9 Recent Movies Sent Out To Die
2. Onward
If there's one thing that's a near-certainty in life, it's that a Pixar film will generate a ton of cash. The movies are well-made, they have exceptional talent providing the voices, and the animation is at the top tier of whatever is technically possible whenever they are made. They are a recipe for printing money.
Sadly, that's not the case with Onward, a Disney/Pixar film that was released in March 2020. The studio began production of Onward in 2017, after announcing it at the D23 Expo. From there, it acquired its acting talent and began development of the music and animation into an arguably charming film.
Unfortunately, the movie ended up bombing, and that's despite holding an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. When all the receipts were tallied up, Onward only managed to rake in a little over $136 million off its estimated budget of $200 million.
Like so many on this list, the issue was the release date. Theaters were closing, and the world was shutting down in March 2020, so Disney should have held the release (like it did with every other film on its slate).
Holding off and releasing it digitally would have banked millions for the company - just look at the success of Trolls 2, but instead they took a huge risk.