“Elio” became the worst cartoon in the history of Pixar: that is why he failed at the cash register

The new original cartoon of the studio, Elio, started with the worst costs in the entire Pixar history – and now it is already called the most failed project in the company.

With a budget of $ 150 million, the cartoon raised only 20.8 million in the United States on the first weekend and just over 14 million abroad.

At the moment the total Elio Box Office from Elio is around $ 50 million – and this is with a budget of 150 million.

For the studio, which gave the world the “History of Toys”, “Vall-i” and “Up” is a disaster. Even “Elementary” from last year, who initially failed, started higher – from $ 29.6 million and eventually collected almost half a billion. Elio does not have such opportunities.

And this despite the fact that critics have met the project very warmly: 83% on rotten tomatoes and 91% of the audience. Many reviewers called him the best original Pixar cartoon since the time of “Coco”. But neither good grades nor enthusiasm saved in social networks – the audience was too small to give Elio a chance for a long life at the cash register.

What went wrong

The biggest problem is positioning. Against the background of blockbusters such as new “How to Tame a Dragon” and “Lilo and Stitch”, the exit of which coincided with the premiere “Elio”, the cartoon was simply lost.

Another problem is marketing. The campaign was slow, without a clear idea, and ultimately astonishment caused earlier: Disney himself did not believe in his product? The original cartoon without a recognizable brand cannot go on slowness – especially if the studio itself does not promote it as a priority.

And more importantly – Disney+. Since the start of the Pandemie, the public is used to the fact that Pixar films will appear on the Disney+ Streaming service in a few weeks -and sometimes immediately. “Soul”, “Luke”, “I Red” did not go in a broad rent at all. And now the audience just waits for a streaming release. A new story, an unknown character and no motivation to pay for a ticket – why, when they see at home a month later?

What now

Elio became an alarming signal: Pixar can no longer collect an audience without continuation and remakes. The puzzle 2, which came out for Elio for a year, raised nearly 1.7 billion dollars – and the failure of Elio will probably solve the trend.

Against the background of all this it becomes unclear whether Pixar will have a space for original stories. Even if a high, friendly, well -accepted cartoon with a moving story falls so hard -can a studio pay for it?