Pixar remains one of the most successful movie studios in the world, but the recent release and subsequent box office failure of Elio has been an important wake-up call for the studio. With Elio already released on digital, the film has been a significant disappointment for Pixar and is unlikely to be discussed among the studio’s best offerings.
Reviews for Elio have not been bad, with many, including ScreenRant‘s Rachel Labonte, celebrating it as a joyful and original new animated story. Pixar, however, has had such an incredible track record that Elio‘s strong Rotten Tomatoes score of 81% with critics is in the studio’s bottom third, just behind Onward and Luca.
Even though there is much to like about the new film, it cannot be denied that a great deal went wrong with Elio‘s release and box office. As Pixar attempts to reinvigorate itself to be the consistently bankable studio of the past decades once again, there are several important lessons that they can learn from this recent failure.
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You Only Get One Chance To Make A First Impression
The first trailer for Elio was released in 2023, and it suggested a very different film than the final project wound up being. This was the first look that audiences worldwide were given to the Pixar science fiction feature before Elio was delayed and reworked significantly.
Elio was released two years later in a very different state, but all of this was confusing for general audiences. The initial marketing appealed to some, but this goodwill was undone by changing the tone and story in some big ways.
It is important to recognize that marketing works best under a limited period. While the biggest of big movies like next year’s The Odyssey may get away with releasing a trailer a year in advance, this is generally too early.
Studios like Pixar need to ensure that the first looks they give are not years out and that they actually reflect the final product accurately.
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Original Films Need Lower Budgets To Succeed
Pixar is a huge studio, with some of the best animation practices in the world. This comes at a heavy cost. The studio is located in California, and enormous budgets have given them the flexibility to rework projects as needed, as was seen with Elio, to ensure that the final projects are of the utmost quality.
Unfortunately, this budgeting may no longer be tenable in the changing theatrical landscape. Box office grosses are down in general, with only one Hollywood film crossing the billion dollar mark in 2025 so far.
In a landscape where a high-quality film like Elio is only able to earn $144 million worldwide, the budgets for similar future projects must be reduced.
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Pixar Needs To Make Theatrical Releases Feel Special And Urgent
Streaming is a problem for Pixar. The studio released their movies directly to their streaming service during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has even developed a Pixar series directly for Disney+. Audience habits have changed, and that is important to note, but Inside Out 2 was still able to become the highest-grossing movie of 2024 within this same context.
To succeed, the theatrical experience must be emphasized. Pixar needs to ensure its future efforts feel like important events to see in theaters. This can be hard to manufacture, but strong marketing and even merchandising, as has been seen with recent popcorn bucket trends, can contribute significantly.
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Character Designs Must Stand Out
Animation is a visual medium, and that necessitates compelling designs. Unfortunately, there was little in Elio‘s design that looked compelling or new. The тιтular character’s model looked like a generic human being who could exist in any Pixar story, and even the aliens looked uninteresting.
Design is such a significant part of animation, and there was so much potential to develop a visual vocabulary in this spacey movie that could have made it feel distinct. Instead, using designs that could just as well have come from Brave, Toy Story, or The Incredibles, the film failed to distinguish itself.
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Every Story Needs To Have A Compelling Hook
Elio‘s story isn’t bad, but it does not feel especially unique. The film saw the тιтular character being abducted by aliens and mistaken as the ambᴀssador of Earth. The character was charming, and the space setting set itself up for great humor, but there was nothing especially original or compelling in the idea.
Stories like Ratatouille and Toy Story can have their stories and their appeal both summed up in a single sentence. Elio, meanwhile, needs a great deal more to justify itself. The hook is not enough on its own, and the marketing failed to explain why this story might be enough to justify a trip to the theaters.
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The Pixar Brand Is No Longer A Selling Point On Its Own
For years, Pixar was synonymous with quality. Following the success of Toy Story, audiences were excited to see what they would do next, and turned out for A Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc., and more on that basis. The studio justified that faith, with their efforts growing stronger and more original with each entry, resulting in classics like Up.
Unfortunately, audience faith in the brand has waned. While Pixar is still generally dependable for quality films, it is not as celebrated as it once was. With so many films being made, and entries like Lightyear disappointing many audiences, Pixar needs more than just the name of their studio to justify interest in a film.
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Big-Budget Films Need Robust Marketing Campaigns
With all of this considered, much of the failure for Elio comes down to its marketing campaign. Beginning too soon and quickly fizzling out, most general audiences had either forgotten about or were not aware of Elio when it finally released in theaters.
A movie with a big budget like Elio‘s $150-200 million needs to make a significant spend on marketing. Advertisements, billboards, and tie-ins are important for a film like this, which could have helped to attract greater attention from audiences.
Elio‘s failure is less about distaste for the movie and more about apathy. The film needed a bigger marketing push that could have helped it to feel like a significant entry in the Pixar canon. In failing to do this, Elio felt like a movie that audiences could wait to see on streaming.
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Animation Styles Are Evolving, And Pixar Needs To Keep Up
Image via Disney+
The Pixar style has remained somewhat static through the studio’s run. Granted, there have been major leaps forward in technology, and it cannot be denied that Elio‘s animation has developed significantly from the visuals of Toy Story, but the overall design and look have remained largely the same.
Meanwhile, animation in general has gone through some larger artistic shifts. Studios like Sony Pictures Animation have employed more unusual and experimental styles with movies like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which has since gone on to influence their whole slate, as well as other studios, like DreamWorks, with Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
Audiences want to see new visuals. Fortunately, Pixar’s Gatto looks to be addressing this desire head-on with a unique aesthetic. In the meanwhile, it is certain that Elio‘s generic design was a significant factor in its poor performance. Hopefully, audiences will finally give the film a chance now that it is available at home.
