Elio (Pixar - June 2025)

[Miss Rori]

Given that the massive layoffs at Pixar last year were largely due to getting out of the streaming business, and the Princess and the Frog series got the shaft, an Elio series seems really unlikely.

And at this point, I don't think pinning hopes on streaming as the cure-all for poor box office performance is a great idea. It really only worked with Encanto.

 

[Disney Irish]

Given that the massive layoffs at Pixar last year were largely due to getting out of the streaming business, and the Princess and the Frog series got the shaft, an Elio series seems really unlikely.

And at this point, I don't think pinning hopes on streaming as the cure-all for poor box office performance is a great idea. It really only worked with Encanto.

Streaming is unfortunately the current and future path of movies fates. Just like video before it, streaming can produce an audience where one didn't exist during theatrical.

Its something I've been saying for the better part of the last decade, but didn't really come into focus for many until the last couple years.

So while a series might not be in its future, I do think that Elio can find an audience on streaming. Which can lead to future decisions down the line about its viability as a marketable franchise.

 

[DisneyWarrior27]

I think you have to face facts, as sad as it is, that audiences today just don't care as much about Pixar as they once did. Blame streaming culture, blame gaming culture, blame fickle audiences ever changing tastes, blame just time in general. But I think we just need to accept the fact that Hoppers just like other recent originals may not do well, no matter what anniversary is tied to it.

I refuse to accept that belief. And I’m not gonna accept when other people like Skyler Shuler have it on good authority that they’ve heard Hoppers is really strong to the point where they expect that it will do well at the box office.

And given it’s March date, it has a chance.

 

[Disney Irish]

I refuse to accept that belief. And I’m not gonna accept when other people like Skyler Shuler have it on good authority that they’ve heard Hoppers is really strong to the point where they expect that it will do well at the box office.

Shuler's comments aside, he doesn't control the box office nor the audience. So he can't predict how an audience will react to a particular movie no more than an studio can. By all accounts Elio is good and has good audience scores, but so far audiences haven't show up. Now that may change in the coming weeks. But if it doesn't it doesn't matter how well a movie is made, if an audience doesn't show up the box office won't be good. Same with Hoppers.

This is the current state of the movie industry, its something that many have to face including studios.

 

[DisneyWarrior27]

I don't think any of those factors are going to help make it a success. Nobody really cares about corporate anniversary markers or "Xth movie" milestones - they certainly didn't when it came to Wish! And just being about animals and opening at the same time another movie about animals did doesn't make it a safe bet.

(There's also the issue of Hoppers supposedly being heavily retooled to get rid of its original pro-environmental messaging, as was brought up in the wake of the massive retool of Inside Out 2 and all the crunch time put on that movie's animators. If indeed it's been heavily rethought, that puts it in the same boat as...well, Elio.)

Yet, from what I heard, that ended up not happening, given people I spoke to who were said to have attended a test screening of Hoppers, months after that news was put in the press, said not only did the pro-environmentalist message stay in there, the audiences weren’t fazed by it. And they also said it was a strong movie that the audiences seemed into.

Plus, given what Pete Docter showed of that movie and what he described it to be at Annecy last weekend, it looks like the Hoppers crew won against Disney and got their way to keep the messaging/themes in the movie.

 

[DisneyWarrior27]

Shuler's comments aside, he doesn't control the box office nor the audience. So he can't predict how an audience will react to a particular movie. By all accounts Elio is good and has good audience scores, but so far audiences haven't show up. Now that may change in the coming weeks. But if it doesn't it doesn't matter how well a movie is made, if an audience doesn't show up the box office won't be good. Same with Hoppers.

This is the current state of the movie industry, its something that many have to face including studios.

Well they shouldn’t, especially since Sinners showed audiences will show up for original movies.

 

[Disney Irish]

Well they shouldn’t, especially since Sinners showed audiences will show up for original movies.

And that appears to be an exception rather than the rule. I wish people would stop using it as the holy grail example in these discussions as its a single movie not a change in audience habits. By and large original movies aren't finding an audience, original animation even less. You can always find one-off examples, but the trend by audiences are clear, we have over two decades of data to show that the movie going public that are willing shell out money for a theatrical experience is becoming less and less, and those that do go aren't paying for originals in a large enough way. Its why you see all studios, not just Disney, release sequels, reboots, prequels, etc. Audiences say they want originals, but then don't show up when they are released with only a few exceptions.

 

[Tha Realest]

You’re wrong to doubt Hoppers since at least that film will mark a special occasion for Pixar to mark celebrating their 30th feature film made in the year where they will also be celebrating their 40th Anniversary too.

“Hey honey, you want to see ‘Hoppers’?”

“I don’t know. The concept doesn’t excite me too much.”

“But dear — it’s Pixar’s 30th film.”

“Okay.” Grabs keys. “Want to get something to eat on the way?”

 

[Agent H]

I'm a theater janitor and worked Minecraft. I think that movie took a few years off my life between cleaning up and telling people to behave, haha.

We thank for your service.

 

[TalkingHead]

Disney's did a lot of damage to the Pixar brand by releasing so many originals specifically to Disney+

I think some people just assume Pixar original = Disney+ release now

I don’t think general audiences differentiate between WDAS and Pixar. How many people would think Encanto is Pixar or Elio is WDAS? That also speaks to the brand having lost considerable status.

 

[EagleScout610]

Saw it after work. It was better than expected, but nothing honestly stuck with me. Getting really sick of the Cal Art style, and while the background/sets looked good, the human designs threw me off.

☆☆☆

 

[EagleScout610]

“Hey honey, you want to see ‘Hoppers’?”

“I don’t know. The concept doesn’t excite me too much.”

“But dear — it’s Pixar’s 30th film.”

“Okay.” Grabs keys. “Want to get something to eat on the way?”

First movie to make 3B at the box office opening day confirmed

 

[easyrowrdw]

I blame Disney (mainly Iger and Ayaz) for that since they haven’t been letting Pixar cut their trailers for their movies in ages unlike how Disney Animation still cuts the trailers for their movies as we saw with the Zootopia 2 teaser.

They need to better market their movies and take back control of their marketing.

Interesting, I wasn’t familiar with that. I was also referring to the look of the movie, the animation style.

 

[DKampy]

I don’t think general audiences differentiate between WDAS and Pixar. How many people would think Encanto is Pixar or Elio is WDAS? That also speaks to the brand having lost considerable status.

Somebody at work( knowing I see most movies)ask me why would Disney release another live action only a couple of weeks after their last…. When I told them Snow White was released in March…. They said no…. The one with the dragons

 

[Disney Irish]

Somebody at work( knowing I see most movies)ask me why would Disney release another live action only a couple of weeks after their last…. When I told them Snow White was released in March…. They said no…. The one with the dragons

I think it’s true that some in the general public can’t tell the difference between Disney and Uni (and even WB) many times. It’s like hearing a guest asks a CM where Harry Potter Land is at a Disney Park.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ֊ᗩζᗩᗰ]

Saw it after work. It was better than expected, but nothing honestly stuck with me. Getting really sick of the Cal Art style, and while the background/sets looked good, the human designs threw me off.

☆☆☆

Re: Cal Art style. Started to creep in during The Good Dinosaur. Every consecutive Cal Art influenced movie has since suffered in some way. It's proving to be the death sigil of PIXAR. They need to address that. Leave the bean mouth, doe-eyed characters for a lower tier animation house.

Th rest of the visuals were stunning however. And I enjoyed the story.

 

[TalkingHead]

Somebody at work( knowing I see most movies)ask me why would Disney release another live action only a couple of weeks after their last…. When I told them Snow White was released in March…. They said no…. The one with the dragons

Won’t they be surprised when they go to Magic Kingdom and ask the CM where’s the Dragon land

 

[MisterPenguin]

Won’t they be surprised when they go to Magic Kingdom and ask the CM where’s the Dragon land

"Pandora is in Animal Kingdom."

 

[DKampy]

"Pandora is in Animal Kingdom."

You can buy charms in Animal Kingdom?

 

[BrianLo]

So from what I'm gathering, despite Elio not being a stink bomb, it is suffering the same fate as other animated sci-fi Disney has dealt-out in the past (Atlantis, Treasure Planet, Strange Planet...)

Other studios outside of Disney have also felt the negative results when mixing family animation with sci-fi (Titan A.E., Robots, and one of my all-time favorites which deserved SO much better than what $ it received... The Iron Giant)

I do think that’s part of it. No question, if this was an original Princess musical and it was received this well, it would be doing better.