Why’d it Bomb? The Princess and the Frog (2009)
https://lebeauleblog.com/2017/03/21/whyd-it-bomb-the-princess-and-the-frog-2009/
4. People thought the movie was racistshare
While I doubt racists themselves affected the movie’s box office gross, there were rumors about the movie that turned some people off and made them think it was racist. Some of these things were changed (like Tiana was changed from a chamber maid to a waitress) but, even when the movie’s trailers started airing, there were still things that people found to be problematic of the movie, like the fact that the first Black Disney Princess spends most of the movie being a frog. It didn’t help that many Disney movies in the past have had racial stereotypes in them. In their defense, most of those movies happened back when racial stereotyping was the norm but, at least back then, people still gave Disney a hard time for it.
3. Maybe Disney didn’t do enough to promote the movie
If you read the article above, you’d think this movie had a lot of promotion. Yet, I have to be honest, I don’t remember that many commercials for it airing on TV. Oprah, who was in the movie, didn’t even promote it on her show. And many audience members probably find out what movies are coming out through either trailers or commercials. As a result, some people might’ve not even known there was a new Disney Princess movie out. It probably didn’t help that it was released during the Christmas season, when a lot of successful movies were coming out, which meant that it couldn’t help but get lost in the shuffle.
2. Children have become too used to animated movies being comedies
In my article about Epic, I said that animated comedies seem to sell better nowadays than other types of animated movies. And that is pretty much true. I think it has to do with the fact that it’s been a decade since Shrek and, in that time, many studios have tried to ape Shrek’s success by making all of their animated movies comedies. As a result, I think that many children have grown up with more goofy animated movies and expect every animated movie to be a joke fest like Shrek was. Yet The Princess and the Frog was not only trying to be like an old fashioned animated movie but it was promoted as such.
However, seeing as kids have grown up with comedic animated films, they probably weren’t interested in seeing something that was more akin to The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast and, therefore, they stayed away.
1. It came out around the same time as Avatar, a movie praised for it’s technological advancements
The Princess and the Frog was an attempt by Disney to bring back 2D animation. Unfortunately, at the same time, Avatar came out, which was being praised by people for making special effects look even more realistic than before. Having The Princess and the Frog come out around the same time as Avatar might’ve made it look more old fashioned and out of date by comparison, which might’ve turned many people off and caused them to flock to Avatar instead, where they could oogle at how cool the Na’vi looked and how far we’ve come in terms of special effects.
These are all possible reasons the movie’s box office intake was…mediocre to say the least. Could it also be that people just didn’t want to see a 2D animated movie in 2009? Maybe. Although, who knows, in a less busy time, the movie might’ve done better, even in 2009. But we’ll never know and, unfortunately, it did not revive 2D animation for Disney like everyone thought it would.