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Elio probably does have a lot to worry about from other movies that have some appeal to kids, even if they aren't "kids' movies", over the next few weeks: Jurassic World - Rebirth, Superman, even Fantastic Four - First Steps, given Disney's probably going to move straight on to promoting that...

Halloween was interesting last year because while I did see a fair deal of Disney costumes on kids, they were ones like Stitch, Moana, and Red from Descendants, and the last might have been the most popular of that subset! There were also a surprising number of girls already dressing as Glinda...

Bluey offhand might be the last really big piece of "new" kids' media to take off in merchandising. I can remember back in 2020 how there was only a limited amount of merch available that was in high demand, and now, there's plenty of it (though not as much as a Disney-backed series probably...

Yeah, Moana 2 had a pretty modest selection of new toys and such - although that may have stemmed from it not originally being intended for theaters and the deals for new merch having to be inked late in the game. Again, I think Wish's failure really spooked them in this regard, because they...

Well, there wasn't a big bump for merchandise sales for Lightyear or Wish when they hit physical media/streaming, so I think Disney might be hedging their bets these days when it comes to anything that they absolutely don't see as a "known" quantity like Lilo & Stitch is.

ShopDisney.com only has one plastic figure playset and three T-shirts on offer for Elio. Either Disney Corporate knew they had a stinker that wasn't worth merchandising with this movie, or they are still smarting over the disastrous performance of the Lightyear and Wish merchandise. What a shame.

Generally, August is when studios release either stuff they need to get off the table but are too expensive to just dump in January/February or September, or titles that they're not absolutely sure will be blockbusters but are good enough to become word-of-mouth hits. (The Sixth Sense was an...

I'm surprised anybody would have made a claim like that. HTTYD 2.0 was always going to be the potential Elio killer. Regarding the marketing for Elio going into next weekend, I agree that it hasn't been particularly inspired, but moviegoing kids and their parents/guardians surely have seen the...

I think a big problem for Disney, Pixar, and North American animation studios in general is that science fiction had been pretty well-covered by live-action filmmakers (and animators elsewhere, such as in France and most famously Japan) well before they got into the genre. Wall-E was the only...

Also, early social media reactions from people who were invited to the premiere are rarely allowed to be negative. Studios like Disney pretty much prohibit negative commentary until after the professional review embargo drops (and it hasn't yet on this one). I remember how the first social media...

Finally saw the final trailer for Elio and it came off as cutesier and sappier than I expected it to be, and I have to wonder about releasing it just a month after the Lilo & Stitch remake with that and the general "wacky kids and aliens" hijinks going on in both. I don't doubt L&S will be huge...

Yeah, given how badly The Marvels, Wish and the Snow White remake did - and they did next to nothing to directly appeal to boys in the advertising (aside from the general assumption that boys liked MCU movies and...I dunno, the butt joke involving Valentino?) - I wouldn't be surprised if future...

I checked ShopDisney.com and very, very little remake-specific merchandise has been produced for it. Like Wish eventually got you can buy $100+ collector-oriented fashion dolls of Snow and the Evil Queen, some upmarket jewelry -- most of the collection seems intended strictly for adults. I do...

And in between those, Wish just came up short of $255 million total, because there was a fair deal of international interest compared to the truly miserable North American take (which Snow White has already beat in two weeks). If it weren't for how well the Inside Out and Moana sequels did...

The professional reviews I've seen (which cover the first 5 episodes of 8) have been middle-of-the-road leaning on positive, but not great. And as it turns out, the shadow of the changes they made to episode 7 hangs over the reception because the whole theme of the show is the idea that each...

To paraphrase a famous MCU line, you think we're the only country with blockbuster animated features and sequels? ;) (Also, it opened over Chinese New Year, THE big moviegoing time of year in the region.)

I'm not sure where they could push Elio to. The week after the new date isn't crowded, but would give it just 5 days to make bank before Jurassic World Rebirth opens, then Superman opens the weekend after that. Pushing it all the way to the 18th of July puts it just one week before Fantastic...

The first Ne Zha film was a massive hit, not unlike Moana - so it's not surprising that a sequel would do even better with its fans financially at least!

Another issue besides it coming out just two weeks after Superman is that the big July 4th weekend release is Jurassic World Rebirth. The Jurassic Park/World franchise has been a quietly reliable money-spinner, and bad reviews for the recent installments didn't hinder that. I can see both...

Elemental was hobbled at the starting gate because it opened directly against The Flash (which wasn't a rising tide that lifted all boats), and Wish couldn't hold its own against the second weekend of Trolls Band Together. Right now, Disney Corporate isn't going to be taking any chances...