Elemental (Pixar - June 2023)

erasure fan1

Well-Known Member
I think the notable point is they are in fact stepping in and it’s being dismissed. Though I’d argue it’s worded weirdly and I’d personally buy that it isn’t theatrically profitable but is post theatrically with planned projected revenue this year
I'd say theatrical profitability hasn't been dismissed. I quoted the same thing above, and it seems they are saying it will be profitable with their other revenue streams. And that's fine. But according to that article, it is not profitable right now at the theater. And that's been the back and forth. That said, this is a film I can see becoming profitable over the next few years. Some of the others, may take 30 or 40yrs. Lol
 

BrianLo

Well-Known Member
I'd say theatrical profitability hasn't been dismissed. I quoted the same thing above, and it seems they are saying it will be profitable with their other revenue streams. And that's fine. But according to that article, it is not profitable right now at the theater. And that's been the back and forth. That said, this is a film I can see becoming profitable over the next few years. Some of the others, may take 30 or 40yrs. Lol

Oh I have no doubts for total profitability, on a much shorter timeframe than that. D+ programming receipts will probably be around 120million. Maybe more if it hits there.

There’s also a quite bit more buzz than the likes of Lightyear for merch and home release.

I agree his comment does throw me also slightly off. Perhaps he is using the projected 460 million that is also quoted in the article.
 

Disney Irish

Premium Member
The only thing I've seen from Disney on this film was from Morris. He said

“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,”

The key word is should, and like I said, maybe it will. But it's not there yet. If Disney comes out and says the film was profitable, then great. I just think that if all these numbers were so off, Disney would come out and correct them. Or at least clarify. Especially since box office profitability has been the biggest thorn in their side.
And I agree based on the wording, its not a clear and makes it seem like its not there yet. However my point still remains, they have access to numbers we don't. In that same article it was also explained the difference in their budgets versus other studios:

"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 [for other films] that get reported are physical production costs 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. "

So again the reported budget for films like Elemental aren't just production costs. So when you take away all the other operational expenses to the real production costs it makes the profitability conversation a whole lot different. So you go from a $200M report budget down to something more reasonable like $125M-$150M. We all heard the rumors that Disney padded and bloated their budgets with "extra" stuff, and now we have an executive actually saying.

So take it for what you will, but to me Elemental has moved into the profitability conversation. I know some will still use the "rule of thumb" estimates and keep touting it lost money. It is what is it.
 

Disney Irish

Premium Member
Oh I have no doubts for total profitability, on a much shorter timeframe than that. D+ programming receipts will probably be around 120million. Maybe more if it hits there.

There’s also a quite bit more buzz than the likes of Lightyear for merch and home release.

I agree his comment does throw me also slightly off. Perhaps he is using the projected 460 million that is also quoted in the article.
We already know that Parks has licensed the characters, as they put both Ember and Wade in the Pixar Hotel. So its already making revenue beyond theatrical.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Yes I understand what the "rule of thumb" estimations get you, though I believe your calculations are slightly off as the "numbers" hasn't properly updated for international.

No, that's incorrect. The Numbers site has updated almost all nations box office as of 8/14/23, as it always updates the overseas box office on a Monday night, or Tuesday afternoon at the latest.

Elemental is now two months old, having opened in most overseas markets back on June 15th or the 22nd. It's August 16th today.

The only countries that haven't reported in lately are Croatia, India, and Indonesia. All three of those were miniscule markets for Elemental, so you aren't going to suddenly get the India number to jump up from $443,000 to $5 Million.

The overseas numbers for Elemental are complete and solid, after two months in theaters. And the 40% box office take is the most optimistic of scenarios, as that's what a studio gets in the initial first few weeks. After two months in theaters, the studio gets even less of the box office take than it did when the movie was new. This is also at play in American box office stats.

But to make the studios look as good as possible, we just stick with a flat 60%/40% box office take for these numbers.

Numbers Overseas.jpg


 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
We already know that Parks has licensed the characters, as they put both Ember and Wade in the Pixar Hotel. So its already making revenue beyond theatrical.

There's an Ember character cocktail table firepit that was recently placed by the pool at the Pixar Place Hotel. I have a similar cocktail table firepit hooked up to the backyard propane system on my beach house patio, and it cost a fortune. So I can only imagine how much it costs to make a custom built Pixar character version.

How does spending $5,000 on this (admittedly clever because she's a fiery gal) table at a hotel pool make revenue beyond theatrical?

First-Day-Finding-Nemo-Themed-Water-Play-Area-at-Disneys-Paradise-Pier-Hotel-7-768x1024.jpg
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
The only thing I've seen from Disney on this film was from Morris. He said

“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,”

The key word is should, and like I said, maybe it will. But it's not there yet. If Disney comes out and says the film was profitable, then great. I just think that if all these numbers were so off, Disney would come out and correct them. Or at least clarify. Especially since box office profitability has been the biggest thorn in their side.

Exactly. It's a forward looking statement on hoped for profitability.

If it had already made a profit, he would have used past tense instead, like "but at the box office we're looking at now, it did better than break even theatrically".

Or if it was so close that they were just waiting for the overseas results to come in on Monday to put them over the top, he would have used present tense, like "but at the box office we're looking at now, we will break even theatrically".

Instead, he used a future tense of "should break even", at some unstated future date. Maybe if it hits $460 Million globally?
 

Disney Irish

Premium Member
No, that's incorrect. The Numbers site has updated almost all nations box office as of 8/14/23, as it always updates the overseas box office on a Monday night, or Tuesday afternoon at the latest.

Elemental is now two months old, having opened in most overseas markets back on June 15th or the 22nd. It's August 16th today.

The only countries that haven't reported in lately are Croatia, India, and Indonesia. All three of those were miniscule markets for Elemental, so you aren't going to suddenly get the India number to jump up from $443,000 to $5 Million.

The overseas numbers for Elemental are complete and solid, after two months in theaters. And the 40% box office take is the most optimistic of scenarios, as that's what a studio gets in the initial first few weeks. After two months in theaters, the studio gets even less of the box office take than it did when the movie was new. This is also at play in American box office stats.

But to make the studios look as good as possible, we just stick with a flat 60%/40% box office take for these numbers.

View attachment 738046

Might want to double check that my friend.

South Korea, Australia, and Taiwan have added $2.5M more than Numbers last updates, for a total of $444.5M.

So no its not done in international markets.

Australia Jun 15, 2023 $11,254,353
South Korea Jun 14, 2023 $50,491,654
Taiwan Jul 6, 2023 $2,991,334


The Numbers is slower in their international updates than Box Office Mojo, which is why everyone in the industry pretty much uses Box Office Mojo. I'm sure that Numbers will update their rest of their international numbers tomorrow and you'll see it'll match.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Might want to double check that my friend.
South Korea, Australia, and Taiwan have added $2.5M more than Numbers last updates, for a total of $444.5M.

Australia Jun 15, 2023 $11,254,353
South Korea Jun 14, 2023 $50,491,654
Taiwan Jul 6, 2023 $2,991,334

The Numbers site has Australia at 11,017,056 as of 8/16, or a difference of $237,297.

The Numbers site has South Korea at $48,756,648 as of 8/16, or a difference of $1,753,006

The Numbers site has Taiwan at $2,991,334 as of 8/14, so no difference with Box Office Mojo.


Taiwan Box Office, But Don't Let Beijing Catch You Saying That.jpg


The data difference of $1.97 Million from the South Korean and Australian box office in the past 24 hours is not going to suddenly make Elemental profitable. If it would, they wouldn't have to use future tense statements to hope the movie will make a profit theatrically.

The Numbers is slower in their international updates than Box Office Mojo, which is why everyone in the industry pretty much uses Box Office Mojo. I'm sure that Numbers will update their rest of their international numbers tomorrow and you'll see it'll match.

You aren't in the industry. I'm not in the industry. None of us are in the industry.

You are a kid in a studio apartment in San Jose, and I'm just an old guy on a patio in La Jolla. We're all just hanging out in a silly little fan forum, so let's not pretend that any of us are that cool. You can Google just as well as the next poster or three. ;)
 

Disney Irish

Premium Member
The Numbers site has Australia at 11,017,056 as of 8/16, or a difference of $237,297.

The Numbers site has South Korea at $48,756,648 as of 8/16, or a difference of $1,753,006

The Numbers site has Taiwan at $2,991,334 as of 8/14, so no difference with Box Office Mojo.


View attachment 738048

The data difference of $1.97 Million from the South Korean and Australian box office in the past 24 hours is not going to suddenly make Elemental profitable. If it would, they wouldn't have to use future tense statements to hope the movie will make a profit theatrically.



You aren't in the industry. I'm not in the industry. None of us are in the industry.

You are a kid in a studio apartment in San Jose, and I'm just an old guy on a patio in La Jolla. We're all just hanging out in a silly little fan forum, so let's not pretend that any of us are that cool. You can Google just as well as the next poster or three. ;)
Sorry about Taiwan, I did a quick look and it looked different. But that doesn't change the point, there is still a difference of $2.49M. The Numbers I'm sure will be updating those other international regions later today or tomorrow.

South Korea is the important one here, as they can't get enough of Elemental.

Also I'm not a kid, and I have a house.
 

Disney Irish

Premium Member
Sorry, thought you were talking about Disney. SPARX* has worked with Disney since the 90s (in some cases, via shows produced for Disney, not by Disney).
Though funny enough some of their credits include Illumination films, so I guess they do use animators from Vietnam too....

Maybe Disney should start using them more to bring down animation costs.
 

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