Elemental (Pixar - June 2023)

[TP2000]

Isn’t it a bit intellectually dishonest to lump Burbank and Emeryville together—I’m using your terminology here—while omitting the other divisions of the Walt Disney Company from your gloomy assessment? Why don’t the recent Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy films count?

I was lumping "Family Animation" into one group. That's Pixar and WDAS.

Marvel is something entirely different, with an entirely different demographic (13 to 30 year old men and a few of their very patient dates).

Avatar is, well, that's James Cameron. And he's so out there he is his own demographic, but it's basically an action/drama mega-movie for anyone 15 to 65. I even know a few folks over 65 who went to see Avatar 2, but they knew to turn their hearing aids down during the previews.

But family animation, that's something Disney built it's entire brand on. Walt got the ball rolling, but they had more financial success with it long after Walt in the 1980's, 90's and 00's. They were so successful, for a time they had two independent animation studios 400 miles apart making slightly different yet wildly successful box office movies for the same family demographic. Pixar and WDAS.

Judging on the past few years though, they've now got two independent studios 400 miles apart making nearly indistinguishable movies that continue to flop at the box office.

Elemental needs to not flop.

I'm rooting for it, if only because of Miss Catherine O'Hara, who I've been a huge fan of since Jimmy Carter was in the White House and my TV had a UHF dial that got Canadian stations because I was so close to the border.

 

[TP2000]

Isn’t it a bit intellectually dishonest to lump Burbank and Emeryville together—I’m using your terminology here—while omitting the other divisions of the Walt Disney Company from your gloomy assessment? Why don’t the recent Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy films count?

One other thing that seems to prove that family animation is its own box office demographic, especially in summer in North America, is the box office results from the past 50 years. Take 2022 for instance, it had several Billion dollar blockbusters all overlapping each other from Memorial Day through August.

But many of those movies made big money (Top Gun Maverick, Jurassic World, Minions, Thor), while one lost their studio money (Lightyear). In the same suburban multiplexes all playing the same movies for free consumers to choose from in a free market. During summer vacation.

And those results were clear. Multiple movies can do Billion Dollar+ business all in the same season at the same multiplex.

 

[nf659]

I think given the amount of competition around it and coming after Lightyear's massive flop, it'll be a morale boost to Pixar if Elemental just gets critical acclaim and breaks even financially. It will hopefully bode better for Elio to be a legitimate hit, though that faces some stiff competition as well.

I do think it would be not good if this flops. Would probably mean at least another nine months before Disney is comfortable greenlighting anything else original.

 

[Phroobar]

So Pixar defaults back to the Cal Arts style again in Elio. It looks the same as Turning Red and Luca. In fact I thought it was a sequel to Luca. The character looks similar.

 

[tcool123]

I think Elio would be a tougher sell than Elemental, if Elemental fails to catch on not sure how much better Elio would fare.

 

[BrianLo]

Pixar does kind of need it to be successful. I'm not being doom and gloomy, but they need it for the health of their originals moving forward. They unfortunately have been denied a box office hit for far too long (which is mostly NOT their fault) since Luca, Soul and Turning Red could have very easily done ok in normal times (Onward wasn't really doing that hot leading into the pandemic).

But WDAS is riding high still, in spite of Strange World. I cannot commit which way Elementals will go, but I will die on a hill that Wish will be a hit. That combined with the antecedent Encanto is sufficient to nullify Strange World.

I know Frozen 3 will be fine and very likely Zootopia 2. Toy Story 5 though it's hard to say if there will be collective apathy.

Kind of funny that WDAS has the more assured slate, that really hasn't happened in forever.

 

[DCBaker]

New still from Elemental.

Your guide to summer movies 2023: From 'Spider-Verse' to 'Mission: Impossible'

Your guide to this summer's hottest movies, from 'Spider Man: Across the Spider-Verse' to 'Oppenheimer' and 'Mission: Impossible.'

ew.com

 

[DCBaker]

Tickets are now on sale for Elemental.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Tickets are now on sale for Elemental.

Clever of Disney to get this on presale before The Flash goes on presale.

I'll be watching both that weekend either way.

BTW, the majority of sites on the net have been speculating that The Flash presale is likely to be any time from yesterday to tomorrow.

 

[MisterPenguin]

‘Elemental’ Craftspeople On “Exploiting The Elemental Nature” Of Characters & Creating A Collaborative Workflow

'Elemental' production designer Don Shank, VFX supervisor Sanjay Bakshi & animating directors Allison Rutland & Gwen Enderoglu on unique collaboration

deadline.com

 

[Phroobar]

‘Elemental’ Craftspeople On “Exploiting The Elemental Nature” Of Characters & Creating A Collaborative Workflow

'Elemental' production designer Don Shank, VFX supervisor Sanjay Bakshi & animating directors Allison Rutland & Gwen Enderoglu on unique collaboration

deadline.com

That explains why the art style is similar for newer movies.

 

[Ghost93]

Box office tracking has Elemental earning $28-38 million at the domestic box office for opening weekend, one of the lowest for Pixar. I think Disney should seriously consider changing its release date.

https://www.boxofficepro.com/long-r...ne-for-a-strong-fathers-day-juneteenth-frame/

 

[MisterPenguin]

Box office tracking has Elemental earning $28-38 million at the domestic box office for opening weekend, one of the lowest for Pixar. I think Disney should seriously consider changing its release date.

https://www.boxofficepro.com/long-r...ne-for-a-strong-fathers-day-juneteenth-frame/

Well, WBDiscovery is doing their best to help Elemental by not having advanced sales for The Flash yet. Normally, it would have happened this past Monday, like it did for Elemental.

 

[doctornick]

Having Flash and Elemental drop the same day is a bad idea for both movies.

I tend to agree that moving Elemental would have been the wiser choice, but that ship has sailed now since they've started selling tickets.

 

[Phroobar]

Presales are kind of silly. Theaters always give a large number of rooms and times to the new releases. Seating is always reserved now. Who is buying tickets for Elemental for the first showing in fear of them selling out? Ticket sell outs just don't happen anymore. I guess scheduling a movie is kind of nice though.

 

[Tha Realest]

Box office tracking has Elemental earning $28-38 million at the domestic box office for opening weekend, one of the lowest for Pixar. I think Disney should seriously consider changing its release date.

https://www.boxofficepro.com/long-r...ne-for-a-strong-fathers-day-juneteenth-frame/

This is nearing an extinction level event.

 

[TsWade2]

Box office tracking has Elemental earning $28-38 million at the domestic box office for opening weekend, one of the lowest for Pixar. I think Disney should seriously consider changing its release date.

https://www.boxofficepro.com/long-r...ne-for-a-strong-fathers-day-juneteenth-frame/

I hate saying this, but I feel like it's the end of Pixar!

 

[tcool123]

I hate saying this, but I feel like it's the end of Pixar!

It won’t be Walt Disney Animation Studios has been going strong for years and they are littered with disappointing and disastrous returns (Fantasia, Bambi, Alice in Wonderland, Black Cauldron, Rescuers Down Under, the 2000s).

To me it seems more like Disney Is sacrificing this film similar to 2009’s Princess and the Frog which flopped against Avatar and 2011’s Winnie the Pooh which opened against the final Harry Potter.

Whatever film is after Elio will likely be very successful as it’s a sequel - I just can’t remember which.

Presales are kind of silly. Theaters always give a large number of rooms and times to the new releases. Seating is always reserved now. Who is buying tickets for Elemental for the first showing in fear of them selling out? Ticket sell outs just don't happen anymore. I guess scheduling a movie is kind of nice though.

They do happen but not for Elemental or other original films, I feel like the presale sell outs are a bigger deal with franchise films and event films such as Way of Water, Spiderman Far From Home, etc.

 

[TsWade2]

It won’t be Walt Disney Animation Studios has been going strong for years and they are littered with disappointing and disastrous returns (Fantasia, Bambi, Alice in Wonderland, Black Cauldron, Rescuers Down Under, the 2000s).

To me it seems more like Disney Is sacrificing this film similar to 2009’s Princess and the Frog which flopped against Avatar and 2011’s Winnie the Pooh which opened against the final Harry Potter.

Whatever film is after Elio will likely be very successful as it’s a sequel - I just can’t remember which.

And I blame John Lasseter for it for making Princess and the Frog and Winnie the Pooh underperforming at the box office. He's lucky that he's not involved with Elemental.

 

[Ghost93]

Other than Lightyear, I don't think Pixar has had any recent flops. Onward doesn't count since it only had one week before the COVID shutdowns started.