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San Francisco Chronicle
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Pixar fires back at fans, critics on social media after ‘Elio' flops
Pixar is clearly frustrated by the dismal box office performance of its latest feature ' Elio,' and is starting to hit back at its critics on social media. The Emeryville-based animation studio, owned by Disney, recently posted a video to Instagram that follows a new internet trend where people share hard truths off-screen and then pretend they don't know where the source of the statement is. In this case, an unidentified woman sitting in a car is looking off screen when she says, 'Stop complaining that Disney doesn't make original stories if you don't show up to movie theaters and support them in the first place.' After a sound effect 'alerts' the woman that she is being filmed, she looks at the camera and says, 'Oh, my gosh, I thought I was the only one in my car!' She then holds up a poster for ' Elio ' and says, 'Anyways, there's a new original story from Disney Pixar ... called 'Elio,' you should go and support it.' 'Elio' opened in theaters on June 20, and so far is the worst performing Pixar movie in its history despite strong reviews, including by the Chronicle. As of Monday, June 30, the film holds an 83% approval rating by critics and 91% from audiences on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. But that hasn't translated to ticket sales. After two weekends in theaters, the $150 million film about a lonely boy who becomes a galactic ambassador for Earth has grossed about $42 million domestically and $72 million globally. At issue is criticism leveled at the animation giant that it makes too many sequels and not enough movies based on new stories. Last year's ' Inside Out 2 ' took in $1.7 billion at the global box office and briefly became the highest-grossing animated film of all time. Next year's slate includes ' Toy Story 5,' with ' Incredibles 3 ' also in the works. But original films have struggled since ' Onward ' was released in theaters in 2020 on the cusp of the pandemic. ' Soul ' (late 2020), ' Luca ' (2021) and ' Turning Red ' (2022) all went straight to streaming on Disney+, while ' Lightyear ' (2022), an offshoot of the 'Toy Story' series, underperformed in theaters. ' Elemental ' (2023), an original film, also had a weak box office opening but hung around in theaters and eventually became a sleeper hit. With this new social media post, Pixar is hoping that 'Elio' can do the same.
Los Angeles Times
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Pixar needs original animated hits. They're much harder to come by at the box office
For decades, Pixar could hardly miss with its original animated films. Whether the subject was toys, fish or a cantankerous old man, the Emeryville-based computer animation studio churned out hit after hit. But since the COVID-19 pandemic, Pixar and other animation studios have struggled to break through at the box office with the same kinds of original movies that defined the industry. Instead, sequels such as 'Inside Out 2' have ruled the genre. This weekend, Walt Disney Co.-owned Pixar will face its latest test with the release of 'Elio,' an original film about a young boy who seeks connection with aliens to make up for his loneliness on Earth. The movie is currently tracking to bring in $18 million to $25 million in ticket sales from the U.S. and Canada during its opening weekend, according to box office analysis. (The film's reported budget is in the range of $150 million to $200 million.) That would be considered a soft debut by Pixar standards, indicating the dilemma the animation business — and the movie industry writ large — faces with original content. While audiences often say they want to see new stories, box office ticket sales show they gravitate toward sequels, reboots and other familiar fare. 'You need to be launching new franchises to keep the pipeline fresh,' said Doug Creutz, senior media and entertainment analyst at TD Cowen. 'Since the pandemic ended, original animated films have just been getting killed at the box office ... no matter how good they are.' Pixar executives, nonetheless, say they're committed to telling original stories, which are key to the future health of the industry. 'You wouldn't have Pixar without 'Toy Story,' our first original film 30 years ago!' Pixar Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter wrote in an emailed statement. 'And while we also love digging into new layers of familiar worlds and characters through our sequels, I'd say there's a unique thrill in unearthing a new story.' Disney and Pixar's previous original movie 'Elemental' made just $29.6 million in its opening weekend in 2023, causing many in the industry to write it off as a flop, before strong word-of-mouth reviews propelled the film to a solid worldwide gross of $496 million. Sister studio Walt Disney Animation Studios has also recently struggled with originals, including 2022's 'Strange World' and 2023's 'Wish.' The pandemic had a major effect on theatrical attendance for animated films. At the onset, studios including Pixar put their new animated movies on streaming services to give families something to watch during the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders and keep people from spreading the disease. Movies like 2020's 'Soul,' 2021's 'Luca' and 2022's 'Turning Red' were all sent straight to the Disney+ streaming service. Despite critical acclaim — winning an Academy Award for animated feature — 'Soul' grossed just $121.9 million in worldwide theatrical revenue. Even when movie theaters started reopening, families were slow to return due to concerns about health and familiarity with watching movies at home, which dented animated films' box office potential. Pixar's 2022 'Toy Story' spinoff 'Lightyear' did poorly at the box office partially due to this timing, as well as quality issues, marketing challenges and right-wing backlash to an on-screen kiss between a same-sex couple. Other studios, too, face challenges with originals. Universal Pictures' 2023 original animated movie 'Migration' also saw a soft box office total. The same year, Universal grossed more than $1 billion from 'The Super Mario Bros. Movie,' based on the Nintendo game franchise. Last year, Universal's 'The Wild Robot,' which is adapted from a 2016 children's book, debuted to strong reviews, but grossed $333 million in box office revenue, compared to the $492 million reaped by Paramount Pictures' 'Sonic the Hedgehog 3.' Now family films are ruling the box office. So far this summer, many of the films that have propelled the box office are family-friendly — Warner Bros. Pictures' 'A Minecraft Movie,' and live-action remakes 'Lilo & Stitch' from Disney and 'How to Train Your Dragon' from Universal. Last year, Pixar's 'Inside Out 2' hauled in nearly $1.7 billion in global box office revenue last year, while Universal and Illumination Entertainment's 'Despicable Me 4' grossed $969.6 million worldwide and Disney's 'Moana 2' made $1 billion. The common denominator among these films? They're all sequels, reboots or rely on known intellectual property. But industry insiders and analysts say that simply focusing on new chapters of existing stories risks making the animation space stale. 'If you're trying to grow the business, you need new content, you need new franchises, you need new things for people to be excited about,' said Creutz of TD Cowen. But beyond the box office, Pixar original films can get exposure — and drive business — through other parts of the Disney empire. Movies eventually debut on Disney+ and characters will show up on merchandise or in the theme parks, which can expand a film's reach. 'Pixar is in the long-term business,' said David A. Gross, who writes a movie industry newsletter. 'They want to create stories that last, and if that works in bringing back a sequel, great, but there is enormous value for streaming for these pictures, whatever they do in theatrical. There are a lot of revenue streams.' Pixar intends to release three movies every two years, and the company's strategy is to make one original for every sequel, company sources said. For instance, 'Elio' was intended for release in 2024, but was delayed by the dual writers' and actors' strikes of 2023. Instead, it swapped with 'Inside Out 2' since sequels can be easier to move through the production process due to existing assets. 'Pixar was really instrumental in defining the look and the feel and the tone of computer-animated films,' said Christopher Holliday, a senior lecturer in liberal arts and visual cultures education at King's College London, who wrote a book about computer-animated films. The company 'is now at one of those crossroads where they are trying to balance films that have an audience built into them,' Holliday said. 'And then they're also balancing their identity as a studio of innovation that is pushing the boundaries and the limits of computer animation.' Next year, Pixar plans to release 'Toy Story 5' as well as an original film called 'Hoppers' about a new technology that allows humans and animals to communicate. In 2027, Pixar said it will debut 'Gatto,' an original movie about a cat with multiple lives. 'We think audiences love originals too,' Docter said. 'Sure, it might be a bit harder nowadays to break through all the noise out there, but if we do our jobs, and create something that people will love, we trust that audiences will show up.'
San Francisco Chronicle
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
‘Incredibles 3' is in the works, and Pixar has hired a director
Peter Sohn, a longtime Disney Pixar creative whose comedy 'Elemental' helped jump-start the Emeryville-based animation company's revival in 2023, has been tapped to direct 'Incredibles 3,' which continues the story of the superhero Parr family. Brad Bird, who directed the first two 'Incredibles' movies, is writing the screenplay and will co-produce, according to a report in the Hollywood Reporter. Sohn has worked with Bird since the late 1990s, when he worked on the animation for Bird's first feature, ' The Iron Giant ' (1999), for Warner Bros. Both moved to Pixar in 2000. While Bird established an illustrious directing career with 'The Incredibles' (2004), ' Ratatouille ' (2007) and ' Incredibles 2 ' (2018) — with the live-action ' Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol ' (2011) and ' Tomorrowland ' (2015) in between — Sohn has worked as an animator, storyboard artist and voice actor for several Pixar films. Sohn's first film as director was ' The Good Dinosaur ' (2015), which was generally well received by critics but became Pixar's first box-office failure. He got another chance as director with ' Elemental,' a personal story inspired by his youth as the son of immigrants in New York during the 1970s and '80s. The unlikely love story of water and fire at first seemed like another box-office bomb after Pixar's first theatrically released film post-pandemic, ' Lightyear,' tanked in the summer of 2022. But 'Elemental' became a sleeper hit, picking up steam after its June 2023 release. By mid-August, it had become a certifiable smash, pulling in nearly half a billion dollars at the global box office and was nominated for an Oscar for best animation feature. The first two 'Incredibles' movies have taken in nearly $1.9 billion combined at the global box office. Voice cast members returning for 'Incredibles 3' include Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson and Sarah Vowell. No release date has been set. Pixar's next film, ' Elio,' directed by Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi, is set for release on June 20.
San Francisco Chronicle
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Pixar shares new ‘Toy Story 5' details — and who'll replace a beloved character
Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the characters in Pixar's most beloved franchise will face their ultimate challenge yet in ' Toy Story 5 ': children who'd rather stare at their screens than play with action figures. Pete Docter, chief creative officer of Disney's Emeryville-based Pixar Animation Studios, revealed the opening sequence and behind-the-scenes footage for what is expected to be one of the biggest movies of 2026 on Friday, June 13. 'It's toy meets tech,' Docter told the Annecy Animation Festival crowd in France. The plot of 'Toy Story 5' will feature the cast of miniatures dealing with a tech tablet named Lillypad, the new favorite plaything of their 8-year-old owner, Bonnie Anderson. Docter confirmed the return of franchise regulars Tom Hanks (Woody), Tim Allen (Buzz) and Joan Cusack (Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl), and said that Ernie Hudson will voice Combat Carl, taking over for the late Carl Weathers. Docter then showed the first scene, in which a bunch of Buzz Lightyears are in an abandoned container awake on a deserted island, struggling to reconnect with 'Star Command.' 'Toy Story 5,' directed by Andrew Stanton and McKenna Harris and produced by Jessica Choi, is scheduled for release on June 19, 2026. But Docter was not done. He revealed a new film, 'Gatto,' an original film to be directed by ' Luca ' filmmaker Enrico Casarosa. Set for release in 2027, it follows Nero, a water-hating black cat living in Venice, Italy, who befriends Maya, a lonely street musician. Docter also showed the first footage for the previously announced 'Hoppers,' due out March 6, about Mabel (Piper Curda), a young woman trying to stop a local mayor (Jon Hamm) from building a highway that will destroy woodlands. Using a secret brain-swapping technology, Mabel becomes a robot beaver to lead a revolt. The first ' Toy Story,' Pixar's first feature-length film that revolutionized animation, showed at Annecy in 1995. Since then, the festival has become the Cannes of animation — or, as Docter calls it, 'the greatest festival in the world.'
