Elio (Pixar - June 2025)

[MoonRakerSCM]

Posted this take in another thread

I had a long drive the other day from a job site. In the podcast playlist, somewhere between Fresno and Merced, there was a guy talking about how Elio is horrible from a cinematography point of view and from a technical point of view is made by amatuers who do not know basic aspects of film making. They were saying that while the story is fine and it may be liked by people, the film at its core is flawed and has nothing to draw people in. They went into how this appears to be the results of the studio 'purging' the older storytellers in preference of young bucks who are still green in their career. I'll try to find in the list who was blabbing about it.

 

[Andrew C]

Except it is, based on audience scores.

The question isn't of quality, but rather why aren't people showing up. And that is a larger question that has been discussed in the main box office thread a bunch. The TLDR, its much easier to wait for these original movies to be available at home rather than to spend a small fortune for a family to take a trip to the theater.

Yes. Not good enough to get people into the theaters. Doesn’t generate enough excitement for people to want to pay. That’s a lack of quality you can’t blame directly on streaming, which I know is the easy answer.

Compared to the excitement Pixar used to generate. It’s like night and day.

 

[Disney Irish]

Yes. Not good enough to get people into the theaters. Doesn’t generate enough excitement for people to want to pay. That’s a lack of quality you can’t blame directly on streaming, which I know is the easy answer.

Compared to the excitement Pixar used to generate. It’s like night and day.

Except this isn't in a vacuum and not just isolated to Pixar.

Lets take this weekends movie, F1, an original and by all accounts a really good movie, both high critics and audience scores (just like Elio). And yet, while it is #1 for the weekend only brought in $55M. That isn't a huge haul for a movie these days, not compared to many of the blockbuster franchises of the last decade or so. And especially not compared to its budget of $300M. The long and short, so far few have showed up for it. Now that may change in the coming weeks, but doubt it not with a bunch of franchise movies coming out to flood the market.

Original movies are just not packing them in the theaters like in eras past. And its not due to quality, at least not in most cases, sure you can say that about some, but this is a systemic issue that is affecting the whole industry. You have a few that break through, like Sinners, but by and large originals are just not getting butts in seats.

Why spend money on seeing an original movie that may or may not be to ones liking when you can see it at home for "free" and instead spend money on a franchise that you at least know what you're going to get for the most part. That is what is happening.

 

[Andrew C]

Except this isn't in a vacuum and not just isolated to Pixar.

Lets take this weekends movie, F1, an original and by all accounts a really good movie, both high critics and audience scores (just like Elio). And yet, while it is #1 for the weekend only brought in $55M. That isn't a huge haul for a movie these days, not compared to many of the blockbuster franchises of the last decade or so. And especially not compared to its budget of $300M. The long and short, so far few have showed up for it. Now that may change in the coming weeks, but doubt it not with a bunch of franchise movies coming out to flood the market.

Original movies are just not packing them in the theaters like in eras past. And its not due to quality, at least not in most cases, sure you can say that about some, but this is a systemic issue that is affecting the whole industry. You have a few that break through, like Sinners, but by and large originals are just not getting butts in seats.

Why spend money on seeing an original movie that may or may not be to ones liking when you can see it at home for "free" and instead spend money on a franchise that you at least know what you're going to get for the most part. That is what is happening.

I’m sure this is an opinion Pixar likes to hear, as it takes all the responsibility for failures off them. “Worst Pixar opening ever? Ehh, it’s just streaming..of course this stacks up to the earlier Pixar films. It’s the fault of the audience.”

Or, maybe at least some of it is Pixar and a chunk of Hollywood forgot how to make a good film.

They arent going to change until they own their failures.

 

[Disney Irish]

I’m sure this is an opinion Pixar likes to hear, as it takes all the responsibility for failures off them. “Worst Pixar opening ever? Ehh, it’s just streaming..of course this stacks up to the earlier Pixar films. It’s the fault of the audience.”

Or, maybe at least some of it is Pixar and a chunk of Hollywood forgot how to make a good film.

They arent going to change until they own their failures.

Sure, Hollywood forgot how to make a good film. Lets go with that.

Also I'm not saying that Pixar or any studio for that matter shouldn't take responsibility for their errors. But only when the critic and audience scores back that up. When both are positive that by all accounts is a good film. So then the question isn't of quality at that point its something else.

People like to stick their head in the sand and just blame the studios and "quality", and I get it because its easy and doesn't take a hard look at the industry or the audience. But then I say don't be surprised when studios end up giving you more of the same "crap".

 

[TsWade2]

Sure, Hollywood forgot how to make a good film. Lets go with that.

Also I'm not saying that Pixar or any studio for that matter shouldn't take responsibility for their errors. But only when the critic and audience scores back that up. When both are positive that by all accounts is a good film. So then the question isn't of quality at that point its something else.

People like to stick their head in the sand and just blame the studios and "quality", and I get it because its easy and doesn't take a hard look at the industry or the audience. But then I say don't be surprised when studios end up giving you more of the same "crap".

Oh, give Pixar some time. They’ll get better. Especially Gatto coming Summer 2027. Besides, despite of Elio being a somewhat flop, they’re ahead of the game.

 

[Disney Irish]

Oh, give Pixar some time. They’ll get better. Especially Gatto coming Summer 2027. Besides, despite of Elio being a somewhat flop, they’re ahead of the game.

I've liked their stuff, others may not, but I haven't had an issue with any movie they released. Even Lightyear I didn't have an issue with, as if you remove the thin Toy Story connection its a good SciFi animated movie over all.

But this isn't about my personal taste in movies. This is about the whole movie industry and not just a single Pixar movie.

 

[TsWade2]

I've liked their stuff, others may not, but I haven't had an issue with any movie they released. Even Lightyear I didn't have an issue with, as if you remove the thin Toy Story connection its a good SciFi animated movie over all.

But this isn't about my personal taste in movies. This is about the whole movie industry and not just a single Pixar movie.

Well, at least I didn’t say it’s the end of Pixar.

 

[EagleScout610]

Being in the Top 3 isn’t too shabby, dude.

This was another relatively dead weekend. Just wait until next week when the big hits start coming

 

[mickEblu]

Just saw it. I thought it was good. Had some heart. Didn’t lose my attention which happens often with modern animated films. I blame Elio’s poor results on a release date that didn’t do it any favors and lackluster trailers. With that said, I’m not sure how much they could have improved the trailer. On the surface, it wasn’t appealing to the masses but most importantly it wasn’t appealing enough for kids. Quite simply the story/ concept/ characters are not enticing enough to get butts in seats. I thought the movie was good but personally I would have preferred either an E.T style movie or one where Elio was taken against his will and taken to some mysterious place. The space setting while pretty just felt tired.

My original thoughts when seeing the Communiverse and some of the characters was that it felt like an alien version of heaven from “Soul.” In short Elio is an original movie but on the surface it didn’t look original enough. That’s a bad place to be in the Sequel Era of today. Now add the fact that you don’t have any minions or trolls to sell the kids on and what you got? A boy with an eye patch, some aliens blobs and a worm version of Emperor Zurg? I thought the Elio Glordon story arc was cute but I can only feel so much empathy for something without eyes.

 

[Disney Irish]

When two people are going to see a film, those scores don’t mean anything.

If you really believe their recent films are at the level of their earlier films, there is no conversation to be had. And you accuse others of putting their heads in the sand?

Sure only two people went and saw Elio and reviewed it.

Just by comments here a majority that saw it thought it was good. So if you don’t accept the reviews, at least accept your fellow posters who saw it.

 

[Andrew C]

Sure only two people went and saw Elio and reviewed it.

Just by comments here a majority that saw it thought it was good. So if you don’t accept the reviews, at least accept your fellow posters who saw it.

Is it their worst opening for a Pixar film of all time?

 

[Disney Irish]

Is it their worst opening for a Pixar film of all time?

And? Can there not be multiple things going on besides it being a “quality” issue? Or are you so focused on it being solely a “quality” issue that you can’t see anything else?

 

[Andrew C]

And? Can there not be multiple things going on besides it being a “quality” issue? Or are you so focused on it being solely a “quality” issue that you can’t see anything else?

Yes! There can be!! Which is why I don’t know why you’re so insistent on putting the blame on streaming. Steaming does cause their largest flop. That occurs when Pixar fails. And this isn’t a one-off for them either.

 

[Disney Irish]

Yes! There can be!! Which is why I don’t know why you’re so insistent on putting the blame on streaming. Steaming does cause their largest flop. That occurs when Pixar fails. And this isn’t a one-off for them either.

Are you confusing me with someone else? Or are you not actually reading what I post and just making an assumption. Where did I blame or say it was solely a streaming issue? All I said was that audiences just aren't willing to spend money on original movies in theaters for the most part right now. And that they are more willing to wait until they can see it at home. That is not blaming streaming, that is just acknowledging where audiences are watching these movies.

There are a BUNCH of factors at play here, quality just being a small part to a larger market trend that is happening. There is a systemic issue happening that maybe you don't want to talk about but it is happening, where the whole industry is changing. I've been trying to have this discussion for a long time largely falling on deaf ears for most of that time, and its only now people are starting to see what I've been talking about. Heck even theater owners have started to now publicly speak about it. This isn't just about a few Pixar movies that haven't done well, this is a complete shift in the whole movie going experience. And if you don't want to discuss that, that is fine. But don't think that just because you don't want to accept or discuss it doesn't mean its not happening.

In the end this movie will do what it will do in theaters and when it moves its way to the home market it'll likely been seen by more people and acknowledge that its a pretty good movie.

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

Took a look into the boxoffice situation for Elio... yeesh. Hastag it’s Eliover.

 

[Disney Irish]

Yes! There can be!! Which is why I don’t know why you’re so insistent on putting the blame on streaming. Steaming does cause their largest flop. That occurs when Pixar fails. And this isn’t a one-off for them either.

BTW, didn't Pixar just have the highest grossing animated movie of all time last year? With a sequel no less. So yeah continue to tell me that its just about Pixar failing and quality issues.

 

[Disney Irish]

Took a look into the boxoffice situation for Elio... yeesh. Hastag it’s Eliover.

The conversation isn't about whether Elio will turn into a box office hit, obviously its unlikely it will. The conversation is about trying to diagnose the why it happened.

If you just want to blame quality, then there is nothing to discuss. But I like others think there is a larger issue happening with original content.

 

[Andrew C]

BTW, didn't Pixar just have the highest grossing animated movie of all time last year? With a sequel no less. So yeah continue to tell me that its just about Pixar failing and quality issues.

Beloved characters established in 2015. Struggling to think of any characters that are still impactful today that occurred after..coco? They just don’t resonate.

 

[Disney Irish]

Beloved characters established in 2015. Struggling to think of any characters that are still impactful today that occurred after..coco? They just don’t resonate.

So that it then, nothing else. The other characters just don't resonate anymore? No other factors? That seems to be overly simplistic and reductive if you ask me.