When Disney and Pixar’s “Elemental” opened to $29.6 million domestically, the second-worst opening for a Pixar film ever, the project was quickly dubbed a costly flop.
Not helping was a disastrous Cannes Film Festival debut coloring the perception of the film, even as later critical reviews saw a big jump in positive reaction.
The soft domestic opening also followed in the wake of last year’s Disney animated films “Lightyear” and “Strange World,” which made just $226.4 million and $73.6 million respectively in total box-office grosses worldwide. It’s estimated those two films lost the studio a combined $303 million.
Then came a surprise – the fortunes of “Elemental” began to change. The film hung in there, seeing minimal drops between weekends and scoring solid word of mouth. In fact, the film has become something of a sleeper hit – pulling in $425 million worldwide thus far.
Now, Disney has issued a press release to quash reports the film was a flop, saying it had “more spark than fire” upon release, but it also “didn’t evaporate at the box office”.
Whilst its opening was terrible, the film’s domestic gross of $136 million so far is “about five times its domestic opening weekend haul, which is a rare accomplishment in a theatrical world” says the studio.
They add that no Pixar movie has seen a multiple like this since the studio’s 1995 debut feature “Toy Story”. It’s also the first original animated film to pass the $400 million mark since 2017.
“Elemental” is in theaters worldwide now and will hit Digital on Tuesday, August 15th.
Source: The Walt Disney Company
