Why Pixar Has Struggled with Recent Films and Box Office Debuts
By Movieguide® Contributor
Over the past few years, Pixar has struggled with their movies grabbing the attention of viewers—a surprise for a studio that became synonymous with the family-friendly blockbuster.
Just this past weekend, Pixar’s newest film ELEMENTAL, collapsed at the box office only collecting $29.5 million—making it the worst debut weekend for Pixar in its 25-year-history.
A part of Movieguide®’s review for ELEMENTAL reads:
ELEMENTAL tells a funny, charming, ultimately heartwarming story. The story stresses several moral, redemptive themes like overcoming prejudice, family, owning a business, and sacrifice. There’s also a heartwarming resolution to the conflict between Ember and her father. However, the movie alludes to identity politics. Also, although the movie features four major heterosexual couples, Wade’s sister has a girlfriend. Finally, Ember’s mother is a fortune teller who specializes in matchmaking. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution for ELEMENTAL.
In addition, Pixar’s films THE GOOD DINOSAUR ($39 million), ONWARD ($39 million), and LIGHTYEAR ($50 million) all had poor box office debuts.
The reason behind the decline includes Pixar’s extreme and immoral content in their films. That content then isolates families and lowers box office revenue.
Pixar had their best box office revenue when their films had positive pro-family views, moral values and uplifting messages.
Variety reported on whether Pixar could restore its former box office glory.
Jeff Bock, a box office analyst for Exhibitor Relations said, “It’s going to be difficult, but it’s not a mountain they can’t climb. It’ll just be perilous.”
In order to do this, Pixar must return to family-friendly movies. They must remove the identity politics, remove excessive content, and instead allow inspirational messages to take hold. Only then will they be able to return to their box office hits. Disney’s future success depends on them recognizing what is making them sink.
Movieguide® recently reported on Pixar films:
Disney and Pixar movies used to be a sure thing at the box office, but it looks like the movie studio is still struggling to connect with audiences.
The studio’s last two offerings, LIGHTYEAR and STRANGE WORLD, both suffered at the box office for multiple reasons, but the biggest one is content.
Both LIGHTYEAR and STRANGE WORLD failed to find their footing with audiences and failed at the box office — LIGHTYEAR made $226 million off a $200 million budget, while STRANGE WORLD majorly flopped, making just $70 million off a $180 million budget.
Each of these movies featured content that was not family-friendly, which meant many parents chose not to take their children to the theater.
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