The Most Successful Animated Failure Ever Made

TL;DR

The Prince of Egypt was a commercial and cultural failure despite its quality because Shrek's fart-joke formula overshadowed Katzenberg's grander artistic ambitions for DreamWorks.

Key Points

• 1.Shrek became DreamWorks' defining success despite being the opposite of Katzenberg's vision. It earned nearly $500 million at the box office, won the first-ever Best Animated Feature Oscar, and proved audiences preferred gross-out parody over prestige animation.
• 2.The Prince of Egypt failed on its own terms even though it was critically exceptional. Katzenberg intended it to rival Disney and legitimize serious animation, but it never hurt Disney's brand and ranks only seventh on Ranker's fan-voted list of best DreamWorks films.
• 3.The Prince of Egypt is experiencing a modern resurgence as an underrated gem. Audiences are increasingly revisiting and crediting the film, suggesting its cultural value was delayed rather than permanently lost.