‘The Reluctant Dragon’ (1941)
Following the success of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves,” Walt Disney thought he’d cracked the perfect animated movie formula. He sank much of the film’s profits into a new cartoon studio in Burbank. But “Pinocchio” and “Fantastia” flopped at the box office. Disney needed a win. So he made “The Reluctant Dragon,” which turned the Burbank studio into the set for a live-action/animation hybrid film about making cartoons. It seemed like a smart move, but the film flopped hard, and it’s basically disappeared since.