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‘Elemental’ Surprises Overseas

elemental ember wade at air stadium elio character pixar easter egg
Credit: Pixar Animation Studios

Disney Pixar’s Elemental (2023) still has legs.

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ember fire element elemental disney/pixar leah lewis

Credit: Pixar Animation

Box Office Bomb?

After a slow start at the box office – some citing the Pixar movie as the studio’s biggest flop ever – Elemental (2023) is still surprising those in the industry. Despite the massive success of Barbie (2023) and Oppenheimer (2023), Pixar’s newest release is still making money.

In its 7th weekend, Elemental (2023) raked in another $16.1 million, bringing its overall global total to nearly $400 million.

wade flashback sponge water elemental elio easter egg pixar

Credit: Pixar Animation Studios

A Box Office…Break Even?

Although still far from the success of other Pixar films or even Universal Studios and Illiumination’s The Super Mario Bros Movie (2023), which grossed $1.3 billion, Elemental (2023) may still hit a break-even point. The film cost about $200 million to produce and is estimated to have spent about $200 in marketing – meaning it needs to hit $400 million to break even.

All studios, including the Walt Disney Studios, want their products to do more than just break even – but it’s still a vast improvement over its initial opening box office.

elemental ember wade fire water pixar flop peter sohn

Credit: Pixar Animation

Despite its lackluster opening weekend box office, the film has managed to have some legs, allowing it to turn in another few million dollars week over week. This is not something that many films enjoy. Some films, such as many Marvel titles, often have a massive opening weekend and little more activity or ticket sales afterward. This was part of the problem that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) experienced.

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Pixar’s Elemental (2023) currently has a 73% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 93% audience score. Directed by Peter Sohn, the movie stars the voice talents of Leah Lewis as Ember Lumen, Mamoudou Athie as Wade Ripple, Ronnie del Carmen as Bernie Lumen, Shila Ommi as Cinder Lumen, Wendi McLendon-Covey as Gale, Catherine O’Hara as Brook Ripple, and Mason Wertheimer as Clod.

It follows the story of Wade and Ember in Element City – a water element and fire element and their love story in a world where elements don’t mix.

Some sources state that Elemental (2023) is still eying a global haul of $500 million. But we shall see how long its slow burn will last…

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About Steven Wilk

Steven has a complicated relationship with Disney. As a child, he visited Walt Disney World every few years with his family. But he never understood why kids his age (and older) were so scared of Snow White or Alien Encounter. He is a former participant of the Disney College Program (left early…long story), and he also previously worked in Children’s publishing, where he adapted multiple Disney movies and TV shows. He has many controversial opinions about Disney…like having a positive view of Michael Eisner, believing Return of the Jedi is superior to The Empire Strikes Back, and that Toy Story Land and Galaxy’s Edge should have never been built (at least not at Hollywood Studios). Every year for the past two decades, Steven has visited either Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Aulani or went on a Disney Cruise. He’s happy to share any and all knowledge of the Disney destinations (and he likes using parenthesis a lot…as well as ellipses…)