Things at Pixar have been…complicated…recently.
Turning Red (and several Pixar films before that) never got theatrical releases. Lightyear did get released in theaters but was surrounded by controversy, having been banned in some countries and outperformed at the box office by Minions: Rise of Gru. Now, another Pixar movie has hit theaters — but it might not be the saving grace the studio was hoping for.
A Box Office FAILURE
Pixar’s newest animated movie is Elemental. It takes people into the land of Element City and follows the story of “Ember, a quick-witted and fiery woman who’s always stayed close to home in Firetown.”
We also get to see a “fun, sappy, go-with-the-flow guy named Wade” and how his friendship with Ember challenges her on her “beliefs about the world they live in.”
The film debuted on June 16th, 2023, but hasn’t been as big of a success as Pixar might have hoped for.
According to Reuters, Elemental ended up having the second-lowest debut in Pixar history, bringing in around $30 million at box offices in the U.S. and Canada. Analysts had predicted that it would open with at least $31 million in these spots.
In terms of a global total, the film earned around $45 million between Friday and Sunday. There are a few factors that could be at play here though. First, Elemental has only opened in 3 major international markets so far and will be opening up in more countries soon, so that could have impacted things.
Also, it was a slower box office weekend for several movies, with The Flash having a less-than-stellar performance, bringing in $55.1 million. It could be that the Father’s Day holiday affected that.
Elemental‘s opening weekend ranks just above the $29.1 million earned for Pixar’s very first movie —Toy Story. Granted, that opening was in 1995, which was a very different time than 2023. But perhaps being down at the bottom with such good company will prove to be a good sign for Elemental in the end, if its box office results can improve.
UPDATE: It seems that things with Elemental have since improved and, despite an “alarmingly slow” start, the movie has made a comeback of sorts. As of August 2nd, 2023, The Hollywood Reporter shared that the movie “cleared the $400 million mark at the global box office…becoming the first Hollywood animated movie based on original IP to do so since before the pandemic.” Domestically it has made $146.2 million, but its overseas numbers are much higher at $257.5 million.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that this is still “far less” than many other Pixar films, but it does place the film ahead of Lightyear. Elemental has been a particularly big success in South Korea. In fact, it is the Number 3 animated film of all time in South Korea, behind Disney’s 2 Frozen films. And things might be hopeful for Elemental’s future as it’ll open in one more major market — Japan — soon.
But Why?
We’ve gone over some of the technical things behind Elemental‘s weak box office results, but what have Pixar and Disney officials (and others) said about the situation?
Original Characters
According to Reuters, Tony Chambers — the head of theatrical distribution at Disney — was reportedly disappointed by the domestic box office results for the movie. He argued that live-action and animated films based on original characters and stories have struggled following COVID-19 while franchises that draw on well-known IP have performed better (like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse).
Chambers said, “Original IP has a harder time cutting through in the market…At this point in time, it’s a very busy marketplace.”
But some at Pixar think that the risk of original characters is worth it. In speaking with Variety, Pete Docter — Pixar’s creative chief officer — shared, “Right now, the world seems to want the comfort of what they know, which is sequels, and movies based on things like comic books or video games.”
He pointed out that these things were original at one point though and that it is “essential for us to develop new original stories, which are harder to publicize, harder to get people excited to go see them. But I think audiences deserve it. They want to find that surprise, along with the comfort of the expectation.”
For Docter, it’s all about balance. Pixar will in fact be working on several sequels in the future including Toy Story 5 and Inside Out 2.
Expectations
It might also be an issue of expectations. Several of Pixar’s recent films — Soul, Luca, and Turning Red — were released directly on Disney+. Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations Co., shared that this might have impacted audiences and made them expect that ALL Pixar movies will be available to watch at home.
In theaters, Disney is (in a sense) “going back to the drawing board,” according to Bock.
Docter has recognized the challenging expectation that Disney movies will just be on Disney+ too. In speaking with Variety, he said that they were thankful there was Disney+ during the pandemic so they could still release films and people could watch them (rather than having the films sit on a shelf for over a year).
But, he shared, “In the long run, there’s been a bit of a mixed blessing because we’ve trained audiences that these films will be available for you on Disney+. And it’s more expensive for a family of four to go to a theater when they know they can wait and it’ll come out on the platform.”
He noted that families with kids might be more reluctant to go back to theaters because it isn’t cheap, so those families are being very selective about what they pay to see.
Docter shared, “That’s where it is tougher to have original films because if you’re going to bet on something, you’re probably going to say, ‘I’ve seen that before. I know I like it and let’s go with the sequel.'”
For Docter, getting people to theaters to see Elemental is about showing them that they’re missing out by not going — emphasizing that it is a better experience when seen on the big screen with strangers.
Mixed Reviews
But it isn’t all bad news for Elemental. Reuters points out that the film had “received positive feedback from movie critics and audiences and was heavily marketed.” Plus, “audiences gave the film an “A” rating in polling by CinemaScore.”
On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 76% score on the Tomatometer, but a 92% audience score. According to another article with rankings from Rotten Tomatoes, that score places it above The Good Dinosaur, Cars, Lightyear, Cars 3, and Cars 2.
UPDATE: That score has changed slightly and the movie is at 73% for the Tomatometer and 93% for the audience score as of August 3rd.
Docter shares that at the Cannes film festival, Elemental got a 7-minute standing ovation, and the audience really “responded to it.” But when the embargo lifted, “some of the reviews were pretty nasty.”
Docter shared that this is their 27th movie and Pixar tends to get critiqued not just on other animated movies but against its own history of movies, placing it in an especially tough position.
Can Pixar Turn It Around?
Given the less-than-ideal results of Elemental at the box office, can Pixar turn it around in the future? In speaking with Variety, Jeff Bock, a box office analyst with Exhibitor Relations said, “It’s going to be difficult, but it’s not a mountain they can’t climb.”
Bock points out that reviews can also play a big role in the situation. He shared, “Reviews for original movies need to knock your socks off to cut through the noise…There are a lot of choices out there.”
We have certainly seen how bad fan reviews can destroy a movie’s success.
Whether Pixar can turn it around after Elemental remains to be seen and may not be seen for a while. We’ll have to watch how it continues to perform at the box office and how it is received once released (eventually) on Disney+. Pixar’s next original theatrical release won’t come until 2024 with Elio.
Will Pixar be able to live up to its own history and convince audiences to see original animated movies in theaters that are not based on IP they already know and love? Only time will tell.
We’ll keep an eye out for more news about this and other Disney films in the future so stay tuned.
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What do you think about Elemental? Have you seen it in theaters? Tell us in the comments.
Articles like this put people off seeing the film. It’s only been out a really short time & already considered a flop. Give people chance to go. It’s another 2 weeks before it’s released here in the UK so that’s a big audience that hasn’t been used in the figures yet. But how many of those potential audience members will be put off going if they’re told it’s flopped in North America? They will probably assume that the story is rubbish without even trying it.
Personally I’m pleased for something that’s not a sequel or a remake as there seems to be little originality these days.
The only thing I can hold my hands up to of being guilty of though is saying “let’s wait till it’s out on Disney+ as the cinema is so expensive, especially when there is usually only a small time to wait “.
Just curious – have any of those commenting actually SEEN the movie? My husband and I saw Elemental this past weekend and really liked it. Yes, there is a message, but it isn’t ‘in your face’. At the heart of it, it’s a story of the father-daughter relationship, and we thought that dynamic was well done. The immigration side is just another part of the story. The animation is beautiful, and there is enough zaniness in the characters to appeal to kids as well. I hope it picks up, as this movie deserves to do better.
It’s OK if disney wants to cater to a narrower specific audience. If that’s their way forward, they just need to recalibrate budgets. The Christmas movie channel has a narrow audience and therefore keeps a 5 to 20 million dollar budget for each movie so that they can profit. Instead of 2 to 400 million dollar budgets, disney needs to cut way down and then the fact that everything is bombing won’t happen. The new movies making 200 million will be profitable and they can have their agenda and preferred audience.
Remember when Disney/Pixar movies were fun like Bluey? That’s what is missing, the fun.
Pixar movies have become very preachy and less fun. While trying to offend no one, and always walking on eggshells, all creativity has gone out the window.
John Lasseter was pushed out at the end of 2018. Toy Story 4 was the last film he was directly involved with comes out 6 months later and earned $1.07 Billion.
Since then no Pixar movie can be considered exceptionally good or noteworthy profitable. Aside from Frozen II (which wasn’t particularly good but was profitable) Disney animation has also underperformed since Lasseter was pushed out.
Problem: Morons pushed the inspirational creative leader out of Pixar & Disney Animation.
Solution: Fire morons who pushed out the inspirational creative leader and do anything it takes to bring that creative inspirational leader back.
Can we please be honest? Elemental, like several recently from Pixar and Disney as a whole, is struggling because the political dynamic has taken over center stage when creating a film and the other elements to the story are filled in around it. Disney has been at its best when it imagines first, instills creativity, provides uniqueness and finally subtly provides a moral (along the lines of “All I ever really needed to know I learned in kindergarten”). Disney’s current approach of aggressive wokeness has not only turned away so many apolitical fans and families, but also compromised the quality of their products as they check all the other boxes first on “the agenda.” They can pretend to ignore it all they want and focus on more secondary and tertiary possible reasons but until they return to what made them the most admired brand across the spectrum and drop the focus on identity politics they will continue to roll downhill. This goes for more than just film & TV. In turn, they’ll have to make up the $ losses by further overcharging for theme park experiences and price out more and more people.
What do you mean by “aggressive wokeness”? Especially as it relates to Pixar films?
Deciding on a PC message and then developing a film around it, with inoffensive characters and boring plots. It’s good for characters to learn a lesson during the film, but they also have to be interesting.
I totally agree. People will turn out for excellent storytelling but not for a lecture. Everything about the previews for this movie screams “come to to the theater to learn a lesson”.
I could not agree more! The comments that I made last night, which have not been posted…for some reason…center around storytelling. In the Golden Era of Disney Movies from 1939-1960s, they focused on tried-and-true stories or fairy tales which had stood the test of time. Now, the movies are “preachy” with woke messaging, which is either controversial or boring to a large portion of their audience. The opening of a new Disney movie at Thanksgiving time was an eagerly anticipated event. That’s all gone now. But it can re-emergence again, just like Disney had a 2nd Golden Age in the 1980s with the releases of Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty & the Beast, etc. I hope they get back on track to their core Disney values.
Hi Lynn! I checked to see if I had any unapproved comments from your email address, but I couldn’t find any. Perhaps it didn’t get submitted. The only comments I will not approve are those that are insensitive, inaccurate, rumors, or are not linguistically appropriate for a wide audience. 🙂
Well, seeing Disney has have had inappropriate content in their recent movies, I am reluctant to have myself and kids go see their movies now, I’ll pass on this one as well. Sorry Disney, you are not family wholesome entertainment anymore, the ticket sales will show that, hopefully. It’s not what the majority of audiences want.Maybe Disney will get it and adjust, maybe not.
What inappropriate content? In a Disney film?
Honestly, I think it came out relatively close to The Little Mermaid. Families are slammed this time of year with end-of-year school things, sports ending, etc. It seems a lot of people (in my area at least) are just now getting around to seeing that.
My daughter and I finally had the opportunity to see a movie this weekend and we opted for The Little Mermaid because it’s been out longer so will leave theaters first. We’ll see Elemental, just haven’t had a chance yet.
My pre-teen daughter and her friends both have no interest in seeing Elemental or The Little Mermaid, which surprised me because I offered to take all six of them for an end-of-the-year treat and they’d usually jump at the offer. I asked why and they all said neither looked like they’d be good movies, a couple said The Little Mermaid wasn’t going to be as good as the original and not worth going. I took them to a zip-line/ropes course instead, which at $60/kid wasn’t exactly a fair tradeoff, but I was glad to see young kids choosing something outside and active over sitting in a theater, no offense to movie makers!
Saw it Saturday night with 7 year-old granddaughter. She said it was dumb, that about sums it up and 44 dollars for tickets and pop corn ! waste of time and money.
Ruth likely is closest to whatever the real answer is.
I really think the bottom line here is that the film just looks a bit childish. What I mean by that is previous, pre-pandemic Pixar films had jokes only adults would get and had big name stars. There are a few names I recognize in the cast, but not on the level of a Tom Hanks, Craig T. Nelson, or Ellen Degeneres. From the ads it just looks no different than many of the other theatrical animated films out there.