Elemental (Pixar - June 2023)

DKampy

Well-Known Member
I’m not sure where $60M in “home entertainment” comes from, unless it was miraculously pulling in a bunch of digital sales in the week or two it was on those platforms before being shuttled off to D+

View attachment 735618
Not everybody has Disney Plus…. My brother does not and rented Lightyear… plus I am not sure but I am guessing it may have been available to rent before that at 19.99 while it was still in theaters
 

Tha Realest

Well-Known Member
Not everybody has Disney Plus…. My brother does not and rented Lightyear… plus I am not sure but I am guessing it may have been available to rent before that at 19.99 while it was still in theaters
A comparative juggernaut like Encanto (2021) made about $12.3M in home video sales. Its most comparable film is Moana, and it did $146M. The home physical market has dried up. It’s unclear how many people are “buying” it digitally, but it’s unlikely it makes up that difference.
 

DKampy

Well-Known Member
A comparative juggernaut like Encanto (2021) made about $12.3M in home video sales. Its most comparable film is Moana, and it did $146M. The home physical market has dried up. It’s unclear how many people are “buying” it digitally, but it’s unlikely it makes up that difference.
I do know a few people who have not gone back to theaters since the pandemic… and have preferred renting PVOD at $20 as soon as it’s available… I think the number might be larger than you think
 

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
I do know a few people who have not gone back to theaters since the pandemic… and have preferred renting PVOD at $20 as soon as it’s available… I think the number might be larger than you think
I agree. Many people today have better equipment than is available in theater so it makes sense to do PVOD or at least wait for Redbox. My home theater system is definitely better than our movie theater. When I saw Haunted Mansion in the theater, there was a treble echo in the front speakers. It is like they were out of sync. That would neve happen at home. At home I don't have listen to people talk the entire movie. The people next to next while I watched TMNT had brought a three year old to a 9pm showing. That kid was tired and cranky the entire time. I guess the parents really wanted to see the movie since they ignored the kid the entire time.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
I do know a few people who have not gone back to theaters since the pandemic…

Is it that crazy lady I see occasionally at Trader Joe's? The one pushing her cart around still wearing the N-95 mask covered by the useless cloth mask and the cheap plastic gloves she fished out of a box of Clairol ColorSilk hair dye?

Because if that's who you are referring to, I'm pretty sure the Hollywood film industry doesn't miss her that much.
 

DKampy

Well-Known Member
Is it that crazy lady I see occasionally at Trader Joe's? The one pushing her cart around still wearing the N-95 mask covered by the useless cloth mask and the cheap plastic gloves she fished out of a box of Clairol ColorSilk hair dye?

Because if that's who you are referring to, I'm pretty sure the Hollywood film industry doesn't miss her that much.
No…The people I know don’t wear masks anymore… But you really should not judge anyone if they feel safer wearing a mask… I do have a brother and Sister in law who still wear masks on occasion depending on the situation…you have no idea their experiences… I would of thought you as a gay man would understand
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
No…The people I know don’t wear masks anymore… But you really should not judge anyone if they feel safer wearing a mask… I do have a brother and Sister in law who still wear masks on occasion depending on the situation…you have no idea their experiences… I would of thought you as a gay man would understand

I have absolutely no idea what that last sentence was supposed to mean, but it still made me chuckle. So thanks for the chuckle. 🤣

But I'm assuming that was an HIV reference? We all gave up on hopes for an HIV vaccine back in the 1990's. But there were multiple versions of Covid vaccines released two and a half years ago. And it's been updated several times since then. And it's entirely free, and available at every supermarket pharmacy and Target and WalMart in America. Did I mention the free part?

If someone in 2023 hasn't been vaccinated against Covid yet, they've got bigger problems than selective mask wearing and roaming the aisles of Trader Joe's wearing cheesy plastic gloves they fished out of a box of Clairol. :rolleyes:

As for Elemental, as of this past weekend's updated box office data, it has now lost only $101 Million for Disney.

Elemental Losses.jpg
 

DKampy

Well-Known Member
I have absolutely no idea what that last sentence was supposed to mean, but it still made me chuckle. So thanks for the chuckle. 🤣

But I'm assuming that was an HIV reference? We all gave up on hopes for an HIV vaccine back in the 1990's. But there were multiple versions of Covid vaccines released two and a half years ago. And it's been updated several times since then. And it's entirely free, and available at every supermarket pharmacy and Target and WalMart in America. Did I mention the free part?

If someone in 2023 hasn't been vaccinated against Covid yet, they've got bigger problems than selective mask wearing and roaming the aisles of Trader Joe's wearing cheesy plastic gloves they fished out of a box of Clairol. :rolleyes:

As for Elemental, as of this past weekend's updated box office data, it has now lost only $101 Million for Disney.
No not an HIV reference…I was referring to your judgement of others without knowing them….with all the bigotry in this world I would of assumed you have felt that before as the gay man you are but maybe I am wrong…I guess that’s judging and I try not judge a book by it’s cover…even you I will take your word that you are gay despite your leanings on a particular side
 

drizgirl

Well-Known Member
No not an HIV reference…I was referring to your judgement of others without knowing them….with all the bigotry in this world I would of assumed you have felt that before as the gay man you are but maybe I am wrong…I guess that’s judging and I try not judge a book by it’s cover…even you I will take your word that you are gay despite your leanings on a particular side
Damn.
 

wtyy21

Well-Known Member
More noticeable for Elemental is, the number of overseas box office of Elemental now surpassing the overseas BO numbers for TLM. Oppenheimer overseas Box office numbers also surpassed TLM overseas numbers as well.

1. Elemental Overseas Box office: $276.5 million
2. The Little Mermaid Overseas Box office: $269.5 million
3. Oppenheimer Overseas Box office: $327.7 million


This is significant achievement for Elemental, despite having the worst opening weekend for Pixar history. We also note that in many countries in East Asia, Elemental had better box office performance than live-action remake of TLM, giving the backlash regarding Ariel's casting there. Even in Japan, the film received higher approval from the audience.

IMG_20230808_081402.jpg
IMG_20230808_081346.jpg

IMG_20230808_081444.jpg
 

WoundedDreamer

Well-Known Member

Disney's PR spin machine is trying to change the narrative. No harm in that. I'd do the same thing. But it's worth putting Elemental into context. Let's look at Pixar's inflation-adjusted global grosses. These numbers do not include any rereleases and I've chosen to omit Turning Red, Onward, Soul, and Luca. Elemental is not finished yet, but let's compare the gross so far. Here is the chart:
Pixar Grosses.png


The black bar is the average performance for all the Pixar films. You can see that Elemental is well below their typical box-office performance. Now, a rebuttal to this chart is the fact that I've included sequels. How does Elemental compare to other Pixar initial releases?
Pixar Originals .png


Again, Elemental is one of the weakest original Pixar films of all time. Its performance is well below the average for an original Pixar release. Interestingly, Elemental's current gross is almost exactly the same as the inflation-adjusted gross of The Good Dinosaur. The Good Dinosaur grossed 428 million in 2023 dollars. By contrast, Elemental has so far earned 425 million 2023 dollars. What was the industry consensus surrounding The Good Dinosaur? From The Hollywood Reporter:

"‘Good Dinosaur’: Analyzing Pixar’s First Box-Office Disaster"​

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/good-dinosaur-analyzing-pixars-first-857317/

"Pixar to ‘keep swimming’ after ‘Good Dinosaur’ falls short at box office"​

https://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/30/pix...-good-dinosaur-falls-short-at-box-office.html

"The Good Dinosaur Poised to Be Pixar's First Box Office Bust"​

https://www.ign.com/articles/2015/12/07/the-good-dinosaur-poised-to-be-pixars-first-box-office-bust

The pressure is on for Elemental to escape the same category as "The Good Dinosaur." Does Elemental have another two hundred million in it? That seems doubtful. And the best-case scenario would see it still being one of the worst-performing Pixar original films of all time. Not an especially illustrious title.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
No not an HIV reference…I was referring to your judgement of others without knowing them….with all the bigotry in this world I would of assumed you have felt that before as the gay man you are but maybe I am wrong.

The bigotry I endured in the 1960's and 70's and 80's wasn't just real, it was all legal. I was not just a national security threat that must be eliminated from government service and prosecuted by law, I was also disinvited from my families mainstream Protestant church. (A church in downtown Seattle that still exists and that now has rainbow flags on its website, which tells you how much they worry about keeping the collection plates full nowadays. Did God change his mind, or did the stylish liberals running the church change their mind?).

In the latter 20th century I got passed up for several key promotions and my bosses openly said things like "We were looking for a family man" to fill the job, which is code for "We didn't want some gay guy doing this job and representing the company, we needed a normal guy with a wife."

But that is history now. The world moved on. And I moved with it, and gained a great sense of humor as a defense to it.

I guess that’s judging and I try not judge a book by it’s cover…even you I will take your word that you are gay despite your leanings on a particular side

If you think that gay people are only allowed to believe in big government and Socialism and pretending XY and XX chromosomes don't exist, I don't know what to tell you. Because many of us are of the same mind. I know that's a fact, because I still get invited to their dinner parties. ;)
 
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Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
Disney's PR spin machine is trying to change the narrative. No harm in that. I'd do the same thing. But it's worth putting Elemental into context. Let's look at Pixar's inflation-adjusted global grosses. These numbers do not include any rereleases and I've chosen to omit Turning Red, Onward, Soul, and Luca. Elemental is not finished yet, but let's compare the gross so far. Here is the chart:View attachment 736156

The black bar is the average performance for all the Pixar films. You can see that Elemental is well below their typical box-office performance. Now, a rebuttal to this chart is the fact that I've included sequels. How does Elemental compare to other Pixar initial releases? View attachment 736154

Again, Elemental is one of the weakest original Pixar films of all time. Its performance is well below the average for an original Pixar release. Interestingly, Elemental's current gross is almost exactly the same as the inflation-adjusted gross of The Good Dinosaur. The Good Dinosaur grossed 428 million in 2023 dollars. By contrast, Elemental has so far earned 425 million 2023 dollars. What was the industry consensus surrounding The Good Dinosaur? From The Hollywood Reporter:

"‘Good Dinosaur’: Analyzing Pixar’s First Box-Office Disaster"​

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/good-dinosaur-analyzing-pixars-first-857317/

"Pixar to ‘keep swimming’ after ‘Good Dinosaur’ falls short at box office"​

https://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/30/pix...-good-dinosaur-falls-short-at-box-office.html

"The Good Dinosaur Poised to Be Pixar's First Box Office Bust"​

https://www.ign.com/articles/2015/12/07/the-good-dinosaur-poised-to-be-pixars-first-box-office-bust

The pressure is on for Elemental to escape the same category as "The Good Dinosaur." Does Elemental have another two hundred million in it? That seems doubtful. And the best-case scenario would see it still being one of the worst-performing Pixar original films of all time. Not an especially illustrious title.
I think the narrative around Elemental is not that it has been a box office smash, but that it has been a 'rebuilding' film for Pixar.

Good Dinosaur came out at a time when the Pixar name seemed to guarantee huge box office which helped get it a solid opening weekend, but it failed to connect to audiences and quickly fell away. Elemental is coming out in an entirely different context of several films going straight to streaming, the box office being general depressed, and follows a high-profile flop in Lightyear. The fact this opened apparently disastrously small but has held better at the box office than any Pixar film since Toy Story suggests that if the film is good enough it can find an audience. It also suggests there is still a market for original stories. In that context, I think the film has escaped the "Good Dinosaur" category of Pixar misfires.

At any rate, I would rather take that away than suggest Pixar is done for and should be closed or concentrate on churning out sequels.
 

DCBaker

Premium Member
Original Poster
From a new interview at Variety with Pixar’s president Jim Morris.

Will “Elemental” be profitable?

We have a lot of different revenue streams, but at the box office we’re looking at now, it should do better than break even theatrically. And then we have revenue from streaming, theme parks and consumer products. This will certainly be a profitable film for the Disney company.

Is there a way to make these kinds of movies at a lower price point?

That’s a constant question. One of the ways you make these films for less money, and almost all of our competitors do this, is to do work offshore. It’s only us and Disney Animation that makes animation films in the U.S. anymore with all of the artists under one roof. We feel like having a colony of artists approach has differentiated our films. We hope to find a path to make that work. “Elemental” was particularly expensive because all the characters have visual effects. We had been getting the film costs down.

The other thing I’ll say about our film budgets is that our whole company exists only to make these films. So when we say a budget, that is everything it takes to run the whole company. Sometimes, the budgets get reported are physical production costs offshore and don’t include the salaries of executives and things like that. Our budgets include all of that, so there’s some accounting context that gets lost. But that doesn’t mean they’re not expensive.

Full interview below.

 

Disney Analyst

Well-Known Member
From a new interview at Variety with Pixar’s president Jim Morris.

Will “Elemental” be profitable?

We have a lot of different revenue streams, but at the box office we’re looking at now, it should do better than break even theatrically. And then we have revenue from streaming, theme parks and consumer products. This will certainly be a profitable film for the Disney company.

Is there a way to make these kinds of movies at a lower price point?

That’s a constant question. One of the ways you make these films for less money, and almost all of our competitors do this, is to do work offshore. It’s only us and Disney Animation that makes animation films in the U.S. anymore with all of the artists under one roof. We feel like having a colony of artists approach has differentiated our films. We hope to find a path to make that work. “Elemental” was particularly expensive because all the characters have visual effects. We had been getting the film costs down.

The other thing I’ll say about our film budgets is that our whole company exists only to make these films. So when we say a budget, that is everything it takes to run the whole company. Sometimes, the budgets get reported are physical production costs offshore and don’t include the salaries of executives and things like that. Our budgets include all of that, so there’s some accounting context that gets lost. But that doesn’t mean they’re not expensive.

Full interview below.


Some intriguing insight.
 

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