10 Movie Franchises That Died In 2022
1. Strange World
In a year full of animated films flopping at the box office, none proved more brutal than Disney's sci-fi adventure film Strange World.
Despite being directed by Disney veteran Don Hall (Big Hero 6, Moana and Raya and the Last Dragon), rocking a budget as high as $180 million, and touting an all-star voice cast led by Jake Gyllenhaal, Disney absolutely sent this thing out to die.
With a bafflingly minimal marketing campaign, Strange World didn't stand much of a chance even if it was a great movie, let alone the totally "OK" one that it ultimately was.
As such, it was released on Thanksgiving weekend and, despite minimal competition, fell far below expectations, in turn delivering the worst opening for a Disney animation released at Thanksgiving in modern history.
To date, it's grossed a mind-bogglingly low $61 million globally, enough that Disney sent it to Disney+ just a month after its theatrical bow.
Given that Disney was clearly teeing up Strange World to be a franchise in which its cast of heroes explored a bevy of weird and wonderful worlds, this performance couldn't be much more disastrous.
And though the film itself isn't that good anyway, Disney really only has themselves to blame for failing to sell it to audiences at all.