I'm not asking from a Disney Executive's perspective, but from an audience perspective, why do you think this movie failed?
Personally, I think it had to with the year it came out. There were lots of popular movies released in 1985, including: "Back to the Future", "The Goonies", "Legend", "The Breakfast Club", etc.
"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"
Well it's a Disney animation and mostly kids went to see them. It had quite a dark nature and parents wouldn't want to have to pay for a movie that would just upset their kids.
It's pretty good and I enjoyed it as a child but I do remember being quite scared through some scenes.
Why was it received so poorly? Why did it flop at the box office?
#1. The movie itself wasn't good (YMMV). The story is a mess, and there's hardly any heart in it. The characters were all stock, and the whole thing really seems more like a visual effects showcase (being the first Disney animated film to use some computer generated imagery) than anything. Critical reception was mixed.
#2. Since people believe Disney animation is "for teh kiddiez" first and foremost, parents were shocked by how dark it was when it first came out, ignorant of how a lot of the older Disney films (mainly Snow White, Pinocchio and Fantasia) had dark and scary moments that frightened kids, along with several other non-Disney family films. Supposedly, there was a big backlash when it came out.
#3. The marketing, apparently, wasn't very good for this film. It was also a tough time for animation, since it was avoided by adults and teens like the plague. Most animated films released between 1982 and 1985 all underperformed, except The Care Bears Movie. The fact that it beat The Black Cauldron at the box office really angered the Disney animators.
This film was supposed to be Disney's big comeback, but the wrong people were at the company at the wrong time. So many poor decisions were made (the butchering of The Fox and the Hound, for starters), and there was not much of a direction the studio was going in. It could've been something truly special, something that could really be a big blockbuster and live up the Golden Age Disney films.
"The characters were all stock, and the whole thing really seems more like a visual effects showcase"
Well, correct me if I'm wrong here, but people have said similar things about "Alice in Wonderland" and "Sleeping Beauty" upon their first releases. Yet, within a couple decades, they became animation classics.
"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"
YMMV on this, but I think that Sleeping Beauty has gotten such respect over the years because of how good the animation is, the songs are well-liked, the finale is great, plus the three fairies are funny. Disney also promotes the hell out of it because of the Princess brand (poor, poor Eilonwy). Alice in Wonderland, I suspect, is more appreciated these days because of the surrealism. Walt refused to theatrically re-release it, but the company did years after he passed away and thus it got a wider audience.
As for The Black Cauldron, there's really nothing that stands out aside from a few sequences, IMO. I personally enjoy it because of how ambitious it is, and the first 20 minutes or so are impressive. Audiences just couldn't connect with the story, not only because the characters were stock, but because there's no real emotional pull or anything. The story becomes a muddled mess halfway through, and it just doesn't have any special vibe to it or anything.
Again, I understand the film has its admirers, and that's a good thing. Some love it, some hate it. I just think it's alright. But also, Disney buried this film years ago and didn't theatrically re-release it stateside. Americans wouldn't be able to see the film again until the first home video release in 1998. Whereas Sleeping Beauty and Alice in Wonderland have been re-released and also put on home media constantly. They are promoted at the parks. The Black Cauldron, unfortunately, didn't get that sort of treatment except for a dark ride at Tokyo Disneyland.
I consider The Black Cauldron as one of the finest Disney films.
shareIt just wasn't that interesting a movie compared to what other films were out on the marketplace at that time. I think it's a solid animated Disney feature, but people were interested in other things.
By this time Disney was strictly seen as a kiddie film maker, and teenagers and pre-teens were gravitating towards films that had a little more kick to them.
Well I'm sure a lot of people didn't want to watch it because it was so "dark" for a Disney film. (sucks, I think the "darkness" of the film is the part that I actually like)
But its the story and characters that really make the movie.. and I guess neither of those were that great for this film. (I mean, I liked it as a kid, but more because it creeped me out. Not because I liked the characters that much)
It came out at a time when cartoon were not popular. Adults might have loved Pinocchio in the 50's and the Lion King in the 90's, but in the 70's and 80's cartoons were just for kids so none of Disney's cartoons were setting the box office on fire until Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.
It was PG and looked scary compared to others cartoons which meant that a lot of parents were afraid to take their kids who were the only audience cartoons really had at the time.
Disney had just had a leadership change and the new powers that be had no confidence in the movie.
It wasn't very good which led to poor reviews and poor word of mouth.
Probably because it sucked.
Wait no, DEFINITELY because it sucked.
The story is a mess, combining 2 books into one. The movie is too short for what it's trying to do , the movie is more then half over before we meet all of the characters Taran travels with as opposed to the book where the company sets out to find the cauldron.
It also sticks too close to those Disney moments, forcing cute animal moments in when it should be a movie outside of the Disney formula.
I would really like to see someone take on this series , especially given the success of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.