Elemental (Pixar - June 2023)

[Phroobar]

Disney is confident it will do fine.

That's puts all my fears at rest. This movie doesn't need advertising. It's Pixar. They never fail.

 

[TP2000]

That's puts all my fears at rest. This movie doesn't need advertising. It's Pixar. They never fail.

Exactly. It's fine. This is all fine. Totally going to plan. It's fine!

 

[Phroobar]

 

[DKampy]

Give them a minute… The Little Mermaid is the focus now as it is Disney’s next release… I am sure Elemental’s marketing will come in a couple of weeks

 

[Phroobar]

Give them a minute… The Little Mermaid is the focus now as it is Disney’s next release… I am sure Elemental’s marketing will come in a couple of weeks

I know Disney's marketing department only has like five people and Pixar lost their entire marketing department to covid so they are overwhelmed trying to make people see The Little Mermaid but Elemental releases June 19th. That movie is being greeted with crickets.

 

[Ghost93]

Give them a minute… The Little Mermaid is the focus now as it is Disney’s next release… I am sure Elemental’s marketing will come in a couple of weeks

I still think it's ridiculous to release Elemental in June, competing against Disney's own Indiana Jones 5, along with other blockbusters like Spiderverse 2, Transformers 5 (or 6?), The Flash, etc.

June is way too overstuffed and moving Elemental to a July release date would give it more room to breathe. Even if Elemental is great, I feel like this movie is being set up for failure by being released along with several major blockbusters with built-in fanbases.

 

[Tha Realest]

I still think it's ridiculous to release Elemental in June, competing against Disney's own Indiana Jones 5, along with other blockbusters like Spiderverse 2, Transformers 5 (or 6?), The Flash, etc.

June is way too overstuffed and moving Elemental to a July release date would give it more room to breathe. Even if Elemental is great, I feel like this movie is being set up for failure by being released along with several major blockbusters with built-in fanbases.

It absolutely is. This film has zero awareness.

 

[Disney Analyst]

I still think it's ridiculous to release Elemental in June, competing against Disney's own Indiana Jones 5, along with other blockbusters like Spiderverse 2, Transformers 5 (or 6?), The Flash, etc.

June is way too overstuffed and moving Elemental to a July release date would give it more room to breathe. Even if Elemental is great, I feel like this movie is being set up for failure by being released along with several major blockbusters with built-in fanbases.

I get thinking the calendar is crowded, but the general audience for most those films does not really crossover with the audience for Elemental.

Is there any similar, family animation coming out in June?

 

[Ghost93]

Is there any similar, family animation coming out in June?

Across the Spiderverse!!

The teenage Kraken movie will also come out in June, but that is probably less of a threat.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Across the Spiderverse!!

The teenage Kraken movie will also come out in June, but that is probably less of a threat.

Spiderverse is more teen - young adult to me.

Elemental is more family, young kids, etc.

 

[Disney Irish]

I know Disney's marketing department only has like five people and Pixar lost their entire marketing department to covid so they are overwhelmed trying to make people see The Little Mermaid but Elemental releases June 19th. That movie is being greeted with crickets.

In front of my viewing of Super Mario Bros. there was an Elemental trailer shown. So its not complete crickets.

 

[Phroobar]

In front of my viewing of Super Mario Bros. there was an Elemental trailer shown. So its not complete crickets.

Just one magical cricket.

 

[Disney Irish]

Just one magical cricket.

Point is there is some marketing happening. But I think its smart for them to focus on one Disney film at a time for the huge marketing push.

 

[Phroobar]

Point is there is some marketing happening. But I think its smart for them to focus on one Disney film at a time for the huge marketing push.

It is about as much marketing as Strange World got. Disney is the largest media company in the world and should be able to focus on more than one movie at a time. They have a marketing department of thousands of people yet the Pixar movie gets the shaft.

 

[Disney Irish]

It is about as much marketing as Strange World got. Disney is the largest media company in the world and should be able to focus on more than one movie at a time. They have a marketing department of thousands of people yet the Pixar movie gets the shaft.

Modern eyeballs have so much put in front of them every day, attention spans can only handle so much. To have back-to-back-to-back marketing for all the latest Disney films all on loop on TV, internet, etc would be overwhelming at best and a turnoff at worst.

So you market the next upcoming project first, and then as once that release date nears you start to market the next one, and so on. It keeps the short attention spans that is the modern audience always engaged.

 

[TP2000]

I still think it's ridiculous to release Elemental in June, competing against Disney's own Indiana Jones 5, along with other blockbusters like Spiderverse 2, Transformers 5 (or 6?), The Flash, etc.

June is way too overstuffed and moving Elemental to a July release date would give it more room to breathe. Even if Elemental is great, I feel like this movie is being set up for failure by being released along with several major blockbusters with built-in fanbases.

I get your concern, but I think this speaks to the continuing hubris and ego of Pixar execs and their big bosses at Disney.

They apparently still think just by slapping "Pixar" on the title card the movie still has a built-in fanbase of American families. And it's increasingly apparent that they don't have an automatic lock on that demographic any more.

I get thinking the calendar is crowded, but the general audience for most those films does not really crossover with the audience for Elemental.

Is there any similar, family animation coming out in June?

Good point. Disney/Pixar animation almost always releases a movie in June. Because traditionally any Disney or Pixar animated movie was the de facto Big Family Hit of the summer that American families automatically flocked to.

That is obviously no longer the case. Burbank bosses destroyed that business model and the trust of American families the last few years.

But, assuming Elemental is a big hit, it should be fine releasing in June because the summer movie market has always been big enough to support multiple blockbusters in one summer. Just last summer was a perfect example of that, with several superhero/teen movies doing right around a Billion (with a B!) in box office against the Billion Plus megahit Top Gun: Maverick. All while Pixar's Lightyear had a production budget of $200 Million and then fell flat on its face and lost at least a couple hundred million dollars for Emeryville.

 

[Disney Analyst]

I get your concern, but I think this speaks to the continuing hubris and ego of Pixar execs and their big bosses at Disney.

They apparently still think just by slapping "Pixar" on the title card the movie still has a built-in fanbase of American families. And it's increasingly apparent that they don't have an automatic lock on that demographic any more.



Good point. Disney/Pixar animation almost always releases a movie in June, or Memorial Day weekend. Because traditionally any Disney or Pixar animated movie was the de facto Big Family Hit of the summer that American families automatically flocked to.

That is obviously no longer the case. Burbank bosses destroyed that business model and the trust of American families the last few years.

But, assuming Elemental is a big hit, it should be fine releasing in June because the summer movie market has always been big enough to support multiple blockbusters in one summer. Just last summer was a perfect example of that, with several superhero/teen movies doing right around a Billion (with a B!) in box office against the Billion Plus megahit Top Gun: Maverick. All while Pixar's Lightyear had a production budget of $200 Million and then fell flat on its face and lost at least a couple hundred million dollars for Emeryville.

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It has all the markings of a classic Pixar original, so I feel it could be a big hit with families, pending if the Pixar brand hasn't been too damaged by the "straight to Disney+" years.

 

[TP2000]

It has all the markings of a classic Pixar original, so I feel it could be a big hit with families, pending if the Pixar brand hasn't been too damaged by the "straight to Disney+" years.

When I first heard about it via D23, I only thought "Oh, it's Inside Out set in a big city". And I was unimpressed.

But then I heard that Catherine O'Hara was voicing the mom, and I've seen anything Ms. O'Hara has been in since watching SCTV on the Canadian UHF dial out of north Seattle 45 years ago, and I got excited for Elemental. (Assuming the Pixar editors don't censor out her best ad-libs and improv brilliance).

Then, I recently read a fan blog describe this as sort of a rom-com version of Guess Who's Coming To Dinner! And since I own the Blu-ray of Guess Who's Coming To Dinner and watch it religiously once a year as one of my all-time favorite movies, I was even more interested in Elemental!

There's great potential there! A family film with some smart humor for the parents, done by Pixar. Now, I guess we just wait for the big marketing push and see what the reviews are like? If this goes well, I could actually buy a ticket and go!

 

[Phroobar]

The belief that Pixar sells itself so Disney doesn't have to do anything isn't true anymore. Other companies have shown they can do better. I just don't think Disney management has figured that out yet.

 

[MisterPenguin]

The belief that Pixar sells itself so Disney doesn't have to do anything isn't true anymore. Other companies have shown they can do better. I just don't think Disney management has figured that out yet.

Disney has tolerated their live-action studio barely breaking even over the past 60 years.

The majority of movies made and distributed in wide-release by all studios don't get good reviews nor make money in the theatrical window.

Compared to that, Pixar is still a golden child.