With a failure to lift off during its opening weekend, Pixar’s new animated film “Elio” had the animation studio’s worst box office opening in history.
The new movie, which is about an 11-year-old space fanatic’s trip to space, earned $21 million domestically and an additional $14 million globally during its opening weekend, making it the worst performing film in the history of Pixar, according to Variety.
The film was predicted to earn $27 million to $34 million domestically during its opening weekend, Deseret News previously reported.
“This is a weak opening for Pixar,” said David A. Gross, who runs the FranchiseRe movie consulting firm, according to Variety. “These would be solid numbers for another original animation film, but this is Pixar, and by Pixar’s remarkable standard, the opening is well below average.”
However, Rotten Tomatoes tells a different story. Receiving an outstanding 85%, the film was branded certified fresh by critics and verified hot with 91% on the Popcornmeter by audiences.
“Catapulted by its theme of building self-esteem, Pixar’s latest cosmic wonder ‘Elio’ boasts a fanciful world of original creations to dazzling effect,” stated the critics consensus on Rotten Tomatoes.
How does this compare to other recent Pixar films?
The last successful Pixar original film was in 2017, when “Coco” was released. “Coco” centered around the young Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) as he navigates the Land of the Dead and uncovers family secrets. The film earned a total of $800.5 million worldwide, according to Deadline.
Since then, Pixar has struggled to produce successful original films.
Films including “Onward” (2020), “Lightyear” (2022) and “Elemental” (2023) struggled to make an impactful opening weekend at the box office, resulting in other films not getting a theater debut and instead going straight to Disney+, according to Variety.
But where Pixar has struggled with original content, the animation studio has continued to produce smashing sequels.
Most recently, “Inside Out 2″ was record-breaking at the box office, finishing in theaters with $652 million domestically and a total of $1.69 billion worldwide, according to Variety.
“Coming out of the pandemic, the bar has been set higher for a number of genres, including family films,” said Gross, according to Variety. “It’s been hard to create something new with animation. Audiences want more of the same, or something very different.”
There could be a chance at redemption for ‘Elio’
But before you write off the space adventure film as dead, there is still hope for Elio’s (voiced by Yonas Kibreab) mission across the universe.
In 2023, “Elemental” had a rocky start when it opened to $29.6 million domestically and $44.5 million globally, according to Variety.
IndieWire noted while “Elemental” may have struggled in its opening weekend, audiences grew to embrace the animated film and it ended its time in theaters with a gross of $155 million domestically and a total of $496 million worldwide, making it the “surprise box office success story of 2023.”
So despite the rocky launch of “Elio,” Pixar can still hold out hope that the film will experience an increase in popularity during its time at the box office.