“I Hard to Believe Nearly a Decade Has Passed Since Pixar’s Coco, An Original, Music-Infused Fantastical Yarn About A Menicican Boy Boy Who Travels To Land of The Dead, Grossed. Office to Rank no. 11 On the Year’s List of Top-Grossing Films. That was in 2017, A Time WHEN”, – WRITE: www.hollywoodReporter.com
For Pixar, that Downnturn Hit A New Tipping Point with The Debut of Elio Over The June 20-22 Weekend. The Original Summer TentPole, About An orphaned Boy Who Wish to Be Abducted BY Aliens Comes True Storified Animation Studio Co-Funded by the Late Steve Jobs and Later Acquired by Disney.
PUBLICly, Disney Execs Are Putting on A Brave Face and Suggesting that Elio Can Rebound and Find Its Stride, Much As Pixar’s Original Animated Film Elemental DID IN 2023 ON ITS WAY TO GROSING NEARLY $ 500 MILLION GLOBALLY AFTER A $ 29.6 Million Start, Not Adjusted for Inflation. Elio Boasts Stellar Audience Exit Scores and Even Stronger Reviews. But Internally, No One is Kidding Themselves or Trying to Sugarcoat the Results. Ultimately, Elio May Not Even Crack $ 300 Million.
That doesn’t mean Disney and Pixar Are Waving the White Flag of Surrender and Banming Original Storytelling to the Hinterlands. If anything, Elio Shines a Light on A Course Correction That Was Already Underway, Sources Tell The Hollywood Reporter.
Pixar is deliberateny pivoting Tward a More Balanced Mix of Sequels and Fresh IP. Disney Leadership, Including Movie Studios Chief Alan Bergman, Have Advocated For A Strategic Return to Franchise Entries As A Way to Support Original StoryTeling Over. They Don’t View New IP As One-OFFS, But As Potential Franchises. Inside Out an Coco are just two examples of new Franchises that Began as Originals.
In June 2024, The Record-Shattering Inside Out 2 DEBUTED TO A HUGE $ 154 Million on Its Way to Become The Top-Grossing Pic of the Year, The Top Title Ever for Pixar and The Top Animated Movie Inflation. CocoMeanwhile, Spawned A Park Attration, with A Movie Sequel in the Works.
Elio WAS The SIXTH ORIGINAL PIXAR FILM RELELEASED SINCE 2020 After Onward, Soul, LUCA, Turning Red an Elemental.
Pixar’s Upcoming Slate Includes the Original Film Hoppers an Toy Story 5Both Set for Release in 2026, Followed by the Original Gatto in june 2027 and the undated Incredibles 3 an Coco 2. Of Pixar’s 30 Theatric Releases, Only 9 Have Been Sequels Installments and One, LightyearA Prequel. That hardly makes a pixar sequel machine – Even at it own peril.
Pixar Has Always Been Skittish About Franchise Building. While Toy Story 2 WAS ITS THIRD MOVIE, IT DOOK more thaning to release Toy Story 3and FIVE YEARS TO MAKE Cars 2. The Gap Between the Seminal Finding NEMO and sequel Finding dory was a dozen years. And in 2016, Pixar President Jim Morris Said that After 2018’s Toy Story 4 In 2018 and 2019’s Incredibles 2 – Both of WHICH Wuld Earn More Than $ 1 Billion Globally – The Studio Wound Return to Its Roots, Excluding Inside Out 2. He wasn’t kidding.
Walt Disney Animation Studios, Home of the Blockbuster Frozen an Moana Franchises, Also Pursues A Healthy Mix, and Has Released Four Original Films in Recent Years Despite The Downturn: Encanto, Raya and The Last Dragon, Strange World an Wish.
Rivals Illumination Entertainment and Dreamworks Animation, Both Owned by Universal, Are Without a Doubt More Franchise-Focused. A Third of the Titles Illumination Has Made Are Part of the Multi-Billion-Dollar Grossing Despicable me an Minions Series, While It Quickly Turned Sing an The Secret Life of Pets Into Franchises. IT is also in the Dr. Seuss Business and Now, Mario. DWA, The Company Founded by Former Chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, HAS FEASTED ON A DIET OF Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon an Kung Fu Panda.
Durying The Pandemic Years-Even Wen Cinema’s Were Back Up and Running-The Regime Led by Ten-Disney Ceo Bob Chapek Decided to Send Three Pixar Titles Straight to Disney+ Destic. Turning Red, LUCA and the Oscar-Winning Soul (All Three Were Considered Streaming Hits). The Controversial Decision Was Slammed for Training Families to Wait to Watch Younger-Skewing Family Films in the Home; a debate WHICH Ranges to this Day, Particularly WHEN Iting Comes to Untested Titles Such As Elio. They Might Have Been Right. Among All Animated Original Films from Any Hollywood Studio, Only Three Have Orated North of $ 20 Million domestically in the post-Pandemic era; Elio2021’s Encanto ($ 27.1 Million) and 2023’s Elemental($ 29.6 Million), All From The Disney Empire.
That’s not to say pg movies haven’t worked. In Fact, they’ve fueled Much of the post-Covid recovery. But they’ve either been live-action adaptations of animated films-look no further than 2025 Summer Blockbusters Lilo & Stitch from Disney and How to Train Your Dragon from universal; LIVE-STATION PROPERTIES BASED ON BRANDED IP SUCH As Warner Bros. ‘ A Minecraft MovieThe Top-Grossing Film of 2025 to Date with More Than $ 954 Million in Ticket Sales, or the Animated Video Game Adaptation The Super Mario Bros Mario MovieWHICH EARNED A STUNNING $ 1.36 Billion in 2023. And The List of Last Year’s Top Global Grossers Was Led by By Inside Out 2while MOANA 2 Took Third Place with $ 1.05 Billion, Followed by Illumination’s DesPicable Me 4 ($ 959 Million).
LIVE-STATION ADAPTIONS OF CLASSIC ANIMATED FILMS SUCH AS Dragon or Lilo Play to Both Families and Gen Zers or Millennials, Thanks to the Nostalgia Factor. Elio Lacked Any Such Advantage and Is Having Trouble Connecting with A Wide Audence, Likely Due to Skewing Very Young and Being Considerred Stricktly a “Kids” Office Pundits. EITHER WAY, IT GOT LOST IN THE WAKE OF How to Train Your Dragon an Lilo & StitchWHICH HAS NOW Crossed $ 900 Million in Global Ticket Sales (Merchandise Sales Are In The Billions).
“Notably, While PG Rated Movies have the hero of the box office in the post-pandemic era, a pg rating dosn’t necessarily guarante a massive Opeening weekend un. Ip or is part of a franchise or a brand that’s Well Known Such As Minecraft”Says Comscore Chief Box Office Analyst Paul Dergarabedian.”Elio Will have to rely on Great Word-of-Mouth Based on Amazing Rotten Tomatoes Scores to Keep The Film in Good Stead Over the Next Couple of Weeks. ”
Adds A Source Close The Film, “While Its Opening Numbers May Not Reflect Its Ambition, The Film Is A Reminder of the Kind of Creative Swing the Studio Still Believes in FORWARD, IS NOT ABANDONING ORIGINality – It’s Looking for Ways to Launch It More Effectiely, While Keeping Beloved Characters Close at Hand.