Disney animation unit runs aground

TREASURE PLANET debacle prompts concern

By Mike Whybark     December 09, 2002
Source: Variety

VARIETY reports that Disney's massive loss on TREASURE PLANET has prompted critiques of the animation unit. The animated film, a sci-fi reworking of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic TREASURE ISLAND, cost the studio $74 million and garnered only $16.6 million over the extended Thanksgiving weekend.

Conceptual weakness and the relative failure of similar films TITAN A. E. and ROAD TO EL DORADO are cited as key challenges the film failed to overcome. Managerial turmoil, with division president Thomas Schumacher in contract negotiations and expected to leave the post next year, as well as shrinking salaries and headcounts, add to the unit's difficulties.

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