Pixar's next movies: Elio

[mdmost 43001]

2024

 

[0xdeadbeef 1651]

Less than Meh. Maybe I'm jaded, but the teaser seems to lack any sense of Joy.  It doesn't look fun, exciting, or interesting.   And based on that teaser alone, I feel like I already know the plot.

Compare that to the original Cars trailer that had humor and looked like something new. 

 

[Michael Knight 12977]

Pixars last good non-sequel was Coco 6 years ago. They've lost the magic, it seems to have gone to the Disney Animation side

[HonkeyVape 107]

55 minutes ago, Michael Knight said:

Pixars last good non-sequel was Coco 6 years ago. They've lost the magic, it seems to have gone to the Disney Animation side

Yea, the well has run dry for sure. You can trace the downfall back to The Good Dinosaur (which I actually liked a lot more than critics and audience), where the originals are all very underwhelming (save Coco) and are generally known as mediocre (Turning Red, Onward, Luca, Elemental looks like etc.) and then sequels that should have never been made but for a money-grab (Incredibles 2, Cars 3, with Toy Story 4 and then Lightning being the worst offenders).

I left out Soul because I thought it was interesting and creative, even if the target audience of children and parents didn't like it that much, and Finding Dory because while I thought it was not very good, it had a lot of hype and demand to be made and did big numbers.

[UT_OB1 2221]

I enjoyed Onward and rewatched it a number of times at my kids request (about 6 and 8 when it came out). Turning red was also enjoyed and rewatched. I think maybe some of y’all are just getting too old. 

[mdmost 43001]

I enjoyed them all but maybe I’m just getting easier to please in my midlife years.

[HonkeyVape 107]

Maybe so, maybe so. Old people like bland things and easy to swallow things…like sugar free jello. Pixar is the sugar free jello of kids snacks these days.

[Buzzrock 14920]

Wow, I didn’t realize Inside Out was 8 years old. Last good one imo.

[Sam Lin 3556]

Coco was a masterpiece.

[Guadaloopy 10968]

14 hours ago, Sam Lin said:

Coco was a masterpiece.

Personally, no movie scene has ever turned on the waterworks like Miguel singing "Remember Me" to Mama Coco.  

[GreenspointTexas 9600]

13 minutes ago, Guadaloopy said:

Personally, no movie scene has ever turned on the waterworks like Miguel singing "Remember Me" to Mama Coco.  

This

[Okie State 3819]

I thought Soul was great and also really enjoyed Onward. I agree things have generally gone downhill though.

[Biff Tannen 45682]

On 6/13/2023 at 12:26 PM, HonkeyVape said:

Yea, the well has run dry for sure. You can trace the downfall back to The Good Dinosaur (which I actually liked a lot more than critics and audience), where the originals are all very underwhelming (save Coco) and are generally known as mediocre (Turning Red, Onward, Luca, Elemental looks like etc.) and then sequels that should have never been made but for a money-grab (Incredibles 2, Cars 3, with Toy Story 4 and then Lightning being the worst offenders).

I left out Soul because I thought it was interesting and creative, even if the target audience of children and parents didn't like it that much, and Finding Dory because while I thought it was not very good, it had a lot of hype and demand to be made and did big numbers.

Aww, I liked Luca.  Probably biased because I had just gotten back from Cinque Terre a few months earlier.

[NWBuck 8557]

10 hours ago, Guadaloopy said:

Personally, no movie scene has ever turned on the waterworks like Miguel singing "Remember Me" to Mama Coco.  

Saw it with my daughters three days after my mom died. Dude strums the guitar, little boo reaches over and pats my arm, and I was done.

Edited June 15, 2023 by NWBuck

[HonkeyVape 107]

13 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

Aww, I liked Luca.  Probably biased because I had just gotten back from Cinque Terre a few months earlier.

We actually watched Luca last week again because we enjoyed it decently enough the first time we saw it, but ended up turning it off 1/3 of the way through. It was pretty good but not one you rewatch IMO.

But yes, had I just gotten back from the Mediterranean I'm sure it would hit different.

[Steamboat1874 4058]

On 6/13/2023 at 11:06 PM, Buzzrock said:

Wow, I didn’t realize Inside Out was 8 years old. Last good one imo.

Inside Out was brilliant.

[Don Johnson 4753]

 

[HonkeyVape 107]

3 hours ago, Don Johnson said:

 

Not gonna lie, kinda glad to see it flopped because it looked lame and uninspired (lol @ "element city") -- it's like when you want UT to lose out so hopefully it inspires positive change:

Quote

 

Elemental, Pixar’s newest animated feature, debuts today, and if you haven’t heard much excitement around it, it’s because there isn’t any. The movie, which follows two different anthropomorphic elements from different “cultures” who fall in love, was expected to disappoint before you could ask, “Wait, they live in…Element City?”

The film is expected to gross $35 million–$45 million in domestic box office sales in its opening weekend, which, despite how much money that is to our brains, is pretty mid for the industry—especially for the famed studio behind megahits like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and Up. (For context, the animated Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse scored $120.5 million in its opening weekend.)

The muted buzz around Elemental, arriving after an uninspiring slate of Pixar movies during the pandemic, has sparked another round of everyone’s favorite conversation starter:

What happened to Pixar’s mojo?

This question isn’t new. Every few years, culture writers declare that Pixar has lost its magic touch, blaming everything from its sale to corporate overlord Disney to its overreliance on sequels. But, as soon as critics finish roasting The Good Dinosaur or Cars 2, Pixar responds with a right jab. Toy Story 4, released in 2019, was the studio’s second-highest-grossing film ever, raking in $1.1 billion.

At the moment, though, the “Pixar slump” theory is winning.

Onward’s unfortunately timed early pandemic theatrical release only brought in $142 million worldwide.

Soul, Luca, and Turning Red were released directly on Disney+ between October 2020 and March 2022. And while they received great reviews, they weren’t commercial successes.

Pixar made its big return to theaters in summer of 2022 with the Toy Story spinoff, Lightyear. However, that film flopped with a meager $226 million in global box office sales, and Lightyear’s director and other Pixar execs were fired earlier this month.

Big picture: You can bet that reviving Pixar to its former glory is near the top of Disney CEO Bob Iger’s to-do list. But now, like Nemo, it’s not the only fish in the animated sea. Universal has emerged as a fierce rival, producing the last three highest-grossing animated movie releases: The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Minions: The Rise of Gru, and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

 

 

[mdmost 43001]

Well that and you’re just a shitty person, in general. 
 

People seem to only want sequels or movies that play on nostalgia now.

Edited June 17, 2023 by mdmost

[Sam Lin 3556]

Lightyear was SUCH a waste of potential. Could have gone so many ways with Buzz life and development, easily a whole series of movies there with a well-loved and recognized character that had strong family fanbase. It could have started a modern kids' series of space adventure movies with the brand recognition of Star Trek.

Instead they took his character and made it totally one-dimensional stereotype, made everyone else wooden stereotypes as well, and somehow picked a plot that was so buried in science (relativity) that it confused the shit out of most parents, much less the kids. Which is ok if it is entertaining, but it was boring as fuck.

The movie in the trailer looked badass and exciting. Exploring new alien worlds as a badass spaceman. The actual movie wasn't, at all. We got midlife-crisis ex-spaceman obsessed with fixing his mistake.

[Rimbo 25928]

On 6/14/2023 at 11:31 AM, Guadaloopy said:

Personally, no movie scene has ever turned on the waterworks like Miguel singing "Remember Me" to Mama Coco.  

Every time I see it, it hits me harder.

[Rimbo 25928]

15 hours ago, mdmost said:

Well that and you’re just a shitty person, in general. 
 

People seem to only want sequels or movies that play on nostalgia now.

I mean, Soul felt to me like a retread of Inside Out. My son ADORED Onward, and I remember liking it as I watched it, but that's all I remember. Turning Red seemed to get a lot of hate from the anti-"Woke" crowd so it's on my list for that alone, but... haven't been in the mood.

I didn't realize Pixar had a new movie out, and I didn't care about it now that I recall what it was.

The thing is, Pixar has a definite, deliberate formula that they follow. But all formulas, no matter how good they are (and no mistake, Pixar's is very, very good), get stale over time without something new to spice it up.

You know what else happened about this time? John Lasseter left. Now, his shitcanning was deserved and appropriate from all accounts (including his), and he really, REALLY tried to build a company that wasn't built around just one person, but look at the timing and the quality of movies since...

[mdmost 43001]

21 hours ago, Rimbo said:

I mean, Soul felt to me like a retread of Inside Out. My son ADORED Onward, and I remember liking it as I watched it, but that's all I remember. Turning Red seemed to get a lot of hate from the anti-"Woke" crowd so it's on my list for that alone, but... haven't been in the mood.

I didn't realize Pixar had a new movie out, and I didn't care about it now that I recall what it was.

The thing is, Pixar has a definite, deliberate formula that they follow. But all formulas, no matter how good they are (and no mistake, Pixar's is very, very good), get stale over time without something new to spice it up.

You know what else happened about this time? John Lasseter left. Now, his shitcanning was deserved and appropriate from all accounts (including his), and he really, REALLY tried to build a company that wasn't built around just one person, but look at the timing and the quality of movies since...

I liked Soul but I'm a jazz fan. It definitely wasn't a movie for kids but I think that's also why Disney dropped it on Disney+ and didn't even bother with a full theatrical release. I thought Onward was pretty solid, especially as someone whose dad passed away. I haven't watched it since but I don't tend to rewatch movies now anyway. Turning Red was good but it was always going to have a limited audience as most Disney movies aimed at girls do. There was nothing in that movie for boys to want to go see.  

I agree that there's been a bit of a talent drain from Pixar but I think that's moved over to Disney Animation. I think Disney's bigger problem is they've now released 5 Pixar movies and 2 Disney Animation movies that quickly make it to Disney+. They've trained their audiences to just wait a little while and you can just catch all these at home for $10 a month. That's a lot better than $80 at the theater. 

I guess I'm not understanding what makes Encanto a hit, albeit not a huge money maker but I think that Covid was still a player, and Strange World such a bomb. Supposedly the latter was a big hit on Disney+ streaming, which I think speaks to Disney needs to retool Disney+ or at least push the release window much farther out. Other studios don't have that option. 

 

[CooterBrown 18010]

I didn’t even know Elemental was out already. Did Disney scale back the release? I went to the Village Alamo last night and it’s not even showing there. Looking at the Alamo app right now, it’s the 10th movie listed and you have to page way down to even find it.

[HonkeyVape 107]

On 6/18/2023 at 10:35 AM, mdmost said:

 

I guess I'm not understanding what makes Encanto a hit, albeit not a huge money maker but I think that Covid was still a player, and Strange World such a bomb. Supposedly the latter was a big hit on Disney+ streaming, which I think speaks to Disney needs to retool Disney+ or at least push the release window much farther out. Other studios don't have that option. 

 

I think it's the music. Pixar, unlike most Disney movies, don't have huge, memorable (and billboard topping) original songs which anchor a lot of the littles to the movies for repeat viewings. Let It Go, Talk About Bruno, etc.

Edited June 19, 2023 by HonkeyVape

[tokamak 6428]

I'm definitely in the "Pixar has fallen off" crowd. I have young kids so I see these movies a bunch. I'm not saying the newer movies are shit, or unwatchable, but they're just "fine", whereas several of the older movies are truly magical.

Last truly great one IMO was Inside Out in 2015. Coco, TS4, and Soul were all very good. Everything else since then has been just OK. My kids liked them, they're well made, it's a pleasant enough way to spend 90 minutes, but ultimately forgettable. Haven't seen Lightyear or Elemental yet.

Compare that to early Pixar: TS1, 2, and 3, Nemo, Incredibles, Ratatouille, and WALL-E. Holy shit what a run. Even Cars and Monsters, Inc. have a freshness to them that the newer stuff doesn't IMO. In a way, they're victims of their own success because they trained us to expect something fucking amazing pretty much every time for the first 15ish years.

Maybe it's just nostalgia as people my age have gone from the target audience for Pixar movies to parents now. I don't think so, though. We actually just rewatched Nemo the other day, and as a grown man - that is just an incredibly well made movie. Something like Luca or Turning Red just isn't even in the same ballpark.

[HonkeyVape 107]

1 hour ago, tokamak said:

I'm definitely in the "Pixar has fallen off" crowd. I have young kids so I see these movies a bunch. I'm not saying the newer movies are shit, or unwatchable, but they're just "fine", whereas several of the older movies are truly magical.

Last truly great one IMO was Inside Out in 2015. Coco, TS4, and Soul were all very good. Everything else since then has been just OK. My kids liked them, they're well made, it's a pleasant enough way to spend 90 minutes, but ultimately forgettable. Haven't seen Lightyear or Elemental yet.

Compare that to early Pixar: TS1, 2, and 3, Nemo, Incredibles, Ratatouille, and WALL-E. Holy shit what a run. Even Cars and Monsters, Inc. have a freshness to them that the newer stuff doesn't IMO. In a way, they're victims of their own success because they trained us to expect something fucking amazing pretty much every time for the first 15ish years.

Maybe it's just nostalgia as people my age have gone from the target audience for Pixar movies to parents now. I don't think so, though. We actually just rewatched Nemo the other day, and as a grown man - that is just an incredibly well made movie. Something like Luca or Turning Red just isn't even in the same ballpark.

So true. We have Nemo and Cars in the Tahoe for the TV's and can watch on repeat until we get tired of it and all the recent (last 5 years) hits have been Illumination/Dreamworks. 

[Sam Lin 3556]

On 6/18/2023 at 12:36 AM, Rimbo said:

The thing is, Pixar has a definite, deliberate formula that they follow. But all formulas, no matter how good they are (and no mistake, Pixar's is very, very good), get stale over time without something new to spice it up.

You know what else happened about this time? John Lasseter left. Now, his shitcanning was deserved and appropriate from all accounts (including his), and he really, REALLY tried to build a company that wasn't built around just one person, but look at the timing and the quality of movies since...

This is where it died. The "formula" was really that their movies had so many layers of story, their characters had complex development, every age group/audience sector got something meaningful out of every movie. Lasseter was an absolute master there. Their newer stuff has lost the layers and lost the magic in doing so.

Incredibles was a great example, look at the dad's character from movie 1 to movie 2. The character went from a complex, internally torn, emotional and growing human into a stereotype caricature with a single focus. Lightyear was another. Buzz was one supporting character in Toy Story, yet had more personality and more character development in Toy Story than in Lightyear (an entire movie about him!), where he also became a stereotype caricature with a single focus.

Lasseter made his characters human. Pixar since then has made its characters stereotypes.

[HonkeyVape 107]

The stakes were high for Elemental, Pixar’s 27th feature film, made on a $200m+ budget.

But if you’d taken a look at the TikTok consumer sentiment index — known more widely as the comments section — the outcome here might’ve seemed pretty obvious.

Top comments on Elemental’s recent TikTok ads, viewed by millions, include negative reactions like:

“The Disney magic is fading away.”

“Can’t wait to not watch this.”

“It’ll probably make, like, $20 at the box office. $21, if they’re lucky.”

By that measure, Pixar won the lottery this weekend — but by other measures, Elemental failed to build chemistry with audiences, opening to $29.5m at the box office, below analysts’ modest expectations.

While other recent animated films, like Universal’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Minions: The Rise of Gru, have posted record results — $1.33B and $939.6m worldwide, respectively — Pixar has struggled to heat up.

Elemental’s opening was Pixar’s second-lowest ever, after Toy Story’s $29.1m in 1995... until you adjust for inflation. Today, Toy Story’s opening would be worth ~$57.6m, 98% more than Elemental’s.

The studio hoped Elemental would be a rebound after Lightyear’s box office disappointment, and a momentary high note after Pixar laid off 75 people in May amid Disney’s wider cuts.

[GoPokes83 2240]

Personally, no movie scene has ever turned on the waterworks like Miguel singing "Remember Me" to Mama Coco.  

The Carl and Ellie montage at the beginning of Up kicks me in the feels every time.

I wonder if they’ll address whatever BB gun/masturbation accident caused little Elio to have that eye patch?

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4976]

On 6/20/2023 at 8:29 AM, HonkeyVape said:

But if you’d taken a look at the TikTok consumer sentiment index — known more widely as the comments section — the outcome here might’ve seemed pretty obvious.

I didn't realize @Helobious was a journalist.

[Guadaloopy 10968]

2 hours ago, GoPokes83 said:

The Carl and Ellie montage at the beginning of Up kicks me in the feels every time.

Oh man.  Screw you for even bringing that up.  

That movie came out the same year my wife and I closed the book on our infertility journey.  It was rough then, and I can’t even watch it now.  

[tokamak 6428]

2 hours ago, GoPokes83 said:

The Carl and Ellie montage at the beginning of Up kicks me in the feels every time.

I wonder if they’ll address whatever BB gun/masturbation accident caused little Elio to have that eye patch?

The three most effective Pixar feels moments, IMO:

• Bing Bong sacrifices himself for the sake of Riley's long term happiness - "sing louder, Joy, sing louder!"
• The gang accepts their fate together in the trash incinerator in TS3
• Anton Ego eats something so good that it transports him to another time and changes his outlook on life

[HonkeyVape 107]

4 hours ago, tokamak said:

The three most effective Pixar feels moments, IMO:

• Bing Bong sacrifices himself for the sake of Riley's long term happiness - "sing louder, Joy, sing louder!"
• The gang accepts their fate together in the trash incinerator in TS3
• Anton Ego eats something so good that it transports him to another time and changes his outlook on life

The Peter O'Toole monologue is easily the best singular example of writ Ping and execution to the storyline in Pixar history.

[CooterBrown 18010]

It seems like that recently Pixar tries so hard to make important animation that has a message, that they completely miss the mark on making enjoyable animation.

[ChickenSandwich 9834]

Organic messaging vs forced narrative. 

[Sam Lin 3556]

13 hours ago, GoPokes83 said:

The Carl and Ellie montage at the beginning of Up kicks me in the feels every time.

Immediately after watching, I told a friend the movie could have been only those 5min of montage and I would have left feeling like it was the best movie I'd ever seen.