Things are looking bad at Pixar... The studios with the lamp, celebrated for their originality and their films as funny as they are moving, are in a bind. Elio, which revives this lost tradition, has had a disastrous start at the global box office, the worst ever for a Pixar production. The announcement of their new strategy comes at the heart of this complicated period, and is likely to trigger mixed reactions from their fans.
Elio, a failure for Pixar
These lines are difficult to write, but sadly true: Pixar's magic is no longer as infallible as it used to be. And yet, Elio, their latest original creation, received very positive feedback from the press before its theatrical release. But since it opened in theaters last week, the feature film has grossed just $21 million in the U.S. That's the studio's worst-ever box office debut. On the other hand, the live-action How to Train Your Dragon, with which it's competing, is a smash hit, proving how difficult it is to predict audience expectations. While many viewers are stressing their weariness with the countless sequels and live-action adaptations of their favorite cartoons, demanding more original projects from studios, the theatrical results are the opposite of these stances.
"We want original Pixar films not Toy Story 5" then doesn't watch the original films they make pic.twitter.com/bYcV3wZq5k
— Ty (@MajorsFan) June 22, 2025
"We want original Pixar movies, not a Toy Story 5," then don't watch the original movies made by Pixar.
Pixar unveils its new strategy
It is in this rather gloomy context for Pixar that Pete Docter, the studio's artistic director and director of several of their masterpieces, shared his new strategy. He explained during a roundtable organized by Fast Company that they must find a balance between original films and sequels, as audiences have had a notable preference for the latter for several years. To limit the risk of financial failure and ensure stable revenue for the studio, they decided to alternate between new projects and sequels to their successful franchises.
We must discover what people want before they know it themselves. Because if we only gave them what they know, we would be making Toy Story 27.
Disney, a key factor in Pixar's difficulties
As we explained in an article posted this weekend, Pixar has been subject to Disney's disastrous policy for several years, which largely explains their new strategy. Faced with demands from their parent company to capitalize on their pre-existing successes instead of innovating with new stories, the studio has already begun to play the "franchise game" for several years. Pete Docter nevertheless explains that they are committed to always innovating and remaining creative, even though the easy way would be to just create sequels.
It's a difficult time, and all we can do is try to make the movies we make. We have to believe in it. [...] It takes as much work and effort to make a movie that doesn't make money as it does to make one that does. And you can't really plan for that kind of thing. Sometimes, you just need to find the right combination of elements.
Let's also add that many Internet users are complaining about the lack of publicity surrounding Elio, explaining that they weren't even aware that the film had already been released in theaters...
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