On June 27, Disney and Pixar released their newest animated film, Elio. Elio tells the story of a young boy who is obsessed with everything having to do with aliens, convinced they are out there. One day, Elio is beamed up to the Communiverse, where alien ambassadors from galaxies near and far believe him to be Earth’s representative.
The universe is facing a galactic crisis, and Elio must befriend and work with the aliens to help save everyone and everything. Working with creatures of all shapes and sizes, Elio is able to discover who he truly is.
Pixar has been struggling to find its footing in recent years, and Elio was unable to follow in the giant footsteps of Pixar’s last release, Inside Out 2, which was the most successful film of 2024. In fact, Elio has broken a record and now holds the title for Pixar’s worst box-office opening weekend ever.
While the initial instinct might be to blame the movie’s poor performance on mediocre storytelling, that seems far from the case. Elio actually seems to be a hit among critics and fans who have ventured to the theater to see it. The film is currently sitting at an 83% critics score and a 91% audience score. The reviews praise the film for its heartfelt story, leaving audiences in tears by the end.
So, the big question is this: Why was Elio such a massive failure?
Related: Elio Experiences Now Available at Disney World, Disneyland, Paris, and Shanghai
Pixar Fans Are Giant Hypocrites
For years, Disney and Pixar fans have complained about the lack of original stories and the studios’ reliance on sequels and live-action remakes. However, this is not the first time that Pixar has created a great original story, and movie theaters have struggled to fill seats.
Remember Elemental? The movie struggled in its opening weekend, and many feared it was going to be a huge flop. And as with Elio, it wasn’t the storytelling that was lacking. Both audiences and critics loved the movie, which has a 73% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 93% audience score.
That doesn’t mean that Pixar sequels aren’t good. Toy Story 4 has a 94% critics score and a 96% audience score, but Incredibles 2, which made over $1.2 billion, only has an 84% audience score.
Related: Pixar Fans Pinpoint Where New Movies Went Wrong, Why They Flop
Insiders have made it very clear that if original stories like Elio continue to struggle, the studios will just put all of their time and energy into sequels. Hopefully, Elio will have the same experience as Elemental and rebound after a very shaky start.
Is It All Fans’ Fault?
One of Elio’s biggest problems is that fans are not inclined to head to the theater to watch it. And, while it’s easy to put the blame solely on fans, it doesn’t all belong there. Disney needs to take some of the blame and acknowledge where they went wrong and failed Elio.
Right before and even after Elio came out, many people admitted that they had not even heard of the movie. That is when it became Disney’s problem and a big marketing issue.
Related: Disney Seemingly Explains “Pixar Shared Universe Theory” With Latest Epic Crossover
Disney went all in on its live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch, which came out on May 23. Disney purchased ad time during the Super Bowl, had an animatronic Stitch crash movie theaters and shopping malls, and really pushed viewers into seeing the new movie. And it paid off — the movie has grossed more than $800 million worldwide, and is on par to rake in more than $1 billion.
Disney and Pixar released the first trailer for Elio nearly two years ago, but you might not even know it’s the same film. The film faced numerous delays, and a lot of changes were made to the story, but Disney didn’t reveal that until right before the movie came out.
Disney also didn’t begin really pushing Elio to audiences until a few months before the movie was to be released, which could have been the final nail in Elio’s coffin.
Related: Disney Faces Backlash After Pixar Animation Studios Declared Dead
Elio Could Still Succeed
Above, we mentioned that Elemental had really struggled when it was released on June 16, 2023. However, after the movie received a flood of positive reviews, fans began to head to theaters to see it. Because of that, Elemental saw a strong rebound in the following weeks, ultimately grossing just under $500 million at the box office.
So, all hope is not lost for Elio. Yes, its opening weekend was undoubtedly a disaster, but if history is anything to go by, it’s entirely possible the movie could rebound as word gets out about just how good and heartfelt the story is.
What fans also need to do is stop waiting for films to come to Disney+. And maybe Disney will decide to delay Disney+ releases, that way audiences will go to the theaters if they don’t want to wait months for movies to hit streaming.
Pixar Isn’t Giving Up
Pixar is probably incredibly disappointed that Elio is failing to draw audiences, just like Elemental did, but they are not giving up. In the next two years, Pixar has two more original films coming out — Hoppers in 2026 and Gatto in 2027.
Hoppers — which has nothing to do with A Bug’s Life (1998) — tells the story of scientists who have developed the ability to “hop” the human consciousness into robotic animals. Those robotic animals can then communicate with real animals in the wild!
Gatto will tell the story of Nero, a black cat who finds himself indebted to a feline mob boss. Nero then forges an unexpected friendship, one that might help him finally discover his purpose.
In addition to Hoppers and Gatto, Pixar also has three sequels lined up — Toy Story 5, Incredibles 3, and Coco 2. The slate could change, but as of right now, Toy Story 5 is scheduled to hit theaters on June 19, 2026. Incredibles 3 is scheduled to come out sometime in 2028, and Coco 2 is slated for release in 2029.
Do you think Pixar fans need to make more of an effort to watch new films in theaters? Are fans hypocritical for asking for new original stories and then only going to the theater to see sequels? Has Disney+ been a big part of Pixar’s struggles? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
The post Pixar Fans Continue to Prove They Only Want Sequels appeared first on Inside the Magic.
