Not burning up the box office as the reception seems pretty icy.
If there isn't more air to inflate these numbers, it will soon be buried by earth.

#Elemental  had the worst opening in modern Pixar history with $29.5M domestically

The film's budget was $200M pic.twitter.com/N4ft9PQdtt

— Jerd Nocks (@JerdNocksPod) June 18, 2023

I'll wait for it on Disney Plus

This thread is the first time I'm even hearing about this movie and I have kids that watch Disney plus on a semi regular basis.

Must not have a TV in your house.

Potcake said:

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Must not have a TV in your house.

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I guess now that I think about it since we moved to some land a couple months ago our tv watching has dropped precipitously, which I am very happy about. Life has changed pretty drastically so I wasn't really accounting for the major change. I'm certain that plays a role in it. My MIL took the kids to see the little mermaid so I am sure they saw a trailer for it then, but I certainly had not heard of it at all.

I feel like I've seen the trailer for this like 5 times a day for the past couple of weeks.

This was the first time I've ever walked out in the middle of a movie.


My nearly three year old was tired of sitting still about 2/3 of the way in and we left before she had a meltdown in the theater.

Enjoyed it up until that point, though.

BowSowy said:

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This was the first time I've ever walked out in the middle of a movie.


My nearly three year old was tired of sitting still about 2/3 of the way in and we left before she had a meltdown in the theater.

Enjoyed it up until that point, though.

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Lol, why did you spoiler tag that?

Yeah, it's been all over ABC and ESPN.

I wonder if many have been so burned out by Disneys outspoken and public agenda to platform issues in their movies that people have grown untrusting of their family movie products.

It's interesting that the other family movies that have been released by dreamworld and/or universal have been box office hits (minions, super Mario, etc).

Head Ninja In Charge said:

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imjustsayin said:

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I wonder if many have been so burned out by Disneys outspoken and public agenda to platform issues in their movies that people have grown untrusting of their family movie products.

It's interesting that the other family movies that have been released by dreamworld and/or universal have been box office hits (minions, super Mario, etc).

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Meh. The Little Mermaid LA is probably going to do half a billion worldwide at the box office despite "controversies". I really just think it's Disney not putting an emphasis on Pixar as a studio like they used to. Everything since Toy Story 4 has been boilerplate material (though I did like most of them). And now there's a Toy Story 5 in the works?

To me, it's just Disney fumbling the bag on one of their best assets.

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To me, there is several things. This is not a ranking.

1. Disney+ and streaming. Gone are the days of putting a DIsney movie in the theater and people will show up. Marketing needs to get them to the theater AND pick their movie. We have Disney+ right now, and unless one of the kids is asked to go to the theater with a friend, we just wait until it is on streaming.

2. Political. To deny this is a factor is putting your head in the sand. To believe this is the only factor is also ignoring other cultural & entertainment issues. You can't go to war with a political party and not have it impact your bottom line when talking heads are constantly bashing your company. Not when streaming is an easy substitute and your customers rely on parents taking them to the movies.

3. Movie quality. I'm going to try to not get political here, but movies made with the focus on efficiently telling a great story beat movies that have outsiders telling writers and directors characters and scenes that must be included within a story. It also makes certain characters pretty predictable. I also don't think it has helped that it is hard to create that Disney "Magic" when the company has been notoriously cheap on CGI animation (This movie, however, has a pretty big budget).

4. A story about the elements isn't as appealing as one about bugs, toys, cars, fish, monsters or superheroes. I'm not even sure how you would do a Happy Meal tie in with that (Note - I'm not saying a Happy Meal tie-in is important, but there isn't a lot of action figure appeal to characters about earth, fire, water, and air). I think Inside Out was an outstanding story/movie, but in terms of revenue, it was hurt by not having characters like Sully, Lightning McQueen, Dory or Buzz. I think Pixar has done some really good stories that might not be as appealing to younger kids like their mega-hits were.

4. Franchise versus originals - I think it is really hard to launch an original story now, especially non-horror movies. M3gan is probably the top grossing original movie of 2023. Every other one is either part of a movie franchise or has a legion of fans of a game (Mario and D&D). Everything else is either Marvel, DC, or a sequel/remake.

5. Substitute products: Maybe my kids have just aged out, but they would rather play video games or be on social media than go watch an average movie. They have so many other entertainment options. A younger me probably wouldn't have gone to see Universal Soldier and House Sitter on the same weekend if I had the number of streaming service, social media and video game options.