The worst start in Pixar's modern history: The Incredibles grossed only $29.5 million in the US in its first weekend

By: Vladyslav Nuzhnov | 19.06.2023, 11:29

The Elemental animated film showed one of Pixar's worst results, grossing only $29.5 million in the US box office in its first weekend.

Here's What We Know

The Elements turned out to be a rather expensive project: $200 million was spent on development, and another $100 million was spent on marketing. It is likely that the cartoon will not be able to at least recoup the investment, let alone make a profit.

This is the worst start in Pixar's modern history. Even The Good Dinosaur (2015) and Onward (2020), which were also met with little fanfare, managed to raise $39 million each.

Outside of the US, the film grossed only $17 million, of which $5.2 million was collected in China.

Interestingly, the lowest gross in Pixar's history belongs to Toy Story, with $29.1 million. However, it is worth noting that this figure does not take into account inflation, as the film was released in 1995. There's no need to talk about Toy Story's cult status, but The Elements is unlikely to ever achieve that status.

The only thing that can somehow save The Elements is a high A rating on CinemaScore, but this will not change the situation dramatically.

Some experts are already worried that this result could lead to corporations stopping showing their cartoons in cinemas and immediately sending them to streaming services.

Of course, when you create a film based on a new IP, fundraising becomes more challenging, as even Spider-Man: Across the Universe attracted the attention of viewers who might not be familiar with the Marvel hero. But Pixar is a studio that in the past gave us such masterpieces as Toy Story, Monster Corp, Finding Nemo, WALL-E and others, and it is very sad to see the potential of this studio gradually fading away.

Flashback

The cartoon tells the story of the City of Elements, where water, earth, fire and air inhabitants live. The protagonist, Teplynka, is a fire element, who has made friends with a cheerful guy named Plin, a representative of the water element, and now they are going on a new adventure together, although the elements are forbidden to cross paths.

Source: variety