The Spotlight on Pixar Intensifies as ‘Elio' Becomes Latest Original Animated Pic to Crash Land

Yahoo

4 days ago

It's hard to believe nearly a decade has passed since Pixar's Coco, an original, music-infused fantastical yarn about a Mexican boy who travels to Land of the Dead, grossed nearly $800 million at the global box office to rank No. 11 on the year's list of top-grossing films. That was in 2017, a time when no one could have anticipated it would be quickly followed by a dramatic downturn in the appetite for original animated fare.
For Pixar, that downturn hit a new tipping point with the debut of Elio over the June 20-22 weekend. The original summer tentpole, about an orphaned boy whose wish to be abducted by aliens comes true, debuted to a dismal $20.8 million domestically and $14 million overseas in what's by far a record-low opening for the storied animation studio co-founded by the late Steve Jobs and later acquired by Disney.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Box Office: 'Elio' Limps to Record-Low $21M Pixar Opening as 'How to Train Your Dragon' Stays No. 1
Box Office: Danny Boyle's '28 Years Later' Bites Off $5.8M in Previews, Pixar's 'Elio' Takes in $3M
James Gunn's 'Superman' Tracking for $135 Million U.S. Box Office Opening
Publicly, Disney execs are putting on a brave face and suggesting that Elio can rebound and find its stride, much as Pixar's original animated film Elemental did in 2023 on its way to grossing nearly $500 million globally after a $29.6 million start, not adjusted for inflation. Elio boasts stellar audience exit scores and even stronger reviews. But internally, no one is kidding themselves or trying to sugarcoat the results. Ultimately, Elio may not even crack $300 million.
That doesn't mean Disney and Pixar are waving the white flag of surrender and banishing original storytelling to the hinterlands. If anything, Elio shines a light on a course correction that was already underway, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.
Pixar is deliberately pivoting toward a more balanced mix of sequels and fresh IP. Disney leadership, including movie studios chief Alan Bergman, have advocated for a strategic return to franchise entries as a way to support original storytelling over the long-term. They don't view new IP as one-offs, but as potential franchises. Inside Out and Coco are just two examples of new franchises that began as originals.
In June 2024, the record-shattering Inside Out 2 debuted to a huge $154 million on its way to becoming the top-grossing pic of the year, the top title ever for Pixar and the top animated movie of all time with more than $1.69 billion in worldwide ticket sales, not adjusted for inflation. Coco, meanwhile, spawned a park attraction, with a movie sequel in the works.
Elio was the sixth original Pixar film released since 2020 after Onward, Soul, Luca, Turning Red and Elemental.
Pixar's upcoming slate includes the original film Hoppers and Toy Story 5, both set for release in 2026, followed by the original Gatto in June 2027 and the undated Incredibles 3 and Coco 2. Of Pixar's 30 theatrical releases, only 9 have been sequels installments and one, Lightyear, a prequel. That hardly makes a Pixar sequel machine — even at its own peril.
Pixar has always been skittish about franchise building. While Toy Story 2 was its third movie, it took more than a decade to release Toy Story 3, and five years to make Cars 2. The gap between the seminal Finding Nemo and sequel Finding Dory was a dozen years. And in 2016, Pixar president Jim Morris said that after 2018's Toy Story 4 in 2018 and 2019's Incredibles 2 — both of which would earn more than $1 billion globally — the studio would return to its roots, excluding Inside Out 2. He wasn't kidding.
Walt Disney Animation Studios, home of the blockbuster Frozen and Moana franchises, also pursues a healthy mix, and has released four original films in recent years despite the downturn: Encanto, Raya and the Last Dragon, Strange World and Wish.
Rivals Illumination Entertainment and DreamWorks Animation, both owned by Universal, are without a doubt more franchise-focused. A third of the titles Illumination has made are part of the multi-billion-dollar grossing Despicable Me and Minions series, while it quickly turned Sing and The Secret Life of Pets into franchises. It is also in the Dr. Seuss business and now, Mario. DWA, the company founded by former chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, has feasted on a diet of Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda.
During the pandemic years — even when cinemas were back up and running — the regime led by then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek decided to send three Pixar titles straight to Disney+ domestically — Turning Red, Luca and the Oscar-winning Soul (all three were considered streaming hits). The controversial decision was slammed for training families to wait to watch younger-skewing family films in the home; a debate which ranges to this day, particularly when it comes to untested titles such as Elio. They might have been right. Among all animated original films from any Hollywood studio, only three have opened north of $20 million domestically in the post-pandemic era; Elio, 2021's Encanto ($27.1 million) and 2023's Elemental, ($29.6 million), all from the Disney empire.
That's not to say PG movies haven't worked. In fact, they've fueled much of the post-COVID recovery. But they've either been live-action adaptations of animated films — look no further than 2025 summer blockbusters Lilo & Stitch from Disney and How to Train Your Dragon from Universal; live-action properties based on branded IP such as Warner Bros.' A Minecraft Movie, the top-grossing film of 2025 to date with more than $954 million in ticket sales, or the animated video game adaptation The Super Mario Bros Mario Movie, which earned a stunning $1.36 billion in 2023. And the list of last year's top global grossers was led by Inside Out 2, while Moana 2 took third place with $1.05 billion, followed by Illumination's Despicable Me 4 ($959 million).
Live-action adaptations of classic animated films such as Dragon or Lilo play to both families and Gen Zers or Millennials, thanks to the nostalgia factor. Elio lacked any such advantage and is having trouble connecting with a wide audience, likely due to skewing very young and being considered strictly a 'kids' pic, which goes against the Pixar brand, according to box office pundits. Either way, it got lost in the wake of How to Train Your Dragon and Lilo & Stitch, which has now crossed $900 million in global ticket sales (merchandise sales are in the billions).
'Notably, while PG rated movies have been the hero of the box office in the post-pandemic era, a PG rating doesn't necessarily guarantee a massive opening weekend unless of course that PG rated film has known IP or is part of a franchise or a brand that's well known such as Minecraft,' says Comscore chief box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian. 'Elio will have to rely on great word-of-mouth based on amazing Rotten Tomatoes scores to keep the film in good stead over the next couple of weeks.'
Adds a source close the film, 'While its opening numbers may not reflect its ambition, the film is a reminder of the kind of creative swing the studio still believes in, and that the industry still needs. As Pixar moves forward, it's not abandoning originality — it's looking for ways to launch it more effectively, while keeping beloved characters close at hand. In the end, the goal remains the same: tell stories that resonate across generations.'
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
Wes Anderson's Movies Ranked From Worst to Best
13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts
Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT