Pixar's Newest Movie, 'Elio', Is a Box-Office Dud | Hacker News Reader

Pixar's Newest Movie, 'Elio', Is a Box-Office Dud

nytimes.com

14 pointsBogdanp32 comments

Saw it this weekend, it's a solid Pixar movie. But I only learned about it because I was looking to go see a movie and Elio was the most original movie playing at the local theater; I'd heard nothing about it.

I have heard more about the two live-action remakes (Lilo and Stitch/How to Train Your Dragon) and the sequel (28 years later) that are currently showing.

People who have kids know it will be on streaming and can't afford the theatre. Figure it out. This isn't nostalgia IP, it's for actual children. Like who live in families with budgets and priorities. Catch me when the streaming numbers post.

I have kids and this post is the first I'm even hearing about it, but you're right I'm not rushing to the cinema, remortgaging my house only to surround myself with feral kids, I'll wait until it hits Disney Primeflix.

Yeah they killed it by not advertising at all

They've been playing trailers for it for literal years. It seems like we started seeing Elio trailers before kid's movies around fall or winter 2022. My wife and I had started wondering if it was ever going to come out.

People would go watch original movies in theaters every weekend when tickets were $6 a pop. Now a night at the movies for a family can run into the hundreds of dollars. The cost of a disappointing showing is simply too high. The audience will only pay for Fast & Furious part 27 and Toy Story 16, and so that's what we are stuck with.

One of my local theatres does a discount Tuesday with $5 tickets. Over the years the price has crept up to $5.75, but it’s still an easier sell to friends and family. Of course if you buy online they add almost $2 to the price of a ticket… but that’s another rant.

> if you buy online they add almost $2 to the price of a ticket

What's the logic behind this practice? Since there is no need for employee to be involved then shouldn't online bought ticket be even cheaper?

Usually they call it a convenience fee or something like that, basically recognizing that certainty and not having to talk with people are worth a lot to many people.

Sinners though

Yeah you’re not wrong there. My fam of 4 went to see Minecraft when it came out, $80+ on tickets, another $30 or so on snacks. I’m not even sure enjoy watching films at the movies vs on my couch at home anymore. My big OLED has really put a dampener on the movie going experience.

If it wasn't obvious, using Box-Office numbers as a catch-all measure of film success hasn't been reasonable since we came out of Covid. Streaming counts are beginning to play a larger role. It's why so many large studios are willing to make Direct-To-Streaming Movies instead of releasing them in theaters- Sony's (well-rated) "Kpop Demon Hunters" is the most recent example to come to mind.

I think it’s 3D calarts style is off putting. The original Pixar character designs are so much better and this feels like a step backwards.

This… is an interesting point I hadn’t considered. Does this apply to Turning Red as well?

Not sure about Turning Red, but it was a common criticism of Win or Lose, their Disney+ series from a few months ago.

Yes, I feel like it's some new kind of uncanny valley. It's weird because in 2D it's not so bad and in Claymation it works well (Wallace and Gromit) but there's something about the hyperreal Calarts style that just is not pleasant to look at.

The Incredibles was peak Pixar character art style.

The original Pixar characters were also CalArts style; in fact they were more CalArts than the modern "beansmile" characters. The "A113" easter egg in many Pixar movies refers to a classroom at CalArts. "CalArts style" was a slur coined by John Kricfalusi for animation from the likes of Disney and Don Bluth from the 1970s-1980s or so, with its emphasis on details and stylized realism, which he loathed. (John Kricfalusi loathes any animation not in the style of Bob Clampett, and I think he also loathes women older than 18 years old...)

Later, chuds picked up on this term and used it to refer to "any animation I don't like" which is where we are today. Let's stop using CalArts as a slur. The institute produced and continues to produce very fine animators.

[flagged]

Words evolve and change meaning over time. "Calarts animation" today just means the beansmile Grubhub ad style of animation, it has nothing to do with 80s Disney art styles, chuds, 4chan users or whatever it was you meant to say.

I never heard of the movie, haven't seen any advertisements (YouTube, Radio, friends).

Not super great of them to release an original movie so close to Lilo and Stitch, which is still in theaters and just crossed $900M world-wide. And of course, How to Train Your Dragon, as mentioned in the article.

https://archive.md/58LAy

Really too bad - this one works well for a 4 year old, which has honestly been a rare find for us.

That said, I only found out about it by chance when looking for the release date of 28 Years Later

It did look expensive on screen, but $250 million?! I think they could have spent much less without seriously affecting the things that mattered most. A visual downgrade wouldn’t have stopped us from enjoying it.

I might be wrong but my assumption is a big part of costs was a substantial retooling of the plot. Originally it has America Fererra as Elios mother, who was replaced with Zoe Saldana only last August (??). Additionally the first trailer seems to indicate an entirely different plot than the one in the finished product

Oh - it seems there was a directorial change and substantial rework: https://screenrant.com/elio-pixar-changes-different-how-why/

I admit the general aesthetic was off-putting and was a bit hard to get excited for in the previews.

Looking at the producer's prior work, I can see why it wouldn't appeal to me: I wasn't a fan of Coco, The Good Dinosaur, or Brave either.

It didn't help that Brad Garrett's voice just didn't seem to ..fit?.. their character, despite the rest of the cast.

I mean on Disney+ right now Elio is 3rd on the carousel behind Frozen on Ice and Spidey and His Amazing Friends. Doesn't seem like they were promoting it that hard.

You would think a 250 million dollar investment would give them top billing right after its release.

That’s just a movie trailer. The film is not available outside theaters.

> Pixar movies are still produced entirely in the United States, increasing labor costs. Some other studios have started to rely on overseas production.

This is so offensive.

Not to sound cheeky, but which part?

The contempt for hiring American workers at an American company.

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