Acclaimed Flop: While well-reviewed, it couldn't break even and barely made more than its budget.
Acting for Two: Ethan Sandler voices no less than seven characters, mostly among the Robinson family. Director Stephen Anderson is the Bowler Hat Guy, Grandpa Bud, and Cousin Tallulah. Yes, a female Robinson family member has a male voice for no reason!
Box Office Bomb: The film grossed $97,822,171 domestically and $169,333,034 worldwide though Disney never disclosed the budget information. Estimates place it between $150-$195 million which includes marketing costs and re-animating portions that were discarded. Being released on the same day as the more widely beloved Blades of Glory might have contributed to that.
Female Tallulah Robinson is voiced by male Stephen Anderson.
DOR-15/Doris, who is programmed to be female despite being voiced by Ethan Sandler.
Descended Creator: Stephen J. Anderson, the film’s director, voices Bowler Hat Guy, Grandpa Bud Robinson and Cousin Tallulah Robinson.
Executive Meddling: In a good way. When Disney bought Pixar and John Lasseter took charge of Walt Disney Feature Animation as well, about a third of the movie was redone to improve on the story. However, the old guard almost revolted at it and openly expressed to the press that they hoped the film would bomb.
Missing Trailer Scene: The teaser trailer includes a shot from the InventCo. boardroom scene of Bowler Hat Guy shouting, "I invented it! Me! Me! Me!", which doesn't appear on the final film.
No Export for You: The Game Boy Advance prequel game was not released in Japan.
Non-Singing Voice: Frankie the Frog is normally voiced by Aurian Redson, but his singing is done by Jamie Cullum.
The Other Marty: Daniel Hansen and Jordan Fry both voice Lewis. A good portion of the former's lines were redubbed with the latter.
Stillborn Franchise: A direct-to-video sequel called Meet the Robinsons: First Date was planned, but ultimately cancelled when Disney halted most of their direct-to-video slate in summer 2007.
Throw It In!: Wilbur's line about his father looking like Tom Selleck was intended to be a placeholder until the writers came up with something better. Not only did the line stay, but they also actually got Tom Selleck to play Cornelius Robinson!
Troubled Production: This film started under the guidance of Michael Eisner and David Stainton. They they were both kicked out and replaced with John Lasseter, who asked for a reworking of about 60% of the film, hence why its release was held back a year.
Wilbur had a younger-sounding voice in one of the early trailers.
A cancelled DVD short "Pet Project" would have revealed Bowler Hat Guy raised Tiny from an egg he accidentally grabbed from the Cretaceous. The baby dinosaur was given a growth formula to bring it to an adult size, but remained a puppy mentally. While planned as a Bottle Episode outside the new prehistoric set, it was rejected because of suits not wanting to fully commit to DVD shorts in general.
Working Title: A Day with Wilbur Robinson, which was the title of the film's source material.
Write What You Know: Director Stephen Anderson is adopted and drew on his own experiences of growing up with that knowledge when developing the character of Lewis. Like Lewis, as a child Anderson wanted to find his biological family when he grew up, but eventually realized it didn't matter because he already had a family.
Vindicated by Cable: Despite good reviews and being the start of the Disney Revival, the film underperformed at the box office. It nevertheless ended up doing much better on home video, moving 4 million copies by the end of the year.
-$195 million