How Elemental Went From Box Office "Bomb" To Comeback Of The ...

Pixar’s Elemental was prematurely branded a bomb after its underwhelming opening weekend, but its unexpected box office comeback has made it one of the greatest success stories of the summer. Elemental tells a tale as old as time; it’s a star-crossed love story about two lovers overcoming their cultural differences to be together. It’s essentially Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner for kids, set in a world full of anthropomorphic elements of nature where fiery Ember and watery Wade fall in love. For the first two decades of its existence, Pixar was a hit factory pumping out movies that mostly received positive reviews and did well at the box office.

The studio suffered its first commercial disappointment with its alternate-history coming-of-age tale The Good Dinosaur. Since then, Pixar’s output has been hit-and-miss, both critically and financially. 2020’s Onward was one of the first movies to suffer from the effects of the pandemic and Pixar’s next three films – Soul, Luca, and Turning Red – all skipped theaters and went straight to Disney+. Pixar returned to theaters with Lightyear, thought to be a sure-fire hit due to its connection to the Toy Story franchise, and it bombed. Elemental initially seemed like another big bomb for Pixar and a troubling sign for the studio, but it managed to become a surprising box office hit.

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Elemental's Opening Weekend Indicated It Would Be A Box Office Bomb

The press was quick to dub Elemental a box office failure after it grossed less than expected in its opening weekend (via Reuters). It opened alongside The Flash and The Blackening and grossed $30 million at the U.S. and Canadian box office, with $15 million coming in from overseas markets for a worldwide total of $45 million. This was the second-lowest opening weekend for a Pixar movie since the studio’s very first feature, Toy Story, way back in 1995, which was considered a huge gamble at the time. Taking inflation into account, Toy Story made a lot more money than Elemental and sold a lot more individual tickets.

It seemed like Elemental was dead on arrival and its chances of box office glory were shattered. Since Elemental’s supposed failure fit the narrative of Pixar’s downfall, box office analysts were quick to brand it a box office bomb and wondered if Pixar had lost its charm. It was easy to compare Elemental’s box office performance to Lightyear in the beginning, but they’re very different situations. Lightyear had a connection to an existing I.P., so it was expected to have a big opening weekend, whereas it was only natural for the non-I.P.-based Elemental to have to build up some word of mouth before turning a profit.

Elemental Had Lacking Competition For Families All Summer

One thing that Elemental had going for it was a lack of competition. It was released alongside The Flash and The Blackening, which were aiming for totally different demographics than a Pixar animated movie. The Blackening is an R-rated horror comedy, so it didn’t appeal to the family crowd. The Flash appealed to superhero fans of all ages, but thanks to its negative reviews, superhero fatigue, and the widespread controversies surrounding its star Ezra Miller, it flopped at the box office. Families who wanted to go to the movies pretty much had to watch Elemental.

The only family-oriented movie in theaters at the time Elemental was released was Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. But that had already come out before Elemental, so a lot of people who wanted to see Spider-Man had already seen it when Elemental came along. Besides Across the Spider-Verse, there was no other major family movie released to take away from Elemental’s box office. Anyone whose kids had already seen Across the Spider-Verse, or weren’t interested in superheroes, ended up buying tickets to see Elemental.

Elemental's Good Reviews Helped Overcome Pixar's Poor Marketing

Elemental’s initial stumbles at the box office could be attributed to Disney’s poor attempts to market the movie. Some people didn’t see any posters or trailers for the movie at all and the ones who did were left confused about what the movie was actually about, let alone if it was any good. Since kids can’t relate to romance, Disney’s marketing team might have tried to hide the fact that Elemental is a love story. But hiding the key plot points meant that the trailers made the story unclear, so it was hard to get excited about it. However, Elemental was saved by the old Pixar tradition of critical acclaim.

As with most Pixar productions, Elemental received positive reviews from critics. It has a 74% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is more than good enough for audiences to give it a try. The movie was helped by good word of mouth from audiences themselves as well as critics. The parents who did take their kids to see it were pleasantly surprised by it and encouraged their friends to take their own kids to see it, so Elemental’s box office numbers gradually started to pick up.

Elemental's Box Office Got A Big Boost Internationally

While it may have underwhelmed at the domestic box office, Elemental’s global numbers got a big boost from international markets (via Box Office Mojo), which combined to make up an impressive worldwide total. Elemental brought in more than $20 million each from the UK, France, and Mexico, and more than $15 million each from Germany, Brazil, China, and Japan. Elemental got a particularly big box office boost from South Korea, where it grossed more than $54 million. Director Peter Sohn is the son of Korean immigrants, and based the movie on his own experiences, so it resonated with Korean moviegoers.

Elemental's $484M Box Office Total Completed Its Successful Comeback

Elemental’s worldwide box office is currently sitting comfortably around $484 million, which is more than double its reported $200 million production budget. The general rule of thumb with box office receipts is that a movie needs to gross 2.5x its production budget to make back the marketing costs and turn a profit. Elemental’s $484 million is close to the 2.5x mark, which means it will at least break even. It may not become profitable for Disney and Pixar, but it won’t lose any money – and it certainly won’t be a box office disaster of Lightyear proportions. Slowly but surely, Pixar is earning back its hit factory reputation.

Source: Reuters, Box Office Mojo