The film begins with the promise of a meaningful emotional story, drawing in viewer with its highly distinguished brand. When the story unfolds, the emotional impact it supposedly has doesn’t feel present, gradually weakening its momentum. By the end of the story, it had high expectations but seemingly fell short. What was meant to be a memorable movie is somewhat forgettable.

Pixar’s “Elio,” which was released this past summer, fell short from its studio’s usual standard of commercial success. The marketing for this movie was minimal and while the film followed Pixar’s traditional storytelling formula, it received mixed reviews. Elio’s box office numbers generated $154 million worldwide in comparison to its $150 million budget, according to The Numbers.

This underwhelming performance has been a trend for Pixar since the pandemic, as many of its releases have struggled to capture audiences at the box office due to poor release timing, and lacking audience appeal, with “Inside Out 2” in 2024 being the only exception. In 2020, when the pandemic had hit, the film “Onward” was released just ten days prior to the COVID-19 lockdown, which had accounted for its low box office numbers of $141 million, according to The Numbers. With the pandemic forcing theaters to close, Pixar’s next three films, “Soul,” “Luca” and “Turning Red,” had to be released through Disney+’s streaming services in order to ensure that these Pixar movies had an audience.

G. Allen Johnson, a film writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, says that in hindsight, Pixar should have released these films directly to theaters, when they started opening back up.

“‘Soul’, which was expected to have an Academy Award push, and did win some Academy Awards, went straight to streaming,” Johnson said. “They didn’t even try any theatrical business. A lot of people criticized Pixar, and I would include myself. I think they do it on Soul, but they did it three in a row: ‘Soul’, ‘Luca’ and ‘Turning Red’.”

Johnson credits the success that the movies created for Disney subscriptions, but said it ultimately got people used to the idea of waiting for Pixar movies to be released on Disney+, instead of going to movie theaters.

“It got people used to the fact that all Pixar movies will be on Disney+ right away, or a couple months after they’re out in theaters,”
Johnson said.

After three straight releases to Disney+, Pixar had to reestablish itself in the movie scene. Their next film, “Lightyear,” a spinoff of the franchise’s “Toy Story,” was set to be its first release in theaters since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, despite its strong connection to one of Pixar’s most successful series, “Lightyear” has struggled to appeal to audiences due to its marketing campaign, according to Johnson.

“They were trying to distance themselves, marketing wise from Toy Story, even hiring a different actor,” Johnson said. They even hired Chris Evans to play Buzz Lightyear in this one, and they were trying to differentiate it by saying this is not a Toy Story movie.”

The marketing had created confusion among its premise and its main target audience.

Pixar’s next release in 2023, “Elemental,” had an interesting course of action. During its opening weekend it had the lowest box office of only $29.6 million in Pixar’s history, according to Box Office Mojo. It was seen originally as a box office bust, but managed to bounce back from word of mouth that grew over time. According to Johnson, there is a trend that he has noticed between existing intellectual property, original films and box office successes.

“Pixar has had this nowadays, especially since the pandemic, they’ve had this push and pull between existing IP [intellectual property] and the lack of [the ability] they used to be able to tell original stories that were not IP [intellectual property] and have them be box office gangbusters,” Johnson said.

So this brings up the question: why are other studios seeing success with their animated films while Pixar continues to struggle? The traditional Pixar style, which tackles emotional themes that once pulled in millions of ecstatic viewers, is no longer enough on its own to draw in large audiences. While Pixar leans on its old heartfelt, introspective studies, other studios are experimenting creatively in other ways that are new to modern audiences. Johnson believes that the marketplace of movies is on the same level of creating original stories, and audiences gravitate towards more interactive movie styles.

“They [Sony and Dreamworks] are doing something differently in terms of … the way those stories are being told. I think it’s more for the interactive and game culture that Pixar is not doing,” Johnson said.

Sony Pictures Animation first impacted the animation universe with the release of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” in 2018. The movie blended 2D hand-drawn style with 3D animation, but also tapped into more comic-book style of animation from its source material to enhance the storytelling. The film included instances of comic book panels, graphic thought bubbles and onomatopoeia corresponding to the sound effects.

Dreamworks Animation changed their animations as well, after years of relying on traditional 3D animation. The studio pivoted toward bolder more stylized visuals that stood apart from Pixar’s polished formula. Box-office hits like “Puss in Boots” adopted painterly textures, exaggerated expressions and choppier frames that resulted in a dynamic, energetic look that resonated with audiences who wanted animation that felt fresh and visually daring.

This wave of experimentation from other studios in the animation industry highlights Pixar’s core challenge: while Pixar continues to focus on emotional depth and character-detail driven storytelling, competitors are redefining the limits of what animation films can look like.

This is an issue for Pixar as many of its new films feel repetitive, the same plot that once felt groundbreaking now risks blending into a familiar pattern, especially when compared with studios that are constantly reinventing their visual styles. Younger audiences are gravitating towards styles that feel expressive and unique, approaches that deviate from the refined, cinematic process Pixar has formulated for decades.

Johnson cautions against the idea that the emotion itself is the problem. He argues that emotional connection remains the foundation of any successful film and is the reason Pixar became a defining studio to begin with.

“Any movie has to touch people emotionally,” Johnson said. “That’s what got Pixar where it is, and they should never lose that.”

Johnson also believes Pixar needs to evolve visually.

“I think eventually they will have to adapt like everybody else, because hand-drawn Disney animation from the old days like ‘Pinocchio’ and ‘Dumbo’ grew into something else,” Johnson said.

As competitors push animation into new artistic territory and viewers become accustomed to watching Pixar releases at home, the studio must find another way to evolve without losing its identity.