10 Most Criminally Underrated Blockbusters Since 2000

6. Rise Of The Guardians (2012)

Rise Of The Guardians is a beautifully animated, wonderfully written film, featuring a novel take on the 'superheroes assemble to battle the ultimate villain' plot. In this case, the superheroes are Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman and Jack Frost, and they team up to fight the boogeyman, here named Pitch Black. The aftermath of the failure of Rise Of The Guardians is a sad one, as it led to job losses for studio Dreamworks Animation. The film made $306 million worldwide but Dreamworks still posted an $83 million dollar loss, presumably due to astronomical marketing costs (marketing which clearly failed to do its job). It was reported that Dreamworks laid off around 350 employees in the end (15% of which were full-time staff members). This unfortunate story is a stark reminder of the realities of the movie business. If a huge investment is put into something, it desperately needs to make enough cash to repay that. So, what caused Rise Of The Guardians' failure? It certainly can't be blamed on the voice actors, as the cast is impressive and universally great. Perhaps audience's just weren't overly interested in an animated superhero-esque tale that wasn't based on known Marvel or DC properties. Maybe people just want cute talking animals in their animated movies? It's a question we're sure Dreamworks asked themselves many times.