Why ‘Elio' sank at the box office — and why it could take a cue from ‘Elemental' and rise again
Alas, poor Elio — we knew you... kind of.
Pixar's latest original animated feature failed to soar to galactic box-office heights during its opening weekend, instead falling back to Earth with the lowest bow in the studio's history. The sci-fi family comedy barely cleared the $20 million hurdle, landing at $21 million behind the $30 million posted by Danny Boyle's zombie picture 28 Years Later and the $37 million nabbed by last week's repeat champ, How to Train Your Dragon.
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Elio's ill fortune wasn't entirely unexpected; the film was originally slated to open last summer, but got the boot to 2025 in favor of Inside Out 2, which became the highest-grossing movie — animated or live-action — of 2024. The delay clearly didn't result in any additional anticipation for the lushly animated feature, which follows the titular space-obsessed orphan (voiced by Yonas Kibreab) on an improbable journey to the stars.
Here's what you need to know about what held Elio back — and a reminder of why the film's final chapter may not be written just yet.
The idea for Elio originated with Coco co-director Adrian Molina, who modeled the story in part after his own childhood experiences as a military brat. Announced as the project's sole director in 2022, Molina ended up parting ways with his creation two years later, with Turning Red's Domee Shi taking over the director's chair instead alongside Madeline Sharafian. (Molina still receives a separate credit in the closing crawl.)
In a 2024 interview with The Wrap, Pixar head Pete Docter alluded to other behind the scenes changes as a result of the change in directors. "[Domee and Madeline] have made some major discoveries on [Elio] that really helped the audience to connect and to move forward with the character into the second act."
Docter also said that the studio generally avoids having two directors on one project, generally preferring to employ a main director and a co-director. "It's been tricky in this past films, but in this case, they have both such respect for each other and a great working style," he emphasized.
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Even though Elio received largely positive reviews, some critics noted that they could see the seams in the production. "Though it took three directors... to bring the formulaic 'Elio' to life, the film plays like a mood board," wrote RogerEbert.com's Robert Daniels.
"It's an original concept from a studio that used to be a lot more invested in them than in sequels, and you can feel the pressure on everyone involved to recapture magic that eludes them," added Vulture's Alison Wilmore.
Besides late-inning changes behind the scenes, Elio may also have fallen into the sci-fi trap that's impacted both Disney and Pixar of late. Despite successes like Wall-E and — some would argue — the Cars movies, the 2022 Toy Story sidequel Lightyear was a major miss for the latter, while the former saw some of its lowest-ever grosses for the Journey to the Center of the Earth-inspired Strange World, released that same year.
It's also worth noting that the competition for family fare proved much stiffer than expected. Elio has to contend with its Mouse House rival, the live action version of Disney's Lilo & Stitch — still drawing in crowds of parents and kids five weeks after its record-setting Memorial Day opening. And then there's Universal's IRL take on How to Train Your Dragon, which is flying high with the young and young at heart. Put alongside those immediately recognizable names, Elio couldn't help but feel like the new kid in school.
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
But here's the thing about being the new kid — sometimes they end up being the most popular of them all. Elio's exemplary audience scores already suggest that the moviegoers who did show up liked what they saw. And even though Lilo & Stitch and Dragon have a head start, that also means both films are further along in their theatrical life cycle. As their screen counts shrink and family audiences look for the next indoor weekend activity, Elio will be right there waiting for them.
Sound unlikely? It's happened before — to Pixar, in fact. Exactly two years ago, the studio released another original tale, Elemental, into a multiplex marketplace that included The Flash, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and other I.P.-powered fare. Not surprisingly, the film struggled to find its footing and headlines proclaimed its $29.6 million opening weekend to be a "debacle."
Instead of slinking out of theaters, though, Elemental hung around while other titles came and went from the marquee. As the summer went on and family fare thinned out, the film ended up with lots of new and repeat business, eventually clearing the $150 million mark in the U.S. The overseas numbers more than doubled that gross, resulting in a final tally just shy of $500 million. And just like that, the headlines went from bemoaning a "debacle" to praising a "hit."
Elemental's fire continued burning on into awards season as the film picked up multiple Annie Award nominations, as well as Golden Globe and Oscar nods for Best Animated Feature. While it lost those races, it won the title of 2023's most-streamed movie premiere on Disney+ when it hit the service in the fall. Not surprisingly, rumors of a spin-off streaming series and theatrical sequel are already being discussed within the halls of Pixar.
While it's too early to tell whether Elio will experience a second lift-off, the rest of July and August are notably light on animated fare beyond the latest Smurfs movie and The Bad Guys 2. If Disney keeps the film in a healthy number of theaters through September, history could very well repeat itself. It's elemental, our dear Elio.
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