There’s bad news for Elio, the latest animated outing from Pixar. The story of a boy who longs to be abducted by aliens and then finds himself in over his head when his wish comes true is projected to gross only $22 million in its opening weekend. This grants it the lowest-grossing opening weekend in history.
Elio Opens in Third Place at the Box Office
According to ScreenRant, Elio was crushed by the live-action How to Train Your Dragon, which maintains the #1 spot in its second week, and 28 Years Later, the latest entry in the iconic 28 Days Later horror franchise, which opened at #2. Elio also has the lowest box office opening in Pixar history, behind even their debut film, Toy Story, which opened at $29.1 million. It should be noted that Toy Story came out thirty years ago, and those numbers are not adjusted for inflation. In addition, Pixar hadn’t yet proven itself as a powerhouse when Toy Story opened.
What Went Wrong?
The trailer for Elio made it look like fun, but Disney didn’t market the movie much until very recently. In addition, the movie is competing directly with How to Train Your Dragon, which is a remake of an iconic movie with a dedicated fan base. Even people who aren’t huge fans of the How to Train Your Dragon series might want to see the remake just to be wowed by CGI dragons flying around. It almost feels like Disney sent Elio out to die.
What Was the Budget for Elio?
Supposedly, the budget was $150 million, meaning that it will be an uphill climb to break even after its disappointing opening weekend. While it is still possible that word of mouth could get around and cause more people to see the movie, this could still be bad news for Disney, greenlighting more original projects. Given that most of Disney’s box office hits are sequels or remakes, Elio’s low opening weekend could send the message that the public doesn’t want original films. I’m hoping more people will support this movie in the coming weeks, but there’s a good chance that Disney will use it as an excuse to concentrate even more on sequels and remakes.
