Elemental's box office numbers have gained a tremendous amount of ground since the film's lackluster debut, indicating that the problems upon its release were created by Disney's poor marketing decisions. With a budget of $200 million, the Pixar movie appeared to be supremely ill-fated when its opening weekend sales made a mere $29.6 million (via Box Office Mojo). Elemental's hole was dug even deeper as the bulk of media sites prematurely labeled the film a box office bomb and predicted it would struggle to shine among other summer movies like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Barbie.

At first glance, Elemental's appealing visual flair made it seem like it could fall in line with Pixar's many successful films and, consequently, the booming trend of this year's summer movies. However, the failures of the studio's last and only film release since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2022's Lightyear, have since proven that Pixar's animated movies need a little more help on top of simply looking good. Now that Elemental's comeback is approaching box office success, Pixar and Disney could learn from where their newest movie went wrong - and it started with marketing.

Disney's Elemental Marketing Was A Disaster

Disney's marketing plan for Elemental misunderstood where Pixar animations excel; compelling and profound narratives that lie beneath stunning visuals are what make for Pixar classics, and Disney almost completely side-stepped making clear where Elemental's story would lead. When initial teasers and trailers were released, it was hard to tell what exactly Elemental would be about. Little more than the characterizations of Element City residents and the rules they abide by was explained, and for that reason, it was hard to justify seeing Elemental in the throes of the pandemic when other big movies seemed more interesting.

As fans of animation have seen before in films such as Disney's Zootopia and Pixar's Inside Out, themed worlds in film can be immensely successful, but how Elemental's world of personified elements could come across as new and exciting remained to be seen. It wasn't until Elemental's marketing efforts expanded on the vague notions of it being a "Romeo and Juliet" type of love story that viewers realized the narrative direction Pixar intended. By that point in time, it was too late, and Elemental became one of Pixar's lowest debuts with uninspired critical reviews adding to its opening weekend letdown.

Elemental's Box Office Comeback Proves Marketing Was A Problem

Because Disney failed tremendously in marketing Elemental well, it was up to the word of mouth of moviegoers to spread the strengths of Pixar's animation. Disney's marketing plans failed to get people into theaters at the onset of Elemental's run, but its comeback is proving that audiences who enjoyed the film have given it legs to stand on. Despite low box office numbers at the start, Elemental audiences loved the imaginative depth of the movie's storyline and have generated essential conversation surrounding it.

As it stands, Elemental's Rotten Tomatoes score is adequate with critics but remarkably high with audiences at 93%. More importantly, since the film's premier, Elemental's worldwide gross has grown exponentially, and after a long couple of months, it unexpectedly has reached $397.9 million grossed worldwide. Its long-term success and praise from attendees show beyond a doubt that where marketing failed, fans of the film stepped up to prove more effective than Disney's promotions.

Bad Marketing Isn't The Only Reason For Elemental's Box Office Comeback

With a 2023 summer filled with anticipated movies, it's fair to say that bad marketing wasn't Elemental's only initial downfall, although it accounts for most of it. On the very same day, Elemental contested with the release of the highly controversial and largely talked about DC universe film, The Flash. The month of June also came with heavily discussed summer movies like Avatar: The Way of Water, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

It was difficult to choose to see Elemental in theaters when its marketing was flaccid, its reviews were spiritless, and other summer movies received so much more hype. Plus, Disney has a tendency to send its movies to streaming fairly quickly, so audiences could have theoretically waited out Elemental's theatrical run while enjoying other films until the point in time that Elemental hit Disney+. Seeing that Elemental is now scooping up box office records, Pixar's film has beaten its odds and has proven that the power of success lies in the hands of the audience.

Source: Box Office Mojo