What Hollywood Can Learn From Elemental’s Comeback

Last June saw the release of Pixar’s newest film, Elemental. This was coming off of recent box office duds from Disney and/or Pixar that made it’s way to the big screen post-covid such as Lightyear and Strange World. With how badly those notable movies failed at the box office along with the lackluster to practically non-existence marketing campaign for this newest feature, Elemental was once again expected to make very little noise once it arrived in theaters.

With yet another Disney flick expected to be an absolute bomb, this has to bring questions to the table of how the company would handle features films going forward? Should they stop releasing these in theaters and just release them on Disney Plus? Should they release less films with lesser budgets? Should they greenlight more sequels from their more well-known franchises instead of releasing more original films? Those are the kind of questions I imagine Disney and others were asking themselves before the release of Elemental.

Elemental came out worldwide on June 16th alongside The Flash, putting itself head to head with another familiar brand that exact same weekend. Everyone was expecting an all-time low first week at the box office for Pixar and it most certainly delivered. The film went on to make just under 30 million worldwide in it’s opening weekend, finishing second behind The Flash and was only slightly under the original Toy Story from 1995 as the second lowest three-day opening weekend for a Pixar film, which if you don’t count inflation, then it would in fact be the lowest opening weekend . For a movie that was expected to be DOA, it was able to meet those expectations perfectly in it’s first three days.

There were plenty of folks that had their theories as to why Disney and Pixar movies continue to flop big time in theaters since the 2020s rolled around. Some said it’s because the mainstream audience was too accustomed to waiting for these films to come on Disney Plus rather than actual theaters as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, some have claimed in this case it had to do with the early negative reviews for Elemental that came out of Cannes when Disney premiered it as a part of that film festival along with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (That’s a story for another day!), some thought it had to do with competition with the likes of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and of course, there are some that thought it had to do with something something wokeness and something something brokenness. Regardless, Elemental had about as bad of an opening weekend as one could imagine.

Just like with a number of films that have come out in 2023 with underwhelming opening weekend results at the box office, Disney was probably thinking of just pulling Elemental from theaters ASAP and have it be available for digital release in about two to three weeks with a Disney Plus release slated for the next month. Shockingly enough, none of that actually happened. Instead, Disney and Pixar chose to keep it in theaters for an extended period of time and see if it can gain any short of legs. It’s a bold move but a move that not many studios have tried in 2023 after their films failed to make noise in it’s opening weekend. Disney and Pixar stuck to their guns with Elemental and believe it or not, they have been rewarded for that decision.

In it’s second weekend, Elemental yet again finished second at the box office but made a reasonable $18.4 million at just a 38% drop, which gave encouraging signs of possible strong legs. Even with projections of a solid turn around after it’s very poor opening weekend, many media outlets claimed it would be largely difficult for the film to gain enough of a profit to counter with the film’s $200 million budget, specifically from a domestic’s point of view. However, come this week, things have took the turn for the better.

At the time of writing, Elemental has made a total of $425.2 million worldwide, currently becoming a sleeper hit and easily Disney and Pixar’s most successful film in the post-covid era. The film particularly is doing well internationally, most notably in South Korea, which became the film’s third largest market. This was likely attributed to director Peter Sohn’s background of Korean culture and including elements to the story that have resonated with Korean audiences. And if Pixar’s President Jim Morris’s recent comments on the film’s remarkable comeback at the box office is any indication, Elemental will in fact make a profit for Disney, helping put the finishing touches on what has been quite an underdog story for a little film that could.

The remarkable turn around from Elemental has been quite a surprise for everyone in the movie and entertainment industry. A film that looked to be finished before it even began it’s theatrical window was able to overcome near impossible odds to at least make a steady profit despite it’s dire circumstances. There seems to have been a decent word of mouth on the film itself and I imagine that will continue once the film hits home on Disney Plus in the coming weeks or month. Not only is this film’s success a miracle in of itself, it should lead by example for studios whenever they release their own films.

It’s no secret that most studios in Hollywood nowadays tend to have very little patience with how their films perform at the box office. They constantly set themselves up for disappointment thanks to handing out ridiculously expensive budgets and clouded themselves in a very stubborn mindset that their film will make it’s money back just mere weeks after it’s released in theaters based off the name of their IP or brand alone. Even after what has gone on since 2020 involving cinema, you still have Hollywood thinking they are still in 2019, where every big movie they put out will make an easy billion at the bank just because inflation and the past success of their previously beloved properties says it will. They still believe a billion dollar grossing movie in 2023 is the norm and not the exception, which could not be any further from the truth. Because studios still haven’t figured that out by now, this has lead to early digital releases for their films in the hopes of making quick money in a flash (no pun intended) before it hits home media and/or streaming services. However, with Elemental, Disney and Pixar seems to say otherwise.

Which is why the success of Elemental should not be as surprising as it is because that was basically how films were at the box office back in the day. Sure, there was always a handful that scored big in it’s opening weekend and went on to become a grand success but most of the time, for films like these, it took a decent amount of patience from the studios after it’s initial release to allow the worth of mouth to spread which could lead to stronger legs for the films than initially anticipated. They didn’t panic when their latest film didn’t make Avengers: Endgame amount of dollars in it’s first three days, they just let things play out and were eventually rewarded for it. That’s why I wouldn’t be surprised to see Mission Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part 1 facing a similar outcome despite it’s initial underperforming box office numbers. If Paramount can just let things play out for the next month or two, I guarantee it will receive similar legs as Elemental and then the folks behind the action packed picture can celebrate for the glorious motion picture they put together.

That’s not to say that Disney and Pixar did everything right in regards to Elemental. The $200 million budget is still a ridiculous high one, especially when compared to recent animated films such as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, The Super Mario Bros Movie, and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, all films that cost much less and had much more impressive animation. And as for the quality of the picture itself, Elemental is a good movie overall but far from Pixar’s best and not a film I see myself rewatching compared to their very best. Also, Disney will likely never want to release a film early for Cannes Film Festival ever again unless they are 99.9% sure that the film will get a GLOWING response from the critics there! However if they and every other major studio in Hollywood can learn the right lesson here, that could lead to better results for themselves and the general moviegoing audience.

To all studios out there, the next time you release a big picture and it doesn’t set the world on fire on it’s opening weekend, give it some time. Let worth of mouth grow on the film, see how it’s projected to do in the coming weeks, and create REALISTIC expectations for yourselves as to how your feature film will fair in theaters. Don’t pull a Shazam!: Fury of the Gods or Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken and pull your films from theaters at the first sign of trouble. Show some faith in your feature film and you might find yourself surprised and even rewarded for it.

Congratulations to Elemental for it’s success and comeback at the box office! Hopefully, more films in the future will follow in your footsteps!