Disney has once more run face-first into the wall that conservatives have been warning the company about for years.
A new Hollywood Reporter exposé that dropped Sunday pulled back the curtain on Pixar’s catastrophic animated flop “Elio,” a film so mismanaged, confused, and creatively compromised that it could go down as the worst-performing theatrical release in Pixar’s history.
The report details how “Elio” began as a movie about an 11-year-old boy who loved fashion and had a crush on another boy.
That version of the story, originally championed by co-director Adrian Molina and others, such as actress America Ferrera, was quietly scrapped for something more palatable to wide audiences.
The studio had a team, including three total directors, who overhauled the story a number of times to offer viewers a more traditional lead, but not before alienating the cast and crew.
A quote from a source about the film outlines just how out-of-touch this project was before it alienated viewers.
A person who was not named told THR that Ferrara was “upset that there was no longer Latinx representation” and ultimately left the project.
The result of the mess Pixar made? A $200 million dud that no one wanted to see. “Elio” opened to just over $20 million domestically when it released three weeks ago.
To be clear, $20 million is a movie death sentence for a studio once known for billion-dollar franchises such as Toy Story.
Do you think Disney can ever find its way again?
Pixar and the House of Mouse have been falling since their earlier hits, and “Elio” isn’t just a one-off that flopped.
As a father with children, I saw the initial trailer and never once considered driving a mere 14 blocks to subject my family to what was clearly a woke monstrosity.
I wasn’t alone. As of Tuesday, “Elio” had only hauled in about $42 million from generous American filmgoers.
Almost halfway through an average theatrical run, “Elio” is a certified flop. The DEI-saster is the latest in a string of missteps for Disney and its subsidiaries.
Remember this year’s sterile, live-action remake of “Snow White”? Relatively speaking, neither does anyone else.
“Elio” is further proof that Hollywood’s ongoing obsession with identity politics and “representation” over storytelling has expensive consequences.
The Hollywood Reporter lays it all bare: Pixar executives couldn’t decide if they wanted to tell a good story or push a social agenda on children.
Disney/Pixar failed at both.
For years, conservatives have sounded the alarm as Disney abandoned its role as a creator of timeless, family-friendly content and veered headlong into degenerate activism.
From gay plotlines in “Lightyear” to race-swapping beloved characters to DEI initiatives that alienate core audiences, Disney has repeatedly chosen preaching wokeness over the wisdom of old.
Parents are tuning out. Moviegoers are staying home. Shareholders are probably the only ones affiliated with the studio who are actually watching screens.
To be fair, “Elio” was never going to be “Toy Story.” But it didn’t have to be a quagmire, either.
Had Disney/Pixar focused on their tried and true formula of character, plot, and unifying themes, the film might have stood a chance of at a minimum gaining back some of its production and advertising budgets.
Instead, Pixar created an expensive disaster by a woke committee that had no appeal, and the company has another loss on its hands, en route to certain doom if someone doesn’t turn the ship around.
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