Aside from the odd blockbuster here and there, movie theaters are generally not seeing the same number of people buying tickets as they did before the COVID-19 pandemic.
It's within this challenging landscape that Pixar has released its latest original film, Elio, which has now infamously opened as the lowest-grossing Pixar film of all-time, despite glowing reviews.
Prior to the film's release, Pixar Chief Creative Officer Peter Docter was a special guest at Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies Summit, where he acknowledged the shift in the movie industry. “It’s a rough time, and all we can do is try to make movies that I think are led by us. We have to believe in them.”
He later added, “It takes as much work and effort to make something that doesn’t make money as it does for something that does. And you can’t really plan on this stuff. Sometimes you just hit the right little combinations of things.”
Pixar’s Pete Docter recently shared that it typically takes the studio around five years to develop a film from initial idea to final release.
Speaking to attendees, he explained that one of the biggest challenges during that lengthy process is trying to anticipate what themes or stories will still be relavent within the social zeitgeist five years down the line, an unpredictable task given how quickly trends and cultural interests shift.
“We have to find out what people want before they know it,” Docter stated. “Because if we just gave them more of what they know, we’d be making Toy Story 27.”
Following 2019’s Toy Story 4, Pixar shifted its focus to a string of original films, including Onward, Soul, Luca, and Turning Red. However, due to the pandemic, most of these movies either saw shortened theatrical windows or were released directly to Disney+, limiting their box office potential and broader cultural impact.
Elemental, released in 2023, marked Pixar’s first major post-COVID theatrical release. While it stumbled out of the gate, the film gradually gained traction and eventually inched toward profitability. Now, Pixar is undoubtedly hoping that its upcoming film Elio follows a similar late-blooming success story.
Up next after Elio, is Hoppers, another original tale, and Pixar has another sequel later that summer, in the form of Toy Story 5. The following year sees the release of another original story in the form of Gatto, before Pixar then releases Incredibles 3 and Coco 2.
If Pixar doesn't want to become a studio that exclusively makes sequel, prequels and films based on existing IP, it desperately needs Elio to have an Elemental-like turnaround or for Hoppers or Gatto to become a breakout hit.