3. The Iron Giant
Brad Bird's marvellous animated film remains one of the very best of the genre, and despite being an exceptional calling card for Brad Bird - who later graduated to live-action features, directing Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol - the film made a mere $23.1m against a $70m budget, which for the standards of animated fare is absolutely shocking. Again proving that animated sci-fi is pretty much box office poison - with only a few exceptions, like WALL-E - it's clear in retrospect why the film wasn't a commercial smash hit; it's set in the 1950s, there aren't many cute characters, the style is more painterly and impressionistic than Disney's usual fare for instance, the ending is a bit of a downer, and its anti-government themes might have proven too heady for the little 'uns. It might not have been assembled into a commercially enticing trailer, but for the thoughtful viewer, this is a classic, hugely affecting animation that can stack up easily against any of Pixar's greatest works. As a result, this one bombing is particularly painful, but at least everyone involved, specifically Bird, managed to survive it and go onto continue making great films.