1) Bad Santa
Yep, Disney – via Miramax, which it owned at the time – made Bad Santa. The irony of the studio producing a movie like Bad Santa wasn’t lost on critics (The Washington Times released a piece prior to the film’s release entitled ‘Bad Disney,’ criticizing the studio for having anything to do with the film) or, for that matter, Disney executives.
Execs were reportedly so upset that they had a film starring Billy Bob Thornton as an alcoholic and sex-starved fake Santa on their books that they considered severing ties with Miramax then and there. Still, the gamble resulted in one of the best cult comedies of recent times, so it’s hard to get too upset.