After a disappointing premiere at Cannes and underwhelming box office opening, Pixar's Elemental seemed destined to be a flop. However, the president of the animation studio has made a bold claim regarding their latest film.
Elemental opened to $29 million domestically back in June, which was far from impressive. It has since legged out to $425 million (with a budget of $200 million before marketing).
In an interview with Variety, Pixar president Jim Morris spoke about Elemental. He labeled the opening weekend as “disappointing from a revenue point of view,” claiming that those at the studio were “a bit crestfallen” by the result.
One potential reason for this is the decline in families going to the movies. “It's expensive for a family to go to the movies. It can be a $100 afternoon for a family, and that can be a stretch for some to do,” Morris said. “The other thing is that during Covid, we trained audiences to watch our movies on Disney+. I won't say there was a lot of choice. For periods of time, it was the only thing we could do. We have a little work to unring the bell and motivate families to go to the theater and not wait a few months to see it on Disney+.”
However, the turnaround seen by Elemental has been huge for Pixar. Morris is hoping that the film can get to $460 million or (more optimistically) $500 million before bowing out of theaters completely.
And while Elemental won't be Pixar's biggest film ever, Morris claims it will be profitable for them. “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,” he revealed. “This will certainly be a profitable film for the Disney company.”
Elemental is in theaters now.
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