It was only last year that several insiders revealed what a turbulent production DreamWorks‘ Kung Fu Panda 4 went through under the leadership of director Mike Mitchell. The movie earned mediocre reviews, but emerged as a box office hit. This year, the self-aware Pixar quietly released the new original film Elio, perhaps preempting trouble. Not too long after it debuted with a record-low opening weekend haul, people who claimed to have worked on the project told The Hollywood Reporter what went down behind the scenes. Elio is now nearing the end of its theatrical run, poised to become the biggest flop in Pixar’s history.
The movie has made only around $130 million at the worldwide box office, against a budget that has been reported to be as high as $200 million. This is a standard figure for Pixar, a company that hasn’t reduced spending to compensate for the industry-altering trends observed in the last five years, even though every competitor has. For instance, Kung Fu Panda 4 reportedly cost $80 million to produce, and it made around $550 million worldwide. Elio, however, is hovering around the same range as Pixar‘s Soul, which didn’t even get a theatrical release domestically, and was barely exhibited overseas. Several of the studio’s films during the pandemic were pushed onto the Disney+ streaming service, resulting in major losses and layoffs.
Things seemed to improve last year, when Pixar debuted Inside Out 2. The movie grossed nearly $1.7 billion worldwide, and, for several months, was the highest-grossing animated film ever made. It was overtaken by the Chinese mega-hit Ne Zha 2 earlier this year, but Pixar‘s grand comeback seemed to have unfolded successfully. Until Elio rolled around. THR quoted insiders as describing the film’s production as “catastrophic.” They said that the studio wanted to downplay the film’s queer-centric themes, and enforced changes that eventually led to director Adrian Molina departing. He was replaced by Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi.
Those Who Watched ‘Elio’ Liked It
Despite the issues, Elio opened to positive reviews, however. It’s currently sitting at an 82% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “Catapulted by its theme of building self-esteem, Pixar’s latest cosmic wonder Elio boasts a fanciful world of original creations to dazzling effect.” In his review, Collider’s Ross Bonaime wrote that the movie is “proof that Pixar can tell original stories in a way that speaks to a larger audience.” But the studio has made its vision for the next few years very clear. In addition to more original films such as Hoppers and Gatto, Pixar will release Toy Story 5, Coco 2, and Incredibles 3.
via Collider