Pixar's Elemental Fails to Heat Up at the Box Office

2023

Pixar's latest film, Elemental, had high stakes riding on it, with a budget exceeding $200 million. However, if one were to judge by the TikTok consumer sentiment index, the comments section, the outcome might have seemed predictable. Negative reactions flooded the comments, expressing disappointment and low expectations for the film. Comments like "The Disney magic is fading away" and "Can't wait to not watch this" dominated the discussion. One user even humorously predicted that the movie would make a mere $20 at the box office, or perhaps $21 if they were lucky.

Considering the buzz on social media, it may come as a surprise that Elemental did manage to rake in $29.5 million during its opening weekend. While this figure fell short of analysts' modest expectations, it defied the negative sentiments expressed online. However, in comparison to recent animated films like Universal's The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Minions: The Rise of Gru, which grossed an impressive $1.33 billion and $939.6 million worldwide, respectively, Pixar's performance has been lackluster.

Elemental's opening weekend box office collection stands as Pixar's second-lowest ever, narrowly surpassing Toy Story's $29.1 million debut in 1995. When adjusted for inflation, however, Toy Story's opening would be valued at approximately $57.6 million today, a whopping 98% more than Elemental's figures.

Pixar had hoped that Elemental would mark a rebound after the box office disappointment of Lightyear and provide a momentary high note following the studio's decision to lay off 75 employees in May as part of Disney's broader cost-cutting measures.

On a positive note, the movie industry as a whole is witnessing an upward trend, with theaters experiencing better performance than the same weekend in 2019, before the pandemic struck, as reported by CNBC.