Summary
- Despite receiving mixed reviews and a disappointing opening weekend, Pixar’s Elemental has made a surprising $400 million comeback at the box office.
- Elemental’s box office success can be attributed to factors such as school summer holidays, less competition over time, strong word of mouth, and a low second weekend drop.
- The film’s international performance, particularly in South Korea, and its ability to serve as an alternative to other films targeting different audiences also contributed to its box office recovery. Additionally, the absence of Elemental on Disney+ may have incentivized viewers to watch it in theaters.
Pixar’s Elemental has had a surprisingly major $400 million comeback, and here’s why the film’s box office has improved so much. Despite Elemental receiving mixed critical reviews and shaping up to be a box office bomb, the film has managed to be fairly successful, making a huge comeback that has shocked many film fans. Elemental‘s box office survival is big news for Pixar, with it being one of the biggest box office stories of the summer of 2023. So, here is how Elemental has made its massive recovery at the box office, as well as an explanation of the eight reasons that caused it.
Pixar’s Elemental seemed to be a huge failure upon its release in June 2023, with the film having one of Pixar’s lowest-grossing opening weekends of all time. Although Elemental was projected to gross $35-40 million in its opening weekend, it ended up only bringing in $29.5 million, which was incredibly disappointing due to Elemental‘s massive $200 million budget. Although Elemental had a slow start, it seems to finally be turning a profit, with it having made $396.5 million as of the end of July 2023. Elemental‘s box office comeback is pretty astounding considering its initial failure, and here’s how it happened.
8 Elemental’s Box Office Is Benefiting From School Summer Holidays
One reason that Elemental has continuously brought in money is school summer holidays, with the break giving the film some serious legs. Due to Elemental being an animated Pixar movie, children and families are a big part of its demographic. Since most students are out of school throughout the summer, families are often looking for things to do with their kids, and going to see a movie is an easy choice. Since Elemental was out for the majority of summer break, parents continuously brought their children to Elemental throughout the summer, with the film’s box office being a slow burn after its initial failure.
7 Elemental Has Faced Less Direct Competition Over Time
One of the toughest challenges Elemental had to face was competition, with several blockbuster movies coming out around the same time. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and The Flash were both huge movies that were competition for Elemental during its initial weeks, with all three of these films targeting the same demographics. However, less family films came out as time went on, with Elemental losing much of its competition. Because of this, audiences may have overlooked Elemental at first only for them to decide to come back to it later in its theatrical run, improving its box office after the competition had disappeared.
6 Disney’s Elemental Marketing Campaign Was A Disaster
One huge problem that severely kneecapped Elemental was its disastrous marketing campaign. Disney attempted to market Elemental with vague trailers while also making the strange decision to heavily focus on the character of Clod, attempting to make him a meme, although this didn’t stick. By the time the film came out, Elemental‘s hook wasn’t clear, with it seeming like a knockoff of other movies Disney had released like Zootopia. However, as the film came out, Disney adjusted its marketing strategy, creating advertisements that were better suited for Elemental, although it was a bit too late.
5 Elemental’s Box Office Has Improved Thanks To Strong Word Of Mouth
Another thing that helped Elemental out was the strong word of mouth it received, causing some viewers to check it out later in its theatrical run. Although Elemental got off to a bad start by premiering at Cannes Film Festival, reception of the film warmed upon its wide release. Although it isn’t being called one of Pixar’s best, the reviews are overall positive, with the film even having an A on CinemaScore. This warm reception was good enough to make Elemental a success, as the summer of 2023 was full of poorly-received movies like The Flash, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and Haunted Mansion.
4 Elemental’s Second Weekend Box Office Drop Was Low
One sign of Elemental‘s big box office recovery was the low financial drop on the film’s second weekend. Elemental‘s box office only dropped 38%, meaning that it only made 38% less than it did on the film’s opening weekend. Although this is only compared to Elemental‘s abysmal opening weekend performance, a drop that small is a good sign of future box office returns, showing that the film could have some serious legs. So, although Elemental started off slow, its small weekend drops showed that the film maintained some strength throughout its theatrical run.
3 Elemental Performed Great At The Worldwide Box Office
Although Elemental‘s domestic performance wasn’t great, with it not performing well at the domestic box office, it was far more successful at the worldwide box office. Elemental was a huge success in South Korea, with the film being directed by Korean-American filmmaker Peter Sohn and being heavily inspired by South Korean culture. Overall, Elemental made $250.9 million outside the United States, with this worldwide box office making up a huge chunk of Elemental‘s box office success. Essentially, Elemental was saved by overseas film markets.
2 Elemental Acted As An Alternative To Barbenheimer
Another thing that seriously helped Elemental was it acting as an alternative to the Barbenheimer phonomena. Counter programming is a major strategy in the film industry, with it being the practice of releasing films around the same time of other films that are targeting different audiences, allowing for movie studios to maximize viewers and box office returns. As was already mentioned, Elemental initially struggled due to it having to go up against movies that were targeting similar audiences. However, Elemental‘s main competition throughout July was movies like Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, all of which targeted different audiences than the Pixar film.
1 Elemental Isn’t On Disney+ (Yet)
One of the biggest things that has hurt recent theatrical Pixar releases like Lightyear and Elemental is Disney+. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Disney had a habit of releasing Pixar movies either directly to the streaming service or soon after their theatrical releases. This seriously cheapened the Pixar brand, conditioning many audiences to simply skip Disney films in theaters in favor of waiting for their releases on Disney+. This has been pointed to as a big contributor to Disney’s multiple box office failures throughout 2023, with Elemental greatly suffering from this expectation.
However, as of the writing of this article, Elemental still isn’t on Disney+, and a release date still hasn’t been announced nearly two months out from the film’s theatrical release. This long wait could have caused some viewers to change their minds, going to the theater to see Elemental rather than waiting an indeterminate amount of time to watch it at home. Elemental may be breaking audiences of this Disney+ viewing habit, helping Elemental in its major box office recovery.
[ad_2]