10 Notorious Box Office Bombs That Are Actually Pretty Good

Budget: $70m Box Office: $31.3m RT: 96%

Brad Bird's directorial debut is now regarded as one of the best animated features of the 1990's, which makes The Iron Giant's commercial failure all the more baffling. The movie just about scraped into the domestic top ten, opening in ninth place with a dismal $5.7m and failed to even earn back half of its production budget at the worldwide box office, but has since come to be known as a modern classic of animation.

The Iron Giant was released during a pivotal transition phase for the animated feature; Disney's early 90's renaissance was over and the studio's output was becoming increasingly mediocre, while Pixar were redefining the genre with their cutting-edge computerized techniques and intelligent storytelling that appealed to audiences of all ages. With its combination of both hand-drawn and computer animation, an ambitious narrative and well-developed characters, The Iron Giant was perhaps the most overlooked family movie in years.

Packed with adventure, humor, warmth, heart and emotion, Bird's movie is much more complex than the average animated movie. In what was to become a feature of the director's work, The Iron Giant is as strong visually as it is thematically, a smartly-written and massively entertaining blend of sci-fi, comedy, drama and action.

Do you agree with the article? Are there any other underrated box office bombs that you would have included instead? As always, sign off in the comments below.