• These movies had huge budgets that producers expected would turn in huge profits when released. • However, the films lost millions of dollars for studios after hitting theaters. • Pixar's 2025 release, "Elio," was "catastrophic" for the studio.

When "Joker" was released in 2019, it grossed over $1 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing R-rated movie at the time, and its star, Joaquin Phoenix, won an Academy Award.

Greenlighting a sequel was a no-brainer.

However, "Joker: Folie à Deux," which was released in October 2024, made just a fifth of what its predecessor earned at the box office, joining a long list of films that — surprisingly — nobody wanted to see.

Pixar had a similar problem this year. After a decade of domination, the animation juggernaut's grip on the box

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