What once-famous cartoon character had the biggest flop of an attempted pop culture comeback?

This question started rolling around in my mind as I reflected on the upcoming Looney Tunes and Smurfs movies, and I began wondering about how feasible it is for studios to get kids interested in cartoon characters whose prominence in pop culture fizzled out a full generation or two (or more) ago.

My primary goal is to answer this question: out of all the cartoon icons who were once recognized throughout the US / Western world, who fell furthest into obscurity, and whose comeback was most squandered? (Note that, for this particular post, I'm not really looking at anime or other non-Western cartoon media, although I'm intrigued to hear about any examples of those as well.)

This will be a long list, but I'm sorting these characters in order of when they debuted; my apologies if I end up omitting anyone important. I'm also not including characters who I consider to still be fairly well-known among all ages and/or who have had very recent successful movies or TV series. That means that I'm not covering Mickey Mouse, Scooby-Doo, the Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, or Woody Woodpecker here.

Felix the Cat (debut: 1919)

Last big-screen appearance: None since his original theatrical shorts, the last of which was in 1936; a projected theatrical release for Felix the Cat: The Movie went direct-to-video in 1991, followed by another direct-to-video film, Felix the Cat Saves Christmas, in 2004. No box office statistics as a result.

Last small-screen appearance: Baby Felix, which aired in Japan from 2000 to 2001.

Popeye the Sailor (debut: 1929 in comics; 1933 in cartoons)

Last big-screen appearance: Robert Altman's 1980 live-action film, which grossed $60 million on a $20 million budget. An animated reboot by Genndy Tartakovsky spent a decade in development hell before being cancelled in 2022, and a live-action reboot is in development as of March 2024.

Last small-screen appearance: Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy, a TV special that aired on Fox in 2004.

Betty Boop (debut: 1930)

Last big-screen appearance: None since her original theatrical shorts, the last of which was in 1939.

Last small-screen appearance: Two CBS cartoon specials in 1985 (The Romance of Betty Boop) and 1989 (The Betty Boop Movie Mystery). Betty has only appeared in commercials since then.

Mighty Mouse (debut: 1942)

Last big-screen appearance: None since his original theatrical shorts, the last of which was in 1961, although a reboot with Ryan Reynolds producing and starring is in development as of November 2024.

Last small-screen appearance: Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, which aired from 1987 to 1988.

Casper the Friendly Ghost (debut: 1945)

Last big-screen appearance: Brad Silberling's 1995 live-action film, which grossed $288 million on a $55 million budget. This was followed by four TV / direct-to-video movies.

Last small-screen appearance: Last lead role was in Casper's Scare School, which aired on Cartoon Network from 2009 to 2012. Since then, his only appearance has been a cameo in Netflix's Harvey Girls Forever in 2020. Never heard of it? Neither had I. A live-action reboot series was in development at Peacock as of April 2022.

Yogi Bear (debut: 1958)

Last big-screen appearance: Eric Brevig's 2010 live-action film, which grossed $200 million on an $80 million budget.

Last small-screen appearance: Jellystone on Max, which debuted in 2021 and is midway through its final season at time of this writing. Not sure how many kids (or adults, for that matter) are aware of this show's existence, but good ol' Yogi is unique on this list in terms of how recently he's been around.

Rocky & Bullwinkle (debut: 1959)

Last big-screen appearance: Des McAnuff's 2000 live-action film, which grossed $35 million on a $76 million budget. Compared to the other movie adaptations on this list so far, this was a pretty big flop, and one of their co-stars fared even worse: the live-action Dudley Do-Right film from 1999 grossed only $10 million on a $70 million budget. Mr. Peabody and Sherman found slightly more success with their 2014 film, which grossed $275 million on a $145 million budget, and which led to a Netflix spinoff series.

Last small-screen appearance: An animated reboot, focused solely on R&B minus their co-stars from other segments, which streamed on Prime Video from 2018 to 2019. As with Jellystone, despite how recent it is, you would be forgiven for completely missing the fact that this existed.

The Flintstones (debut: 1960)

Last big-screen appearance: Live-action films in 1994 and 2000, each with a completely different cast. 1994's Flintstones grossed $341 million on a $46 million budget, but 2000's prequel Viva Rock Vegas stumbled with a gross of $60 million on an $83 million budget. An animated film reboot is in development as of June 2023.

Last small-screen appearance: Two attempts to reboot Flintstones as an animated sitcom on Fox, first by Seth MacFarlane and then by Elizabeth Banks, have stalled as of July 2024. In the meantime, a spinoff series called Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs streamed on Max from 2021 to 2022. You'll probably notice a trend by now of most of these cartoons' reboots being left to linger in obscurity while buried in streaming services' deep catalogs.

The Jetsons (debut: 1962)

Last big-screen appearance: 1990's Jetsons: The Movie, an animated film which served as the series finale, and which grossed $20 million on an $8 million budget. Plans were in place as of 2017 for both a live-action sitcom reboot and an animated film reboot, but neither has materialized.

Last small-screen appearance: Buckle up because this one is weird. Speaking of 2017, it appears that Hanna-Barbera / WB had a creative partnership with WWE around this same time. As a result, the most recent Jetsons project is a direct-to-video crossover entitled The Jetsons & WWE in RoboWrestleMania! (A similar Flintstones crossover with WWE preceded it by two years.) Other than that, they've also featured in a cameo in the aforementioned Jellystone.

Underdog (debut: 1964)

Last big-screen appearance: Frederik DuChau's 2007 live-action film, which grossed $65 million on a $25 million budget.

Last small-screen appearance: None since his original series run from 1964 to 1967, although a CGI animated reboot is apparently set for release in Europe later this year.

George of the Jungle (debut: 1967)

Last big-screen appearance: Sam Weisman's 1997 live-action camp classic, which grossed $174 million on a $55 million budget. A direct-to-video sequel followed in 2003.

Last small-screen appearance: A reboot which aired on Cartoon Network from 2007 to 2008, and which then surprisingly returned for a more obscure second season on Teletoon from 2016 to 2017.

Inspector Gadget (debut: 1983)

Last big-screen appearance: David Kellogg's 1999 live-action film, which grossed $134 million on a budget which ranged somewhere between $75-90 million. Given this film's critical reputation, Disney seems hesitant to have revealed exactly how much they lost on it. As with good ol' George, a direct-to-video sequel followed in 2003. A second attempt by Disney, with SNL's Mikey Day writing, was in development as of October 2019, but that may be dead by now.

Last small-screen appearance: A reboot / sequel which aired on Teletoon / Family Channel and streamed on Netflix from 2015 to 2018.