10 Over-Hyped $100 Million Budgeted Movies NOBODY Even Remembers Now

6. Mars Needs Moms

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It's an understatement to say that Disney went all-in on 2011's 3D animated film Mars Needs Moms, which with a $150 million budget was mounted as the Mouse House's next big animated franchise.

Yet despite Disney relentlessly hyping the film, general audiences just weren't taken with its offputting representations of human characters - the not-quite-lifelike motion capture tech gave them an uncanny appearance which many felt was creepy and ghoulish.

As a result, Mars Needs Moms sank like a stone at the box office, grossing a mere $39.2 million, and because audiences categorically rejected the film's mo-cap technology, studio ImageMovers Digital ultimately cancelled all their planned mo-cap projects, including a Roger Rabbit sequel.

Much like The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Mars Needs Moms is really only remembered today for how catastrophically it bombed, and also the impact its flop had on the wider animation business.

All in all, even if you can accept the unsettling human faces, it's a thunderously unimaginative piece of work that never stood a chance in hell of making a cultural imprint.

It now lives on as a lonely tile on Disney+ that's only clicked by those precious few who've exhausted all other possible viewing options.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.