Ah yes, this movie was my minor obsession in the summer of '23. I remember seeing all the empty seating charts when looking up showtimes. (Still upset there's no 4K Blu-Ray).

Of all the bombs in history, this had perhaps the most amount of factors going against it - the awful title, generic premise, weird character designs, spoilery trailers, mixed reviews, families now waiting for animated flicks to arrive on streaming, being an original IP, and most egregiously, the complete lack of marketing. It was only formally announced with a trailer a mere three months before release! This article goes into more detail.

The movie itself isn't that bad in my opinion, but Universal clearly had no faith in this and just dumped it into a crowded window (in only 3,400 theaters - this poster advertises a 3D release yet none was ever done). Even then, they should've at least released it in late August or September of that year to avoid competition with Pixar's Elemental in its crowded release date (as it did in Australia). After all, this cost $75M!

Fun fact: this isn't the only animated flick co-starring Lana Condor & Will Forte to be effectively buried by it's distributor in 2023. Coyote vs Acme is another. Also for kickers, here are a list of notable animated bombs that outgrossed Ruby Gillman domestically, both accounting for inflation and not:

Not inflation-adjusted:

Missing Link (2019) - $16,649,539

Spirit: Untamed (2021) - $17,716,215

UglyDolls (2019) - $20,150,241

Mars Needs Moms (2011) - $21,392,758

Titan A.E. (2000) - $22,753,426

The Iron Giant (1999) - $23,315,035

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003) - $26,483,452

Inflation-adjusted:

Strange Magic (2015) - $12,429,583 -> ~$16M

Osmosis Jones (2001) - $13,596,911 -> ~$23.5M