After carrying on the Mouse House’s seemingly rotten run as the lowest debut for a Pixar movie during its opening weekend, animation extravaganza Elemental continues to perform poorly amongst Pixar fanatics and Disney die-hards. And as folks attempt to draw up a solid reason as to why the family-friendly film is currently bombing at the box office, Pixar boss Pete Docter ironically offered up the reason that was right in front of our faces.
As per Digital Spy, Docter dished on Elemental’s disastrous box office performance thus far, insisting that the studio eventually releasing theatrical movies on Disney Plus could actually be to blame for the horrid box office outing. While Turning Red immediately debuted on the streaming service to rave reviews, Lightyear — which received a theatrical release — performed quite poorly in theaters.
In the Pixar boss’ analysis, it was echoed that the Disney Plus machine has “trained audiences” to expect that any Disney/Pixar project released in theaters will eventually be available to watch from the comfort of folks’ own homes. In doing so, less and less people are physically traveling to theaters and instead waiting for films to be available for streaming — leading Docter to label the entire process as “a bit of a mixed blessing.”
On the other hand, Docter explained the undoubtedly magical aspect of heading to megaplexes in prison and watching a movie in a room full of complete strangers with the same common goal. For those interested in experiencing the magic, Elemental is out in theaters now.
