It's not looking good for Pixar's latest offering, "Elio," which tanked at the box office with a $21 million opening weekend in North America, trailing behind the current chart-toppers and setting a record-low for the animation studio. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, this disappointing performance comes as the Emeryville-based animation giant sees its weakest debut since inception, with a global total of just $35 million that's barely a dent in its $250 million production and marketing costs.
Disney-owned Pixar might have hoped for a repeat of "Inside Out 2's" success, but "Elio" was left in the space dust by Universal's "How to Train Your Dragon" which clung on to the No. 1 spot with $37 million in its second weekend, not to mention the respectable showing from Sony's "28 Years Later" which racked up $30 million domestically and another $30 million internationally with a combined total of $60 million beating Pixar's lone astronaut by lengths, even with positive word-of-mouth and an "A" CinemaScore, "Elio" didn't have the gravitational pull to amass the crowds.
Despite the dire start, there's a shimmer of hope from the robust scores audiences have given "Elio," including an 85% Rotten Tomatoes average, indicating that the film could potentially mimic the trajectory of 2023’s “Elemental,” another Pixar film that rallied after a dismal debut, as noted by Variety. It's a silver lining Pixar is clinging to, considering "Elemental" managed to eventually rake in nearly $500 million globally after a tepid start.
In contrast, other studios are celebrating their take at the box office; the live-action "How to Train Your Dragon" continues to dominate domestically and worldwide, while long-standing franchises like "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning," despite its staggering $400 million production cost, have maintained steady numbers, nevertheless the "28 Years Later" series, reanimated by creator Danny Boyle, is setting the stage for a new zombie-ridden trilogy with its promising kickoff performance.
