In Hollywood there are many levels of failure. But the gradations from disappointment to career ender to disaster to the lower levels isnt based on the dollars that were lost its based on how people use the failure to further their own ends.
Waterworld really isnt considered a major disaster around town because no one really benefited from its failure (other than to dampen the career of Kevin Costner which is considered a good thing). Pluto Nash is ignored because no one wants to be accused of bashing Eddie Murphy. And the biggest flop youve never heard of was Town & Country over a $100 million to make and market with less than $3 million at the box office because Hollywood Old Guard establishment types like Warren Beatty can force others to hide those things.
Pearl Harbor is considered a disaster because it ended Disneys role as a major studio in town. Heavens Gate is considered a big disaster because people used that flop to bankrupt United Artists and kick off the first wave of merger-mania. Further back Cleopatra is remembered because it was the end of 20th Century Fox and the old studio system.
Treasure Planet is going to be remembered because it is being used as the excuse to drive the last nails in Disney Feature Animation. Eisner and his orcs are all over town right now telling anyone who cant escape that TP is proof of Eisners longstanding bias traditional animation is dead, no one wants to see it, having an original story is overrated, and buying third party computer movies is the only smart business move. The official line goes on is that animated features simply dont offer the return anymore and therefore the only smart course is to limit exposure (i.e., make them on the cheap).
So while Treasure will loose a lot of money, thats not the important point. Eisner is using the film to justify the stuff he was doing all along: cheap sequels. When anyone questions him about that, all he has to do is point to TP. That is the way hell keep the memory of the movie long after its been written off the ledger sheets.
P.S. The buzz coming out of The Haunted Mansion is far scarier than anything youll see in the movie. The director is being quoted in the trades as saying that movie is better than the ride and that Disney should change the attraction to match the movie. And yes, there are rumors that someone already pitched the idea of having Eddie record a new narration for the attraction (the first of many changes).
