Inside Out 2 | June 14, 2024 | Pixar does it again!

[John Marston]

14 minutes ago, cannastop said:

Yes, Elemental, Turning Red, and Luca had similar streaming ratings on Nielsen, which I guess supports the idea that the streaming Pixars could have been box office hits.

 

yeah but they probably would have done Elemental type numbers which for the costs is not enough 

[YM!]

2 minutes ago, John Marston said:

 

yeah but they probably would have done Elemental type numbers which for the costs is not enough 

Yeah but they would’ve helped enthusiasm for the overall brand and maybe even Elemental. Think TR would’ve done a bit more domestically and bit less worldwide but about the same as Elemental (180/480).

[AniNate]

19 minutes ago, cannastop said:

Would they do it without Brad Bird? And the cast is so old. I don't deny people will gobble it up though.

 

I can see one of their yes men taking it over like Fee or Scanlon, they probably would prefer to do it with Bird though, probably waiting to see how Ray Gunn turns out and if he comes crawling back. 

 

Ratatouille seems like it might be open to franchising, it's had solid staying power and has a lower stakes vibe, and wouldn't necessarily be something Bird would have to be involved in, bonus if they could get an upstart French transplant to helm that.

[Spidey Freak]

53 minutes ago, cannastop said:

If Docter was influenced by Grifttube, he wouldn't have approved these movies in the first place.

 

Turning Red was greenlit WAY BACK in 2018. I meant now when Iger and co. have somewhat been misled to believe the "Woke is Broke" culture warriors.

[AniNate]

Yeah idk, they still have Elio and presumably another original in early 2026 coming out. This article says what it says and it doesn't make sense but it is a publication targeted towards a money grubbing, politically right-leaning audience so will wait and see just how "unwoke" those movies actually end up being before passing any judgment.

 

 

Edited May 30 by AniNate

[cannastop]

1 minute ago, AniNate said:

Yeah idk, they still have Elio and presumably another original in early 2026 coming out. This article says what it says and it doesn't make sense but it is a publication targeted towards a money grubbing, politically right-leaning audience so will wait and see just how "unwoke" those movies actually end up being before passing any judgment.

 

 

Bloomberg isn't exactly Fox News.

 

I just feel a bit discouraged that they feel that all of their movies HAVE to make over $800m ww or something like that. At least that's what I sense. Elemental made a profit, but if that's not enough...

46 minutes ago, John Marston said:

 

yeah but they probably would have done Elemental type numbers which for the costs is not enough 

 

[AniNate]

1 minute ago, cannastop said:

Bloomberg isn't exactly Fox News.

 

I just feel a bit discouraged that they feel that all of their movies HAVE to make over $800m ww or something like that. At least that's what I sense. Elemental made a profit, but if that's not enough...

 

There are no direct quotes in that article specifically saying that Elemental's performance was disappointing, so I do suspect there is a lot of spin on the writer's part.

 

Ultimately I just don't think it's fair to write off their future slate just because some article implied it won't be as creative as before, although it is true that originals have always had an uphill battle in the court of online opinion, even the ones people are so passionate to defend as deeply personal projects now.

 

[John Marston]

2 minutes ago, AniNate said:

 

There are no direct quotes in that article specifically saying that Elemental's performance was disappointing, so I do suspect there is a lot of spin on the writer's part.

 

Ultimately I just don't think it's fair to write off their future slate just because some article implied it won't be as creative as before, although it is true that originals have always had an uphill battle in the court of online opinion, even the ones people are so passionate to defend as deeply personal projects now.

 

 

Elemental with its 200M budget before marketing likely didn’t make a profit.

 

 

Makes sense to me. Disney is looking at that Illumination money and they want some of that money 

[AniNate]

6 minutes ago, John Marston said:

 

Elemental with its 200M budget before marketing likely didn’t make a profit.

 

 

Makes sense to me. Disney is looking at that Illumination money and they want some of that money 

 

 

The "bland impersonal original" model is showing its cracks with them now. Migration is not any kind of example for Pixar to follow.

 

 

Edited May 30 by AniNate

[YM!]

2 minutes ago, John Marston said:

 

Elemental with its 200M budget before marketing likely didn’t make a profit.

 

 

Makes sense to me. Disney is looking at that Illumination money and they want some of that money 

I’m not denying Disney wants larger returns or that Elemental made at best a small profit, but Jim Morris the CFO said 460m would be just enough to turn a profit. The way Pixar is ran for reported budget includes everything for the movie and isn’t just production, including executive salaries which tend to be hidden in other companies or seperate P&A deals. 
 

I am unsure if originals can get to Illumination levels post pandemic when the highest original is Elemental at 155/495. We haven’t had an non IP original from any of the arms do over 500m.

[AniNate]

Regardless of what you thought of the teaser I do think Elio represents a legit "risky project" for Pixar, and if they're also moving forward on another Shi project I'm not inclined to read too much into this whole "no more wokeness" narrative, and no one else should either. It's button pushing with a few kernels of truth about the studio's future plans on the side. 

 

 

Edited May 30 by AniNate

[ThomasNicole]

2 hours ago, AniNate said:

 

Where does it say that in there? Seems like the article just going with the same strike rationale on the Elio delay. 

 

I do hate that it seems like personal original content is being discouraged when it never got a fair shake, although I also suspect the article is twisting direct quotes to fit its narrative, especially with how much it focuses on the Elemental opening weekend as a negative when I'm certain a lot of the blame for that can be placed on Lightyear killing brand enthusiasm.

It didn´t said it, it was just written in a way that implies it. 

 

They keep focusing on how Elemental opening was a scary moment and how it was very chaotic with a lot of pressure from Disney trying to course-correct their projects, added with many quotes from executives. When they said the strike made them postponed Elio and give them the shot to test if a sequel would work, it made it seem like the reason was mainly that Disney freaked out and decided to prioritize the safest bet over another original.

 

But yeah i agreed, the article can very much just twisting quotes to create a narrative.

[cannastop]

38 minutes ago, AniNate said:

Regardless of what you thought of the teaser I do think Elio represents a legit "risky project" for Pixar, and if they're also moving forward on another Shi project I'm not inclined to read too much into this whole "no more wokeness" narrative, and no one else should either. It's button pushing with a few kernels of truth about the studio's future plans on the side. 

 

 

Domee Shi might also be making something that complies with guidelines, though I don't think she did anything wrong before now.

[ThomasNicole]

2 hours ago, YM! said:

I mean they hastily turned Moana 2 into a movie out of fear of losing control of the Thanksgiving corridor days after Wish flopped. Also, allegedly, employees at Pixar have cited some story problems with Elio. Nothing to worry about though as happens frequently in animation and easier to turn around. I mean look at Ratatouille. 
 

Kind of peeved they’ll blame anyone but Iger and Chapek shafting their movies and instead taking it out on “autobiographical” takes. Luca and Turning Red dominated streaming and tbh pretty sure the latter was shaping up to be a hit before getting pulled to the Plus. Elemental had an awful OW but even with no real family competition was the first mainstream animation in summer to do a 5x multiple since Shrek back in 2001. And you can’t chalk it up to every new family film blows up on streaming as there’s reasons why Wish, Lightyear and Strange World didn’t connect on the Plus either.

 

 

Yeah i heard about the changes they´re doing on Elio, it´s probably true indeed, it happens with a lot of their movies. The article did said Disney was pressuring the storytellers, maybe the changes was due to that. 

 

Let´s just hope for the best, i think Pixar is in a good moment tbh. It´s a shame what Disney made with their D+ strategy because Soul, Luca and Turning Red was all top-tier Pixar imo, and while they was high succesful on streaming, it lacks the pedigree of a theatrical success release. 

 

They also got screwed coming back to theaters with one of their worst efforts with Lightyear, and while a good watch, Elemental is arguably their worst original in years. It was kinda funny tho how they talked about Elemental because that was very well liked by audiences and turn into a hit afterall according to Disney themselves, 500M on box office and the huge D+ streaming numbers really puts it way above Lightyear, Wish, Strange World etc. 

 

At least they can be relieved, IO2 sales seems pretty good and consistent during the past weeks, 80-90M seems quite safe. If it´s good like they´re confident it is, it can gain momentum and opens with +100M. 

[cannastop]

55 minutes ago, John Marston said:

Makes sense to me. Disney is looking at that Illumination money and they want some of that money 

Aim to make a SLOP, you get a SLOP 2. Or a Migration. In any case I don't think Pixar is trying to make movies exactly like Illumination does.

[ThomasNicole]

1 hour ago, John Marston said:

 

yeah but they probably would have done Elemental type numbers which for the costs is not enough 

Jim Morris did said Elemental was profitable tho. I´m 100% sure they was hoping for more than just not losing money, but it was one of their best performers since the pandemic. 

 

~500M for each movie [Soul - Luca - Turning Red - Elemental] on a 200M budget would be way better than spending 200M and getting nothing concrete with their huge numbers on D+.

[ZeroHour]

8 minutes ago, ThomasNicole said:

Jim Morris did said Elemental was profitable tho. I´m 100% sure they was hoping for more than just not losing money, but it was one of their best performers since the pandemic. 

 

~500M for each movie [Soul - Luca - Turning Red - Elemental] on a 200M budget would be way better than spending 200M and getting nothing concrete with their huge numbers on D+.

Not to mention the benefits of maintaining Pixar as a theatrical brand in the eyes of consumers. Elemental was undoubtedly dragged down by D+ subscribers who’ve gotten used to waiting for these movies to hit streaming. 

[Hades]

13 minutes ago, cannastop said:

Aim to make a SLOP, you get a SLOP 2. Or a Migration. In any case I don't think Pixar is trying to make movies exactly like Illumination does.

 

Funny  how Illumination lows of SLOP 2 and Migration still made more than A-list LightYear

[AniNate]

Main thing I took away from the article was their strategy now is 1:1 originals to franchises when it used to be 2:1 originals to franchises. So in that sense I do agree they are aiming for more commercial guarantees. 

 

So they are feeling the crunch, but if Elemental had really bombed i think they would've just shifted completely to sequels like what WDA is now doing.

[cannastop]

23 minutes ago, AniNate said:

Main thing I took away from the article was their strategy now is 1:1 originals to franchises when it used to be 2:1 originals to franchises. So in that sense I do agree they are aiming for more commercial guarantees. 

 

So they are feeling the crunch, but if Elemental had really bombed i think they would've just shifted completely to sequels like what WDA is now doing.

Funny thing is 10 years ago Ed Catmull insisted that it wasn't Disney who enforced the making of sequels. Maybe he left it unsaid that Pixar itself insists on sequels.