Elemental Overtakes Cars And Toy Story At The Worldwide Box Office
The biggest and most pleasant surprise of the summer just keeps trucking along at the box office. It's not really going out on a limb to say that "Elemental" wasn't quite the flashiest Pixar offering in recent years upon release, both in terms of a noticeably underwhelming opening weekend total and also its actual quality compared to previous hits from the studio's heyday. (Josh Spiegel's review for /Film hit the nail on the head, noting that, "It's a good thing that 'Elemental' is here, and the movie is much better than most of Pixar's late-stage sequels. But there is still a notable formula here.") But in a confidence-restoring performance, the animated film overcame the ignominy of initially landing in second place to "The Flop," er, I mean "The Flash" and has legged it out to become the biggest original film of the entire pandemic era, as /Film's Ryan Scott covered previously.
But this underdog success story doesn't end there.
Another week brings yet another significant milestone for the little element-based engine that could. The latest box office totals for "Elemental" peg the movie at $469,538,240 worldwide. Significant? Yeah, you could say so. This total officially puts the Peter Sohn-directed picture above a pair of very notable Pixar films: 2006's "Cars" ($461,991,867 worldwide) and the original 1995 "Toy Story" ($394,436,586). Not bad for the "disappointment" that seemed to further the narrative that Pixar was well and truly on the downswing. Of course, on the face of it, even figures as impressive as this only tell half the story. Keep reading as we dig into the numbers behind the numbers.
A win no matter how you slice it
Our last box office update for "Elemental" covered how the real song of ice and fire overtook the behemoth known as "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" at the international box office, but how about measuring it up against the likes of Pixar's own library of titles? Naturally, attentive students of Ryan Scott's School for Gifted Box Office Analysts know that inflation, budget, and other various bookkeeping aspects always remain a significant factor in these sorts of conversations. As your substitute teacher for today, I would be remiss if I failed to apply a similar level of nuance to these numbers.
"Elemental" put itself behind the eight ball with its exorbitant $200 million budget, which did absolutely no favors in clearing the path to profitability. Compare that to the downright affordable $30 million that Pixar set aside to make the first "Toy Story," which completely recontextualizes its final total of a hair under $400 million worldwide. And when you factor in the historic levels of inflation that we're all too familiar with in 2023 (just take a gander at this handy graphic provided by The Numbers, revealing skyrocketing movie ticket prices while actual tickets sold remain comparatively low), and it's clear that even this "Elemental" accomplishment comes with an asterisk or two.
Nevertheless, there's simply no denying the fairy-tale ending that "Elemental" has written for itself throughout the past several months since release. Pixar President Jim Morris recently went on a victory lap with Variety, praising the film's comeback story. While the film is destined for Disney+ streaming, which further muddies the waters thanks to the studio's unwillingness to provide concrete streaming numbers, there's no way around it: Against all odds, "Elemental" has become a Pixar hit.