Wasn't Citizen Kane also a major bomb at the box office? I believe it even got booed at the Oscars that year.
That was all about politics and William Randolph Hearst scaring the crap out of anyone who dared to see it. Theaters wouldn't even carry the film for fears of Hearst's repercussions. He's pretty much the reason why hemp is illegal. And that film kinda killed Orson Welles's career, leaving him to be completely unsatisfied with every single crummy role he could get. He HATED being Unicron.
Glad someone besides me defends MFS.
To be fair, there's a lot of good in MFS. I actually do like it, even though I give it a hard time. But too much backstage politics and a director who just wanted to do the film so he could have something on his resume (especially since his non-Spongebob and Kablam work isn't exactly much better by any stretch) quelled the film's potential. Even the fact that it was pretty much destined to be a space movie (read forced into being one to compete with Star Wars episode 1), even if the other film was to be made (the "In Space" movie rather than "From Space") had an air of jadedness marketing to it. To say nothing of Kermit and Piggy being in zombie mode. But darned if the best parts of the movie weren't good. If only the film was like the Brick House opening, the Jacuzzi party (HEY! Who cut Gonzo's cake?!), Jefferey Tambor and Bobo's chemistry, and the crazy lab rats and VanNeuter scenes, it would have been great. Blame the director for Kermit painting the house and Clifford checking the mail while every other Muppet randomly disappears in the middle of the film.