While we wait for the film to open this weekend, here's an article mentioned in another thread. Yahoo News (yes, a ridiculous example of "news", but that's the state of journalism today all over) predicts that Elemental will bring in $600 Million in domestic box office. Not a typo. $600 Million, from just the theaters in the USA, not including global box office.
The summary from the article is mostly wishful pablum (again, "journalism" today), but that very last sentence is a doozy. What if, and some folks here should sit down for this, Elemental does even
worse than Lightyear? What then?
7. 'Elemental' — $600 million
Could this be a rebound summer for Pixar? The animation studio had a rough season last year, as its
Toy Story spinoff
Lightyear wildly disappointed with a disastrous $226 million worldwide haul. If part of the reason for that was that audiences were conditioned during the pandemic to wait and watch Pixar movies on Disney+, then the studio's next film,
Elemental, could also be in trouble. But if
Lightyear's failure was specific to issues with that movie and its confusing "the real Buzz Lightyear that the toy is based on" hook, then
Elemental could see the studio bounce back. Set in a city where the elements of fire, water, land, and air live together, it looks like sort of a cross between
Inside Out and
Zootopia, both of which were huge hits, as the former grossed $858 million and the latter took in $1 billion.
But if Elemental performs closer to Lightyear, some soul-searching about the state of the Pixar brand will be in order.
Which beloved franchise will prevail?
news.yahoo.com