'Elio' Failed With a Pathetic $37M: Here's What Went Wrong With Pixar's Biggest Box Office Flop

Pixar, known for hits like Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., and Coco, suffered a resounding failure with its new animated movie, Elio.

'Elio' Is the Biggest Box Office Flop in Pixar's History

It was released in theaters on June 20 and received high scores from critics and viewers on Rotten Tomatoes — 83% and 91%, respectively — yet it became the studio's worst box office failure. What went wrong?

So far, Elio has grossed only $37 million on a budget of $150 million, not counting marketing costs. This is Pixar's worst result ever, even worse than The Good Dinosaur, which at least paid for itself in the long run.

'Elio' Didn't Have a Large-Scale Ad Campaign to Attract Viewers

Elio was originally positioned as a bold and touching story about a boy who accidentally becomes Earth's ambassador to another planet. The bet was on the emotional impact and original plot.

However, many viewers were unaware of the movie because there was no memorable ad campaign. The trailers did not generate much interest, and the concept itself – the story of a boy who becomes an ambassador to another planet – seemed too abstract to viewers. Redditor AGOTFAN wrote:

“I wonder if the test screening was so bad that Disney completely lost faith in this movie and thus gave it minimal marketing. [...] An original movie has to work twice as hard as an IP movie to attract a good opening weekend audience, and Disney completely dropped the marketing ball.”

All the Pixar Movies From the Last Few Years Look the Same

The second main complaint from fans is that the animation style has not changed in any of the movies released in the last five years. Reddit user Vaporeonbuilt4humans commented:

“Tip for Pixar: Stop using the same art style. I legit believe thats the only reason Pixar isn't doing too well lately. Their style is just.. boring now. [...] I think even with marketing, people just wouldn't care for this movie.”

In most of its movies, Pixar uses non-human characters, but when it comes to ordinary boys and girls, they seem to be the same characters.

Luca, Turning Red, the recent series Win or Lose, and Elio seem to have been animated by the same person. While some details are different, the characters generally look the same.

'Elio' Is an Important Lesson for Pixar

Viewers still remember how Pixar knew how to surprise, and how impressive the animators' experiments with forms and styles were. Each new project brought something unique and breathtaking with unexpected solutions.

Nowadays, Pixar movies no longer evoke such emotions – we see the same visual solutions on posters, in trailers and then in films themselves.

For now, Elio is a bitter lesson for the studio. Only time will tell if Pixar can return to its former glory. One thing is already clear, though – high-quality animation alone is no longer enough.