11 Years Ago, This Disney Sci-Fi Movie That Changed Star Wars Episode 7 Bombed at the Box Office

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Disney has faced challenges recently, increasingly relying on established franchises instead of creating new, successful original stories. While they’ve tried to expand into science fiction, most of those efforts haven’t succeeded. However, one project stood out – it was a truly original concept, rooted in Disney’s past, and offered a compelling story. Despite its promise, it ultimately became a prime example of a missed opportunity, often cited as a major disappointment of the last ten years.

It’s fascinating how this relatively forgotten project didn’t just fail on its own merits, but also impacted another huge franchise. While it was in development, the director was seriously considered for, but ultimately unable to direct, the revival of Star Wars. Looking at both films now, knowing this, the similarities are striking.

Why Did Tomorrowland Become One of Disney’s Biggest Flops?

The 2015 film Tomorrowland centers around Casey Newton, a bright and science-minded teenager, who discovers a strange pin that leads her to Tomorrowland – a hidden, futuristic world meant to be a perfect vision of the future. She teams up with Frank Walker, a gifted but discouraged inventor, to uncover what happened to this once-promising place and why it fell into disrepair. Interestingly, the movie takes inspiration from the Tomorrowland area within Disney’s Magic Kingdom theme park.

Honestly, the biggest problem with this movie is the story. It feels like they had a cool idea, but struggled to turn it into a good story. There’s a big difference between building suspense and just keeping secrets, and this movie leans way too much into the latter. The first part is packed with little hints and half-explanations, and it feels like everything is just waiting for something to finally happen. Even when things pick up, it had a hard time grabbing me back. Getting to the actual Tomorrowland felt really drawn out and full of explanations that weren’t needed, which just slowed everything down.

You could see how some might think the movie was simplified to appeal to a younger or less sci-fi-savvy audience. However, given that Brad Bird directed and co-wrote it, that explanation doesn’t quite hold up. Bird has said the film’s central idea was always exploring why our vision of the future changed from hopeful to bleak – he even called it a story built around that shift in thinking. So, he wasn’t trying to make hidden meanings easier to understand; that core idea is the movie’s driving force. The issue is that it’s presented in a way that feels overly forceful.

The film feels disjointed, presenting ideas that don’t quite flow together. While you can grasp the movie’s message, it doesn’t consistently create a strong emotional connection. It relies too heavily on explanation and not enough on visual storytelling. Ironically, Tomorrowland, the film’s supposed highlight, feels more like an interesting idea brought to life than a fully realized world with its own internal logic and stakes. At times, it feels less like an exciting sci-fi story and more like a movie pausing to offer social commentary.

As a movie fan, it’s always a bummer when a film doesn’t do well, and Tomorrowland was a pretty big miss, financially. It cost around $190 million to make, and only brought in a little over $200 million worldwide. When you add in all the money Disney spent on marketing, they actually lost somewhere between $120 and $150 million. To put that in perspective, a movie like that usually needs to make $400-$500 million just to break even! What’s really interesting is that Brad Bird, the director, was once in line to direct a Star Wars film, but he turned it down to make Tomorrowland. It makes you wonder how different the Star Wars saga might be if he’d taken that gig – even a small change in direction could have been huge.

How Did Tomorrowland Impact Star Wars‘ Cinematic History?

As a movie fan, I always thought Brad Bird was something special. Seriously, look at his run – The Incredibles, Ratatouille, even Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol! He just gets how to blend heart, keep things moving, and deliver amazing visuals. So when Disney bought Lucasfilm, it wasn’t surprising everyone wanted him for Star Wars: Episode VII. Thinking back, it’s a bit puzzling why he passed on it. But at the time, it made sense to me. He was deep into Tomorrowland, not just directing and writing, but really shaping the whole creative vision as a producer too. It was a huge original project, and Star Wars felt like stepping into something already built with a ton of pressure.

It’s unfortunate that the decision played out so poorly. Despite this, Star Wars: The Force Awakens became a huge hit, earning over $2.07 billion worldwide and establishing J.J. Abrams as a dependable director, especially for reviving franchises and making big-budget films. In 2015, it ranked as the third highest-grossing movie ever. Tomorrowland, however, failed to live up to its potential. Interestingly, both films explore themes of rekindling hope for the future, though in different ways.

What happened to Brad Bird’s career after this film is significant. He didn’t have the same creative control on big projects again. Instead of directing large-scale live-action movies, he focused on safer bets within the Incredibles franchise, like Incredibles 2. Even with projects like the development of Incredibles 3, he’s generally a writer, mentor, or creative producer—guiding existing ideas rather than starting entirely new, ambitious ones from scratch. However, he does have a new original animated film, Ray Gunn, coming out this year.

Ultimately, Tomorrowland is a film with big ideas, a striking look, and a sincere heart, making it a worthwhile concept to pursue. However, it clearly demonstrates that good intentions aren’t enough if the final result doesn’t quite come together. While Disney fans may still remember it after eleven years, it’s more likely they’ll focus on its missed potential than what it actually achieved – and that’s not the kind of lasting impression you want.

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2026-05-22 15:16