Widescreen: How Disney+ created Pixar's 'Elemental' box office woes
Pixar's "Elemental" hit theaters last week with a resounding thud - the latest high-concept animated film from the Disney division debuted with a $29 million opening weekend, the lowest first-frame total for the studio since the original "Toy Story" came out in 1995.
There are many reasons why "Elemental" hit a 28-year low; political fallout from Disney's public feud with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is one of them, surely, but the likely main culprit has nothing to do with the parent company's stance on social issues.
Even if your kids really wanted to see "Elemental" - a romantic comedy in which a sentient flame falls in love with a sentient water blob (yes, really) - there's a good chance that you, the person with the bank account, didn't feel like paying $50 to spend two hours in a movie theater when you know it will be on Disney+ in 2-3 months. Disney trained us to think this way with a baffling pandemic release strategy for Pixar films that sent "Soul," "Luca" and "Turning Red" straight to Disney+ at no extra cost, and with no theatrical release. (Last year's ill-conceived "Toy Story" spinoff, "Lightyear," went to theaters, where it petered out at $118 million.)
Meanwhile, Disney's other tentpole movies like "Black Widow," "Jungle Cruise" and "Cruella" were still getting theatrical releases, with streaming versions available the same day at premium cost. The signal from then-CEO Bob Chapek was pretty clear: Pixar movies aren't worth your money.
The solution isn't as simple as making the theatrical window larger, although it is time for movie studios across the board to do that. Would Universal's "Fast X" have been sitting at $242 million instead of $142 million this week if moviegoers weren't able to rent it at home already? Or if they knew it wouldn't be on Peacock until, say, December?
The problem with holding off on home releases for Disney is that Disney+ still isn't a moneymaker. The streaming division's operating loss decreased - decreased, mind you - to $1.1 billion in this year's second quarter, according to Variety. Disney+ needs to give prospective subscribers a reason to pay up, and the promise of exclusive access to tentpole movies is certainly a big one.
Pixar's release schedule tells us what Disney thinks is the solution: more sequels. "Inside Out 2" is coming next June, and rumblings about "Toy Story 5" have just begun.
If those fail, I fear that Pixar will be shuttered, or consigned to making cheap straight-to-streaming franchise spinoffs. Either one would be a sad fate for the artists who gave us Buzz, Woody, Mike Wazowski and WALL-E.
• Sean Stangland is an assistant news editor who thought "Elemental's" plot sounded like an "SNL" parody of a Pixar movie.