10 Reasons Why Lightyear Failed
9. Vague Marketing Turned Audiences Off
Misaimed marketing can cause even the best movie to flop, and in Lightyear's case it's a major reason for its failure to draw in larger audiences.
It didn't help that, until the final marketing push, Disney hadn't made it particularly clear what Lightyear actually was.
Many saw the first trailer and assumed it was a biopic of the real astronaut who inspired the Buzz Lightyear toys, only for later trailers to reveal that it's actually the film that Andy saw back in 1995.
Throw in confusion over its tone, torn between a more serious-minded sci-fi film and fluffy family comedy, and it wasn't easy for more casual audiences to get a handle on exactly what Lightyear was supposed to be.
More than anything, the trailers failed to cement the film as a must-see event, and that ambivalence over whether it was worth a trip to the multiplex surely prompted many millions to wait until it hits Disney+ in 45-or-so days.