Pixar's Lowest-Grossing Movie Ever: Elio's Box Office Bomb Explained

Despite great reviews and a healthy 83% on Rotten Tomatoes, Elio has officially bombed harder than any Pixar movie before it, earning just $56.3 million worldwide by the end of its second weekend — against a $150 million production budget.

Let's put that in perspective:

• Opening weekend, domestic: $20.8 million (lowest Pixar opening ever)
• International: $14+ million
• Worldwide opening total: ~$35 million
• Total worldwide gross (as of June 30, 2025): $56,345,195

Compare that to Pixar's last original film, Elemental, which opened with just $29.6 million domestically but eventually crawled to $500 million worldwide. That kind of comeback isn't happening here.

So what went wrong?

No Audience Urgency

Audiences have been trained to wait for Pixar films to hit Disney+. After pandemic-era titles like Soul, Luca, and Turning Red skipped theaters almost entirely, original Pixar content has become synonymous with "streaming in three weeks." Elio is now paying the price for that strategy.

Zero Marketing Confidence

Disney barely marketed this movie. If there was a campaign, it felt like damage control. No big push, no widespread awareness, and certainly no belief behind it. And when the studio doesn't act like a movie matters, neither does the audience.

Awful Timing

Elio opened during the height of summer box office chaos — right between How to Train Your Dragon (which made $36.6 million in its second weekend), and Lilo & Stitch, still making $9.7 million in its fifth weekend — on its way to over $900 million worldwide.

Elio didn't stand a chance. Originally scheduled for March 2024, the release was pushed into a meat grinder — and it got flattened.

But Didn't Critics Like It?

Surprisingly, yes. Elio has a strong 91% audience score and is being called Pixar's best original work since Coco — which made $815 million back in 2017. But strong word of mouth means nothing if no one shows up in the first place. Opening nearly 60% lower than Coco ($20.8M vs $50.8M), Elio simply didn't have the runway.

Is This the End for Original Pixar?

The writing's on the wall. Sequels and spin-offs (Inside Out 2, Toy Story, Finding Dory) still make money. Originals? Not so much. And with Inside Out 2 passing $1.7 billion globally just last month — the highest-grossing animated film of all time — the contrast couldn't be starker.

Pixar says it wants to take creative risks. Audiences are saying they'd rather rewatch Cars 2.

Elio is still in theaters. For now.