Walt Disney, both the man himself and his studio, is the all-time master of this trope.
Example subpages:
- Marvel Cinematic Universe
- James Cameron (for Titanic (1997), Avatar, Alita: Battle Angel, and Avatar: The Way of Water)
Individual examples:
Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar
- Nobody but Walt expected Flowers and Trees, a cartoon in full color, to get people flocking to it. The short film was originally black & white; Walt had it completely redone despite the financial risk involved.
- Animation was considered a medium inferior to live-action, and destined to remain seven-minute-long curtain raisers to feature films. That is, until Walt Disney decided to make Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first feature-length animated movie by a major American studio. It was labeled "Disney's Folly" by film industry insiders at the time, a project destined to send Disney into bankruptcy. At its premiere, Snow White proved to be an amazing picture, and the worldwide highest-grossing sound film until Gone with the Wind. Since then, it has become the subject of much strife for being the comparison point for all other animated features (Walt himself fell victim to that).
- After the box-office wipeout of Fantasia and the further financial strains of World War II on his studio, returning to full-length animation was a gamble; on the other hand, branching out into non-cartoon movies and even documentaries (!) was (in the eyes of critics in the late 40s) absolutely impossible for Walt. Cinderella, Treasure Island and The Living Desert (1953) proved the naysayers wrong, again.
- In a case that extended to within Disney, two projects started concurrently, Pocahontas and King of the Jungle, something about lions in Africa. Most of the animators picked the former feeling it would be the high-profile movie, leading the latter to have only newcomers or people with an interest in animating animals. Even the writing staff felt insecure about the project during non-stop rewrites. The resulting film, The Lion King, is the highest-grossing traditional animation ever and widely regarded as the apex of the Disney Renaissance.
- In 2002, Disney, specifically CEO Michael Eisner, found itself doubting Pixar could keep the big hits coming in 2003 with Finding Nemo. When that became Pixar's biggest hit yet, Eisner found himself in an impossible position trying to renew Disney's contract with the studio with Steve Jobs, who personally loathed Eisner, in a position to demand all but a blank check lest Pixar go with any of Disney's competitors eager to hook up with it.
- Turning Red: Vocal pre-release internet critics thought the film's 3DCG Animesque art direction, and Coming of Age Story through the lens of a young millennial Chinese-Canadian girl was too niche and out of tone with Pixar's other films. Additionally, like Pixar's last two films (both of which came out during the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic), Turning Red would see a release straight to Disney+, rather than a traditional box-office theatrical run note . Ultimately, these factors proved to not be a problem, as the film's Nielsen ratings boasted an impressive 1.7 billion viewing minutes
during its debut weekend against original series and movies. This marked the film as one of the best debuts on Disney+ and Nielsen's records. To put into another perspective, the film's three-day total beat out Sleeper Hit sensation Squid Game's 1.6 billion earned in four weeks. Therefore, it's unsurprising that director Domee Shi and producer Lindsey Collins were promoted to higher positions at Pixar afterward. - Walt Disney was rejected by MGM CEO Louis B. Mayer because his concept of a big, talking mouse was believed to be something that might scare pregnant women. While The Walt Disney Company is now a huge enterprise, MGM is still around but is not as big of a player in the film industry as it used to be.
- Elemental (2023) had quite a lot going against it ahead of its release, due to a combination of marketing that did a very poor job selling the movie to general audiences to the point that the director himself, Peter Sohn, called out Disney’s marketing team for it, a plot that many dismissed as nonsensical and an imitation of Zootopia based on said marketing, Sohn's name having previously been the one that was (ultimately) attached to The Good Dinosaur (widely considered to be Pixar's weakest original film), and an overall perception that Pixar as a whole had been on a steady decline in relevance due to most of their movies going straight to Disney+ during the COVID-19 pandemic and the box office failure and tepid reception of Lightyear after the pandemic. It especially didn't help that the movie received mixed-to-negative reviews when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, although the reception improved closer to release. When Elemental (2023) opened to Pixar's worst ever opening weekend (adjusted for inflation), it seemed that everyone's worries and predictions of box office failure were validated, which heralded a wave of articles and video essays declaring Pixar a dead company/brand that would never get a theatrical release again. However, positive word-of-mouth from those who did see it, pointing out that the movie was far better than its trailers made it seem, led to many audiences and the Pixar fandom giving the movie a second look. This combined with being released in a summer where family-friendly animated movies were scarce meant that in only a month's time, the movie that even Disney itself was writing off as a failure managed to become the studio's biggest box office success since 2019, proving Pixar could still put enough butts in theater seats to at least make a profit after three years of audiences getting used to Disney+ premieres and after the failure of Lightyear. It then became Disney+'s biggest premiere of 2023, earning 26.4 million views in its first five days on the service. It was later confirmed that the movie had 800,000 DVD Sales, 1.7 Million Digital Copies, and 60 Million Disney+ Views, as of October 5th, 2023.
Walt Disney Pictures - Live Action Movies
- Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022) had its trailers met with skepticism out of a Denser and Wackier reimagination blending animation and live-action, with fans of the original show in particular disliking the lack of resemblance to the original. But when the movie came out on Disney+, it earned positive remarks all around for its hilarious story filled with Postmodernism and mocking commentary of Hollywood, while also earning good viewership numbers and winning the Emmy for Outstanding Television Movie.
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was expected to be a flop by many entertainment writers. The film was conceived by Disney as the second of three Disney Park ride adaptations, along with The Country Bears and The Haunted Mansion (2003), at the time considered a bizarre concept to base a film upon. The pirate subgenre had also seen numerous costly flops, with Cutthroat Island being one of the biggest money losers ever. Eisner also hated Johnny Depp's eccentric performance of Captain Jack Sparrow, at one point yelling on set that Depp was "ruining the film." The film took off at the box office, buoyed by positive reviews and word of mouth and ended up becoming one of the highest grossing films of summer 2003. The second film, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, was an even bigger hit, setting the North American opening weekend record and was the highest grossing film of 2006. Three more sequels followed.
- The Shaggy Dog, Disney's first attempt at making live-action comedies, was not considered a good idea, but this film, The Absent-Minded Professor and others of its kind cleared the Disney Studio of financial debt by 1961.
Disney's Television Animation and 20th Television Animation
- Back in 2015, Disney announced a reboot of DuckTales was in the works. Many fans didn't take kindly to this. Reboots such as Teen Titans Go!, The Powerpuff Girls (2016) and Ben 10 (2016) proved polarizing amongst fans of the original and many thought the DuckTales (2017) reboot would be the same. But when the trailer debuted on YouTube, many fans changed their minds upon viewing and when the first episode aired, fans, old and new, fell in love with the show. Many now regard it as a worthy successor to the original show, with most even viewing it as outright superior, and it's viewed as an example of how to properly reboot a series.
- Pepper Ann was pitched to Nickelodeon executives, but they lost interest in the series after network executive Linda Simensky left for Cartoon Network. The show found its way to Disney and would go on to become a beloved, if underappreciated, cartoon series.
- Two relatively unknown animators pitched their idea for a show to network after network for sixteen years, only for them to be told again and again that its premise was too complicated to work in children's television. Eventually, on a whim, Disney picked up the show for 26 episodes. The result? Well, let's just say that after an eight-year run, Phineas and Ferb did, indeed, do it all. It did so well, in fact, that even after the show was over, merch was still being made, along with a second movie.
- The Proud Family was pitched to two networks (including Nickelodeon) but was rejected. A Disney representative saw the pitch and decided to show it to the Disney executives. The cartoon became one of the most popular shows in Disney, spawning a movie and Sequel Series.
- Star vs. the Forces of Evil was originally pitched to Cartoon Network with a slightly different pitch but was rejected. The show eventually shown to Disney Channel and with some tweaks, was greenlit. It received acclaim from both audiences and critics, leading to multiple merchandises tied to the series.
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars was against the odds due to the initial Animation Age Ghetto, being set in the midst of the divisive Prequel Trilogy, and the inevitable outcome being that the protagonists' actions will be for naught. In the end, it became extremely popular for its action and plots and helped remedy certain aspects in the story and characterizations from the movies that were controversial with fans, and ultimately ran for seven seasons.
- The Simpsons:
- When Matt Groening was invited to pitch a series of animated shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show, he got cold feet and made up a pitch on the spot about a sitcom family with the names of his parents and siblings rather than take a chance on allowing his Life in Hell characters to be tied to a failure. When he first met up with the animators to work on the first short for the The Tracey Ullman Show, they reckoned that it would take around two weeks to complete... and that they would get about three weeks of work out of the entire project before it was shelved. Then...
- Very few people expected The Simpsons to make a successful transition from skits on The Tracey Ullman Show to half-hour show of its own. Even Matt Groening was having doubts on its first season and was threatening to have it canceled since he was having issues with the animation. Despite that, The Simpsons remains the longest-running sitcom in America, a universal favorite (it's been dubbed and subtitled in a lot of languages), a Cash-Cow Franchise, and a critical favorite, both adored by the general public and critics.
20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures
- In interviews, director Zach Cregger revealed that he had a hard time getting Barbarian greenlit due to its very unconventional style and plot, with even A24, a studio with a reputation for producing artsy horror films, passing up on it. Ultimately, 20th Century Studios decided to take a chance with it. The result was Barbarian becoming a Sleeper Hit, becoming the #1 film at the domestic box office on its opening weekend (though being released during the middle of a box office slump certainly helped) and eventually making its minuscule $4 million budget back about ten times.
- A few months before Dune, Free Guy also had the issue of a market still hindered by COVID, along with other factors - movies based on video games generally don't perform well, audience apathy toward big-budget original films, concerns about Ryan Reynolds’ drawing power (especially after The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard underperformed a few months prior), being the first theatrical-only Disney release in 10 months... and yet it opened above low expectations and then holding spectacularly well over the succeeding weeks, even after Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings entered the fray. By the time it was made available on digital platforms, Free Guy had become one of the highest-grossing films of the pandemic.
- After the contentious The Predator, nothing was expected from another Predator movie, especially after seeing the studio not even attempt a theatrical release but instead send it directly to Hulu. And the same day it came out, it had to compete with two projects with much bigger marketing (Bullet Train in theaters and The Sandman on Netflix). Yet Prey became a surprise hit amongst critics and audiences, with many hoping the franchise would continue with more movies in its style.
- Poor Things wasn't an easy sell for Searchlight Pictures and parent company Disney, due in part to the movie's explicit sexual content, and according to sources close to the project, executives had their doubts after seeing the completed film. But by the time the movie was released, it received massive critical and audience acclaim, and since then, the film has gone on to win 2 Golden Globes, 5 BAFTAs and 4 Oscars, as well as earning over $105 million worldwide on a $35 million budget. Furthermore, the success of the film would lead to Searchlight co-president David Greenbaum being promoted to president of both Disney's live action division and 20th Century Studios in February 2024.
20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight Pictures
- Before Big was released in June 1988, there'd already been three Overnight Age-Up comedies made between 1987 and 1988: Like Father, Like Son, 18 Again! and Vice Versa (plus the Italian film Da grande, which was this film's direct inspiration), so many expected this film to tank and be forgotten. Instead, Big became the highest-grossing and most highly-praised film of the bunch, earning Tom Hanks his first Oscar nomination.
- Deadpool had a fierce opposer in infamous Executive Meddler Tom Rothman (the same guy who previously mandated that Deadpool's mouth had to be sewn shut) was strongly opposed to the movie getting made up until he left Twentieth Century Fox out of fear that the movie wouldn't click with audiences. After he left the company, the movie was officially greenlit based on the positive reception of a leaked test footage, and it recuperated its entire budget five times over in a single weekend. To add insult to injury toward Rothman, in that same opening weekend, the movie made more than the last superhero movie that Rothman greenlit did in its entire lifetime, and overtook the main X-Men series in the process.
- Apparently, before Bruce Willis was approached to play John McClane in Die Hard, the job had already been turned down by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Burt Reynolds, Richard Gere, Harrison Ford, and Mel Gibson, who didn't believe in the script, and John McTiernan, who would later direct it, even turned down several offers. When his agent delivered the news to Willis, he immediately advised him not to do it, thinking he'd make a complete fool of himself. However, due to the payment being simply too good to turn down, Willis accepted to play McClane, kicking off his career as one of Hollywood's most popular and well-paid actors. And the movie became influential in formula and protagonist type of later movies. It is now virtually impossible to find a Best Action Movies list that does not contain it, more often than not, at the top of the pile, and it frequently appears on Best Christmas Movies lists as well.
- Home Alone is the ultimate example: anticipated as another John Hughes concept gone awry, its cartoony slapstick combined with an unexpectedly heartwarming story won audiences over and it became the top-moneymaking live action comedy of all time (keeping the title until Night at the Museum).
- Little Miss Sunshine initially had trouble finding a studio that would greenlit the movie and then had to face Executive Meddling from the studio that did greenlit them. The movie was able to keep its premise, go on to make 100 million dollars at the box office, garner critical praise, and win 2 Oscars.
- Once Darryl F. Zanuck purchased the rights for The Longest Day, his son Richard did not believe in the project, saying "No one cares about World War II anymore!", and his own studio Fox was reluctant, only accepting to make the movie because Cleopatra was screwing them big time and thus they could take a chance. The film's success, even earning a Best Picture nomination, helped offset some of the losses caused by Cleopatra.
- The premise of Napoleon Dynamite sounded a bit stupid before its premiere. It became an indie sensation, and "Vote for Pedro" became a catchphrase at the time of the film's release. It became a cultural phenomenon in Idaho and got a unanimous vote of the Idaho legislature in its favor.
- Planet of the Apes: Pierre Boulle, author of La planète des singes, considered it to be one of his lesser works and that any film based off it had no potential for screen success. Fox even only greenlit the movie to compensate the hell producer Arthur P. Jacobs faced with Doctor Dolittle. Yet it was a great hit, considered a sci-fi classic and kick-started a franchise.
- Rise of the Planet of the Apes was widely mocked before release as appearing to be an ill attempt to revive what was a dead franchise, especially after a bomb of a remake ten years before. Then it came out and, to everyone's surprise, turned out to be a critical success, with a groundbreaking performance by Andy Serkis, as well as a commercial success, bringing hope back to the series. The sequel, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, was even more successful, and ended up being one of the most acclaimed movies of Summer 2014; several film critics even held it up as an example of the kind of film that other Summer blockbusters should strive to be. A trilogy closer, War for the Planet of the Apes, was also highly acclaimed even if it didn't make as much money as Dawn.
- 20th Century Fox was so certain that Romancing the Stone would fail, they fired Robert Zemeckis from directing Cocoon. This turned out to be a benefit: Zemeckis and his friend Bob Gale then had the freedom to pursue their pet project Back to the Future, and in the meantime Romancing the Stone was the surprise box-office smash of the summer of '84.
- It's hard to believe now, but 20th Century Fox had very little faith in Star Wars making much money.note They put it out as sort of a "last hurrah" to hold off bankruptcy and tasked Alan Dean Foster with writing Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a sequel novel written for the sole purpose of facilitating a quick low-budget movie adaptation. Fox had to bully theaters into showing Star Wars, as theaters simply wouldn't touch it and Fox had to make some money back on what they assumed would be a financial fiasco. Fox threatened to withhold the period drama The Other Side of Midnight, which had been tipped to be a hit that summer, unless the theater agreed to screen Star Wars for a couple of weeks. The Other Side of Midnight made its budget back, but it was steamrolled at the box office by Star Wars as it became a cultural phenomenon. Fox had given George Lucas exclusive rights on The Merch related to Star Wars in exchange for paying him less. They figured the movie would bomb and no one would make, never mind buy the merchandise as a result. And that's why no publisher ever gives exclusive merchandising rights to the creator anymore.
- Executives were certainly nervous about X-Men, starring a group of superheroes who had never been on the big screen before. This was a time when the failure of Batman & Robin was still fresh in everyone's minds, when Superman's fifth movie languished in Development Hell, and when the only successful Marvel movie had been 1998's Blade. There are stories (per Moriarty over at Ain't It Cool News) that executive Tom Rothman really opposed this project. It went on to be a long-running 20-year franchise over 13 films, even predating the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
