Part 3/8:
Elemental debuted with a catastrophic opening—the worst in Pixar history—earning just a fraction of what Disney had hoped. Although it managed to sustain a modest run afterward, bringing its total gross into the vicinity of $400 to $450 million, the film’s financials tell a different story behind the scenes.
The production alone reportedly cost around $200 million, with an additional $100 million allocated for marketing efforts — a lavish campaign that included high-profile premieres, such as a star-studded trip to the Cannes Film Festival. When factoring in these costs, the movie would typically need to gross somewhere around $600 million globally just to break even.