Credit: PixarThe past few months haven’t been too hot for the Walt Disney Company. From Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (20223), its once-reliable library of franchises has struggled to set the box office alight.
Pixar has faced the same obstacle. Despite making the jump back from direct-to-streaming releases back to theaters, last year’s Lightyear (2022) flopped financially and led to Disney cutting 75 employees from Pixar Animation – including several of those directly involved in making Lightyear.
Unsurprisingly, when the studio dropped Elemental (2023) in June, hopes were high – but so were fears of another flop. Not only was it a totally original concept, following the slow-burn romance between two different elemental beings named Ember (fire) and Wade (water) in Element City, but it came at a time when Pixar had seemingly lost its reputation for stellar animation.
The release of Elemental got off to a slow start, taking home just $29.6 million on its domestic opening weekend. However, things have quickly picked up steam for Elemental at the box office. The Pixar film has continued to stay strong week-on-week, holding up against its same-day competitor (and fellow flop), The Flash (2023). It also became the highest-domestic-grossing original animated film (that means no sequels) since 2018.
It also performed well at the international box office. At the time of writing (July 21), Elemental has grossed $318.9 million total – thanks in no small part to strong performance overseas.
One of its strongest markets? South Korea. As of July 18, Elemental is now the highest-grossing Pixar film of all time in the country, beating out the likes of Inside Out (2015) – which held the record until now – Toy Story 4 (2019) and Up (2010).
Elemental director Peter Sohn retweeted the news about Elemental and South Korea, declaring, “I think my heart just burst with joy.”
I think my heart burst with joy. https://t.co/IP9LlBqQLm
— Peter Sohn (@PEETSOWN) July 21, 2023
This Elemental box office update is great news for Pixar – and for the prospects of future original stories from the studio. Elemental was intended by Sohn as a partial tribute to his own youth growing up in a Korean family in the Bronx, as well as falling in love with his wife, who isn’t Korean.
“I am quite emotional about getting the characters and the story out for sure,” he said. “This movie is about thanking your parents and understanding their sacrifices. My parents both passed away during the making of this thing. And so, it is hugely emotional, and I’m still processing a lot of it.”
Have you seen Elemental yet? Share your thoughts on the film in the comments!