on its opening weekend, despite the film having decent promotion.

** They placed the film in competition with the Creator/HBOMax release of ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' and did [[InvisibleAdvertising next to no advertising]] for it (which was done through other means by AT&T, HBO Max, Snyder himself, Snyder's fandom and some of the cast and crew -- none of it having the same reach as WB), unlike the marketing efforts they pulled for their dual HBO Max-theaters releases of 2021. The film is branded a HBO Max Original but it still has WB's logo in its opening, and WB execs preferred touting their numbers for ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' and attributing any increase in HBO Max subs in late March 2021 to it rather than including those of ''ZSJL'' (though the Investors Day of April 22, 2021 rectified that and credited ''ZSJL'' for the increase of subscriptions).

* ''[[VideoGame/PriPara Tobidasu [=PriPara=]: Aim For It With Everyone! Idol Grandprix]]'', despite the success of the first ''[=PriPara=]'' movie half a year before, was only screened in fifteen theaters in the entire country because Avex Pictures did not think it would do that well since they saw it as a quickly done cash-grab for its 3D gimmick. Combine that with the film being released on the same day as ''Film/{{Pan}}'' and the ''Anime/GoPrincessPrettyCure'' movie and the movie didn't gross as much as the two films based on the franchise that followed it or its' predecessor.

* ''[[Anime/LoveLiveSunshine Love Live Sunshine: The School Idol Movie Over The Rainbow]]'' got a horrible case of this. Not only did it open in less than half the theaters of its' predecessor, it also opened on New Year's weekend, which is the most important holiday in Japanese culture and also is a time when many children get a two-week-long break from school. The result was that the film opened at #8, curbstomped by ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'', ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'' and ''Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Forever'', all of which were aimed at a child audience, as well as the wildly-popular ''Film/BohemianRhapsody''.

* Creator/AlfonsoCuaron's ''Film/ALittlePrincess'', despite critical acclaim, got a very poor marketing campaign from Warners, including a poster that made it look like a fantasy film, as well as scheduling it as a Summer release when analysts felt it would have played better as a Holiday season release. Warner Bros. executives tried to rectify that with a re-release a few months later with revamped advertising and giving it a limited release in 30 theaters akin to prestige films. Unfortunately for the studio, the plan backfired and the reissue never went into wide release.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm'' suffered from an eleventh-hour lack of faith by Warner Bros., [[NotScreenedForCritics refusing to screen the film for critics]] until the last minute and giving it the InvisibleAdvertising treatment. It was ultimately dumped by WB in favor of ''Film/GrumpyOldMen'', which ''was'' screened for critics, given a solid advertising campaign ''and'' opened the same day as ''Mask of the Phantasm'', even though the latter was produced in a comparatively lower budget. The result? The film opened a measly $1.2 million against a budget of $6 million on opening weekend, and while ''Grumpy Old Men'' would go one to gross a blockbuster $70.2 million against a $35.1 million budget, ''Mask of the Phantasm'' fell $400,000 short in its entire theatrical run, only turning a profit thanks to [[VindicatedByCable home video sales]]. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen It should be noted that the film was intended to be a direct-to-video release]], [[{{Irony}} but WB thought it would make more money in theaters than on video]]. The whole debacle made WB make sure they didn't repeat the same mistake with the follow-up, ''WesternAnimation/BatmanAndMisterFreezeSubZero'', five years later. It was also the first in a string of animated movies -- many of which are also in this folder -- that WB would end up hosing in some fashion.

* Harvey Weinstein was in charge of the international release of ''Film/{{Snowpiercer}}'', and tried to have the film edited ''heavily'' to appeal to American audiences, including editing or removing twenty minutes of footage and adding opening and closing monologues. Director Bong Joon Ho refused, meaning the film initially only saw a very limited release until Ho managed to switch to a different distributor.

* Creator/RelativityMedia did not even bother to do any for of advertisements for ''WesternAnimation/FreeBirds''. There's literary no form of merchandise, t-shirts, billboards, banners or even a video game tie-in. [=McDonald's=] or any other restaurant that sell toys at the time refuse to do a toy promotion for this movie. Despite being "quietly advertised" and nobody knew it already came out, the movie ended up a box-office success anyways.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm'' suffered from an eleventh-hour lack of faith by Warner Bros., [[NotScreenedForCritics refusing to screen the film for critics]] until the last minute and giving it the InvisibleAdvertising treatment. It was ultimately dumped by WB in favor of ''Film/GrumpyOldMen'', which ''was'' screened for critics, given a solid advertising campaign ''and'' opened the same day as ''Mask of the Phantasm'', even though the latter was produced in a comparatively lower budget. The result? The film opened a measly $1.2 million against a budget of $6 million on opening weekend, and while ''Grumpy Old Men'' would go one to gross a blockbuster $70.2 million against a $35.1 million budget, ''Mask of the Phantasm'' fell $400,000 short in its entire theatrical run, only turning a profit thanks to [[VindicatedByCable home video sales]]. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen It should be noted that the film was intended to be a direct-to-video release]], [[{{Irony}} but WB thought it would make more money in theaters than on video]]. The whole debacle made WB make sure they didn't repeat the same mistake with the follow-up, ''WesternAnimation/BatmanAndMisterFreezeSubZero'', five years later.

* One can only wonder how ''Film/LooneyTunesBackInAction'' would've fared if Warner Bros. kept its July release instead of fretting that it would be crushed by ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', which had been out for almost two months and had dropped out of the top 5. Not helping matters was that the film ended up competing against the well-received ''Film/{{Elf}}'' and ''Film/MasterAndCommander'', and the heavily-advertised ''Film/TheCatInTheHat'', after which Warner Bros. didn't bother promoting the film that much at all.

* WB did no favor to ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'' for its release.

* ''Film/CollateralBeauty'' was not only sent to be released on ''the same weekend'' as ''Film/RogueOne'', but Warner Bros. crafted a [[NeverTrustATrailer deliberately misleading marketing campaign]] in an attempt to market it as a hopeful spiritual drama, the exact opposite of what the film was really about. As a result, the film failed to even recoup its $36 million budget domestically. Even for a film that was obvious OscarBait for star Creator/WillSmith, one really has to wonder if the film would've done much better if Warner was honest about the film's plot (though some, including [=YouTube=] reviewer WebVideo/ChrisStuckmann, speculate that Warner did this [[OldShame because they were embarrassed by it]]).